Hi All,
Our days are busy and flying by! We are both in classrooms most the day. Jane subbed in today and will sub tomorrow & Monday too. They have mostly local teachers and no subs so I think the word is out that we're available. They are a delight to teach as discipline is strict and classroom sizes are low. Supplies are minimal so oral recitation is used a lot. Though many have learned to read--they often don't know what the words mean. Tomorrow, Jane has to teach Swahili so the shoe will be on the other foot! The teacher is with the kids all day which means she's librarian, lunch lady, PE teacher, and even supervises the students sweeping & mopping at the end of the day. No one has to clean the library because the students take their shoes off before coming in because there is a small rug in the center.
The children are so entertaining. Roger was a magnet when he started up a "futbol" game with a ball that was half flat. They played with gusto. They also love just rolling tires around or climbing trees. Jane asked Johnson (about 4 yrs old) who made the big holes (about 4") that are all over. She expected the name of an animal but Johnson quickly and confidently answered, "God made those holes and puts bad people in them!" I suggested asking and learned they were termite holes with the top mound knocked off. They eat like horses and no piece of rice goes to waste. Mama Susan tonight told one of her boys to only eat until he was full and then share his left overs with his brothers which they quickly devoured. She was given two eggs as she had been fasting because she had had things to pray for. She ate one and then asked who wanted the other. All ten did so she chose the youngest four and divided it equally. They were ecstatic and savored it by only licking their 1/4 egg for several minutes.
The update of the little boy who is afraid of Rog's hairy arms--each day he has gotten closer and today, he touched his fingers!! And it's time to tell a story about Jane: one little boy came over while I was sitting down and touched my cheeks saying "big cheeks" and felt my hair saying "Christmas hair". Gotta love em! Rog talked to some students during lunch today and asked them their favorite season (if there are seasons at about 1 1/2 degrees S. Latitude).They responded with Summer! So he asked them when is Summer because we have heard that the temperature doesn't vary more than a few degrees all year. They said February, March, and April!
We could tell much more but we're tired. Thanks for all your responses to our last email. We'll write more later.
Rog and Jane
Our days are busy and flying by! We are both in classrooms most the day. Jane subbed in today and will sub tomorrow & Monday too. They have mostly local teachers and no subs so I think the word is out that we're available. They are a delight to teach as discipline is strict and classroom sizes are low. Supplies are minimal so oral recitation is used a lot. Though many have learned to read--they often don't know what the words mean. Tomorrow, Jane has to teach Swahili so the shoe will be on the other foot! The teacher is with the kids all day which means she's librarian, lunch lady, PE teacher, and even supervises the students sweeping & mopping at the end of the day. No one has to clean the library because the students take their shoes off before coming in because there is a small rug in the center.
The children are so entertaining. Roger was a magnet when he started up a "futbol" game with a ball that was half flat. They played with gusto. They also love just rolling tires around or climbing trees. Jane asked Johnson (about 4 yrs old) who made the big holes (about 4") that are all over. She expected the name of an animal but Johnson quickly and confidently answered, "God made those holes and puts bad people in them!" I suggested asking and learned they were termite holes with the top mound knocked off. They eat like horses and no piece of rice goes to waste. Mama Susan tonight told one of her boys to only eat until he was full and then share his left overs with his brothers which they quickly devoured. She was given two eggs as she had been fasting because she had had things to pray for. She ate one and then asked who wanted the other. All ten did so she chose the youngest four and divided it equally. They were ecstatic and savored it by only licking their 1/4 egg for several minutes.
The update of the little boy who is afraid of Rog's hairy arms--each day he has gotten closer and today, he touched his fingers!! And it's time to tell a story about Jane: one little boy came over while I was sitting down and touched my cheeks saying "big cheeks" and felt my hair saying "Christmas hair". Gotta love em! Rog talked to some students during lunch today and asked them their favorite season (if there are seasons at about 1 1/2 degrees S. Latitude).They responded with Summer! So he asked them when is Summer because we have heard that the temperature doesn't vary more than a few degrees all year. They said February, March, and April!
We could tell much more but we're tired. Thanks for all your responses to our last email. We'll write more later.
Rog and Jane
