Apologies for my long absence from the blog... a mixture of being a bit unwell earlier this month, internet woes, taking up jogging (well, jogwalking!) on some days after school, doing more at the weekend etc... so it's been a long time since I blogged. I shouldn't say it but right now the internet is better than it's been in a long while... however, earlier in the day we had several power cuts of varying duration so you never know how long it will last! I had a friend round and we cooked dinner and watch some episodes of Cranford... at least we did when the power came on!
It's been really hot this week, proper February weather for Kenya. In fact today I think it went above 30 degrees, so I was glad to be staying in. I got very burnt earlier in the week - must remember that even if the temperature isn't so boiling, being so near the equator and at altitude means that burning is much more likely! Aloe vera is my friend right now!
I have some other new friends too, Dee and Peter have gained some pets from their son and daughter-in-law who used to live next door, but have now moved to Papua New Guinea. Here is Max, the huge but friendly German shepherd:
And here is Simba the cat, posing amongst my birthday cards:
In other news I've begun to teach in the 8-9 group of my church's Sunday school. I taught my first lesson the Sunday before last, all about Abram and how he left his home as God told him to and how God promised to bless him. We looked at how God's promises were for his whole family, which includes us as Christians (cue:
Father Abraham, has many sons, Many sons has Father Abraham!) and also at how his descendants were a blessing to others. I drew a family tree, and at the end the children all added their own names to it!
Things are plodding along at Mahali Pa Watoto. We're still experimenting with the Montessori room; mostly I lead the sessions at the moment but the teachers come with their classes and sometimes they take the lead. I want to gradually move from leading to assisting so that they will be able to continue once I've left, and we are going to meet soon and talk about how to plan the sessions so that they link in to the topics that the classes are covering, and plan for a variety of activities over course of the term. The meeting when we all 'taught' each other one of the pieces of equipment went really well, there was a good atmosphere and we had some useful discussion. I think the teachers are starting to see the benefit of this style of learning. The children don't need any convincing!
 |
| Puzzle completed with some help from me! |
 |
| "I like making towers!" |
 |
| Using the cylinder blocks to learn about size |
 |
| Lining up in height order as we'd learnt about tall and short! |
 |
| Top class children doing puzzles |
 |
| Absorbed! |
 |
| Working with the teacher |
I'm having a bit of a jigsaw puzzle campaign, because the children find them very difficult. I think there are probably a few reasons, partly that they haven't had much experience; children in the UK would often have 'posting' toys when they're young, then other puzzles as they get older, but obviously ours don't have this opportunity. Anyway, as part of this campaign I've been sorting out the puzzles we have already - there were loads of pieces all mixed up in a basket:
 |
| After I'd already done a lot of sorting! |
I've been cleaning them all up and putting them in ziplock bags so they (hopefully) don't get in that mess again! And now we have lots of new puzzles as well as other equipment - a couple who support the school asked for donations to Mahali instead of presents for their wedding anniversary and I had the delightful job of choosing things to buy. Steve (who runs the
Seedsowing Network charity) arrived on Thursday night with two suitcases full of lovely things, and the top class even used some of the puzzles yesterday in their session with me.
So that's about it for now, but I'll try to post again soon, I've got at least two more posts in my head! I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my recent culinary exploits!
 |
| Savoury pancakes on Shrove Tuesday |
 |
| Moroccan veggie stew and rice made with my friend today |
