Better Late Than Never, Right?

So I promised many of you that I would send out an e-mail update or blog every once in a while and I have done neither. I guess it is better late than never! I figured I might as well use the blog that I had kept while I was student teaching here well over a year and a half ago. It seems strange that I am now an "official" teacher instead of just learning how to be one! That's not to say that I am not STILL learning how to be a teacher! I am daily learning from my mistakes and can only hope and pray that my kids will be ready for second grade when the year is all said and done. I get to teach 11 wonderful first graders from all over the world. I have students from Ghana, Korea, Congo, America and the Netherlands, just to name a few. They are all so smart and they love learning. For example, we were learning about voting the other day in Social Studies, so I had them vote to decide on a class sport, color, etc. Then I took a vote on what the kids wanted to do for Fun Friday (their reward time at the end of the week). Their options were extra recess, free time, watch a movie, or make Eric Carle pictures (we have been reading his books). I thought for sure the first three choices would far outweigh the fourth, but no, they chose to make Eric Carle pictures! When I told Chris this story, he said I have a classroom full of nerds but honestly, I don't really mind. :) I look forward to seeing my students each school day and loving them and teaching them as best I can.

Not only do I look forward to seeing my students every morning, but I also wake up every morning excited to see my amazing boyfriend! It's definitely a change going from being thousands of miles away and apart for almost a year to now not only living on the same continent, in the same country, and in the same city, but also on the same campus! (Don't get me wrong, it is definitely a good change!) Getting to see and spend time with him is the highlight of my day! Although some evenings our time spent together is sitting in the same classroom grading and planning, we still enjoy finally just being together. Chris stays busy teaching high school English and right now coaching JV boys' soccer. Speaking of soccer, one of my housemates and I are coaching an elementary intramural soccer team. When I told my friend, Sarah, that the other day she said, "Did that seriously just come out of your mouth!?" Haha, if you know me, you know coaching any sport isn't really my thing, but it's been a learning experience AND a lot of fun.

I love my housemates, Emily and Melissa, who are both first-year teachers as well. It’s nice that we are all going through many of the same "first-year things" together and working just as hard to give this first year of teaching our all. We also enjoy experimental cooking together many times a week and have made some pretty tasty concoctions, if I do say so myself. :)

Many times after school, Chris and I exchange our "classroom stories of the day," and sometimes I have some real winners. For example, just this past Friday, I came back from lunch to see my students running around frantically inside the classroom, instead of lining up outside of the room like they are supposed to be doing. As all 11 of my "nerds" were running and yelling wildly around the classroom, I finally got their attention and they told me that there was a squirrel in the classroom and that it was now in a cabinet! So I had the kids wait outside and found some of the (Kenyan) maintenance workers and asked them to come save my class and I from the squirrel. The kids thought it was quite hilarious as the squirrel was running all over the walls, while the two men were trying to get it out for a good 5 minutes. Finally (after I'm sure the whole school heard us), the poor, frantic squirrel ran outside to safety!

Well, I could tell you much more, but I will end for now and show you a few pictures of my life here in Kenya. It’s so nice to be able to Skype and use my MagicJack to call family and friends at home. It’s so crazy to hear my phone ring and pick it up and hear one of you on the other line, just as if I were at home in Medina. Thanks for thinking of me and for praying for me. It is much appreciated! Some of you have asked for my address here, so here you go:

Bethany Mast
Rosslyn Academy
P.O. Box 14146
Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa 00800



Chris and I in the monkey park when Nathan came to visit. Beware: the monkey's are not as cute as they look!

Nathan and Chris eating Ethiopian food, a favorite of ours.

My two housemates and I

Chris and I hiking at Hell's Gate, a national park, on a day off.

I went on safari for my birthday, it was the most memorable birthday ever! We went to a place called Ambeseli which is a park near the Tanzanian border. I even got a text that said “Welcome to Tanzania, we hope you enjoy your stay” but I actually never went there! The group that went was my two roommates, Kim and Wendy, and then two other teachers from the school, Chris and Paul. I got up at 3 AM on the morning of my birthday so we could leave by 4:00. It took about 4 hours to get there and most of it on an extremely bumpy road. Kim and Wendy paid for my safari, which was an amazing birthday present! When we arrived in the park it looked very barren and desolate. But once we drove further into the park all of a sudden, I felt like I was on The Lion King! I could almost hear the music playing! We took a safari van, where the top lifts up which was awesome for taking pictures and made me feel like I was in a movie anyway. We saw tons of zebra, wilderbeast, warthogs, ostriches and even hyenas. We also saw lots of elephants and they posed for a picture for us! We figured they must have had lots of generations of elephants who were used to the camera and were told what to do for us. They would all follow each other in a line, and there were even little baby ones.

We then went to our bonda which was in the park. It was actually really nice with three bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and living room. However it was full of ants and mosquitoes and the ants ate my birthday cake!! (it was ok though because we had birthday brownies instead) So we went to the bonda and unpacked and then ate lunch. We also took a little afternoon nap since we had gotten up so early and it was super hot. When it cooled down, we went on another game drive. This time we saw a lion and lioness sleeping. Later in the evening, we saw a ton of vans in the distance and knew there had to be something really cool to see there. When we got there, there was a cheetah who had just killed a gazelle. I found out that when cheetahs catch their prey, they are temporarily paralyzed because of the effort it took to run and catch it. So it was just laying there for like half an hour. It finally got up and dug into it’s dinner! It was such a cool sight. In the background were hippos playing in the water, a rainbow, the sunset and Mount Kilimanjaro. It was amazing, we just soaked it all in. Mount Kilimanjaro is the biggest mountain in all of Africa and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world. It was so beautiful always on the horizon with the animals in front of it. We went back at dark and had kabobs and potatoes and birthday brownies. A few of us played Rook until the power went off and we went to sleep under our mosquito nets.

In the morning we got up at 6 and packed up. We went on a final game drive. We saw lions again as well as hyenas and hundreds of other animals! On the way back home, the van overheated in the middle of nowhere and we had to stop for about an hour. We prayed and God answered, because we made it back without any other trouble. After a much needed shower and nap we went to Indian food for dinner.

An amazing birthday full of God’s wonderful creation. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I also came home and had tons of e-mails and notes from family and friends from home wishing me a happy birthday. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

Field Trip!

Yesterday was my first field trip! It was an awesome experience! The students had been making pottery and learning about it in Science. So we visited a place where pottery is made that is connected to a Kenyan school. We left a little after 8:30 and headed to Eastleigh. We drove much of the way through the ghetto and the place itself was in a very poor area. There were tons of potholes as well! (like most places in Kenya) When the busses stopped all the poeple on the streets stopped and stared at us. We quickly took the children inside the gates where we felt safe. Both first grade classes went. One class went to see the pottery being made first and the other went to read to preschool children and then we switched. My class went to pottery first. A man took us through all the steps of making a piece of pottery from the draining and wedging of the clay all the way to the glazing and firing. It was amazing to see him shape the pottery on the wheel. Some of the kids said, "it's a miracle!" It reminds me of how Jesus is the potter who shapes and molds us into the vessel He wants us to be. We also went saw how they make filters there for clean drinking water. One filter is only 1000 shillings which is like 13 dollars and it will last 2 years!

We then walked over to the preschool. We passed by children playing on dirt and cracked sidewalks. The younger children were playing with tires on their recess. We went in the preschool room that smelled of urine. The walls had materials hangings with the ABC's and names of animals and objects sewn on them. The preschoolers looked like they ranged in age from maybe 3 to 8. It seemed many of them knew no English and some just a little. They stared at us. Our funny skin color and accents perhaps were too much at first! My students brought picture books to read to them. Many had probably never seen a picture book in their lives! They just stared in amazement either at the pictures or the student who was reading to them. We then went outside and they sang songs to us and then we sang to them. I got a really cool video of that! It was such a cool experience and neat for the kids (and for me) to see how most Kenyan children go to school. I think it really helped my students realize how fortunate they are to go to Rosslyn and how unfair life can be. It really reiterated the lesson that we had learned in chapel the day before about the Prodical Son. "Life's not fair, but God is good."

Mount Longanot

What a fun day! It was neat to see life outside of Nairobi! Wendy, Kim, Chris, Rebekka and I spent the day at Lake Naivasha and Mount Longanot. We left in the morning and drove a little over an hour. The view was beautiful, overlooking the Rift Valley. This first picture is overlooking the Rift Valley with Longanot in the background.


It was so interesting to see the villages and the people as we drove through. There are so many people trying to sell things alongside the road to make a living. There are also so many people who look like they have nothing to do, so they just watch cars pass by or sit in the middle of a field. Jobs are definately needed here for many Kenyans. It did make me think though, how as Americans we often make our lives so busy. We never take time just to sit and watch cars go by or sit in the middle of a field, thinking and praying. Often there would be cows or goats in the road in big herds and you had to stop and wait for them. Many times Massai men were with the herds.


We went to Lake Naivasha first. We saw hippos in the water as well as a ton of varieties of birds. We had a picnic at the lake, it was beautiful! We then drove to Mount Longanot. It was sunny at the lake but then the clouds started to come in and it rained the whole way up the volcano! It really wasn't too bad, since it would have been super hot without the rain!
This is a picture taken at Lake Naivasha of some of the surrounding mountains.
It took about an hour to get to the top. It was quite steep in most places and the ash was slippery in the rain, but it was a lot of fun!
Here's Rebekka at the top, overlooking the crater. It started pouring when we got to the top and it was SO cold! If you go all day, you can hike all the way around the rim of the crater. The highest point of that rim is what you see behind Rebekka but we didn't have that much time. The environment inside the crater is so lush and green, so different from the ash and dirt of the rest of the volcano. After a difficult journey down, (trying to keep ourselves from going too fast and falling down) we headed for home. We went to Java House for dinner since we were all too tired to cook dinner! What a fun day, admiring God's creation!

Rebekka is here!

She came in on Monday night and will be here until next weekend! Rebekka came to school with me on Tuesday and got to meet all of my kids and watch me teach! She was a great help in the classroom and it was fun introducing her to my coworkers and cooperating teacher, whom of course all loved her! Afterwards, Mrs. Hravatic took Rebekka and I to an orphanage near the school. I think it's going to be my new home! Rebekka and I loved it! There are only babies there. Some of the babies are there because their mother's are in prison. Many women in Kenya are wrongfully placed there because of abusive men in their lives. There's also housing for women who have recently been released from prison to learn how to adjust back to life outside of prison with a young child. It's such an awesome ministry! We took lots of pictures! The babies were so adorable and happy and just love to be held! They all sobbed when we left! Rebekka has spent the last two days there as well. We had dinner at the Hravatic's last night. They are such a wonderful family and served us Korean food! It was delicious! Rebekka was able to go to the Hope Center also, which is where the youth group was when she came in 2006. We also went to Diamond Plaza one night for Indian food with Kim and Wendy and other friends/teachers from the school. Tomorrow we are going to hike Mount Longanot! We are so excited!

Church

I've gone to a different church every week I've been here because I want to worship in as many places as I can while I am here. I was able to go to a Kenyan church called Nairobi Chapel a couple of weeks ago and am hoping to go again this Sunday. Mercy wanted me to come, but I had no way of getting there. So I walked a half hour to Village Market and met her there. We then rode a matatu together which was quite an experience! When we got to downtown Nairobi we then took a bus to church. It was an hour and half process from the time I left my house until I walked into church! I went to the youth/college service which was huge...the church was even bigger! Both the services were in huge tents with chairs inside and it's VERY hot! I met a lot of the KKrew and people who know Shawn. Afterwards, I was able to see Mercy's house and meet her sister and her sister's baby. We then took another matatu to the youth pastor's house. There was a house full of people and I had my first real Kenyan meal! I got to meet a lot of cool people! I was fairly good at understanding the Kenyan accent but if I wasn't listening to one specific person, I felt like they were speaking a different langue (which sometimes they were! :) So basically I saw no other white people all day and I loved it! I loved being engrossed in the Kenyan culture. We left around 4:30 so that I could get back before dark...which is around 7. I feel like I owe so much to Mercy because she lives right near the church but came an hour to get me and an hour to get back. This past Sunday I went to the international church that they have at the school. Many of the teachers go there as well as many of the families who attend Rosslyn.
A picture of downtown on the way to church.Mercy and I at her house after church.

The first week of school is finished! I begin teaching everything except for math on Monday. I’ve got all but one of my lesson plans finished for the week! It’s kindof a jump right into it but I think that I’m ready. I really have enjoyed getting to know my students this week and watching Mrs. Hravatic teach because she is so creative and enthusiastic! I only pray I can be half as good as her! Here are some pictures from my classroom this week. Aren’t they adorable!?


I got to experience many new things this week. One night I went to West Gate or Lands or something with my roommates, which is the closest thing to an American mall but it’s VERY expensive! We went grocery shopping at Nakumatt and picked up some things for the week. We also went out to eat there. Yesterday, we went to the Masai market. It is a traveling market and is in a different area each day. It’s at Village Market near us on Friday’s. They have all sorts of things that they make, such as necklaces, sandals, paintings, purses and so much more! It was very intimidating at first because you barter for the items. It’s hard for me because I’m still getting used to shillings and had no idea what price to start with! I got two or three things and showed Kim what I wanted and watched her do the bartering! I might try my hand at it next time we go!
Last night we had a little group over and made pizzas. We then watched a Bolllywood film (my first ever) that was like 3 hours long and even had an intermission. Very interesting to say the least! But I really enjoyed the time.

So things are going well. The power goes off randomly all the time which I guess I didn’t really expect. At school there is a generator so it’ll just go out for like a minute at a time. The students are so used to it, it doesn’t even phase them! At home though, it went out for about 6 hours the other day. Guess I’ll have to be ahead on lesson plans so I don’t get stuck! It rained for most of the school day yesterday which was very unusual because it is there summer here and never rains. It was a huge answer to prayer because many of the people in Kenya are starving and without water because of no rain.

So today is going to be an adventure! I’m meeting a Kenyan named Mercy. Nathan and the youth group met her when they came to Kenya this past summer and she is friends with Shawn. We’ve been texting (I got a Kenyan phone) and we are meeting up today. We are going to ride a matatu which is like a taxi but it’s a van/bus thing and are known for their crazy driving! For some reason I have been so excited to meet her!
I’ve learned some new vocabulary since I have been here.
Boot- the trunk of a car
Petrol- gasoline
Serviette- napkin
“flash me”- call someone and hang up so they get your number