Even Peace Corps Volunteers Get the Blues

2 posts within a week?!?! What is the special occassion? Lets start from the beginning.

Monday afternoon, after I gave a Geography exam, I started to feel not so hot to trot. I was feeling somewhat achy, headache, and it kept getting worse. In the evening I was quite cold, and somewhat light-headed. Then came the night. In between frequent trips to the choo with diarrhea I was suffering from chills, fever, and all the aforementioned symptoms. It was a pretty rough night, which included some pretty rough dreams...nothing horrible and scary, just annoying and persistent and boring. The kind of dreams that make you more tired when you are done.

So morning finally dawned and I had decided that school was out of the question, at least for the morning, and I would go visit the local doctor. But before I visited him I told a fellow teacher the situation...just as my fever broke, so I was drenched with perspiration. He looked somewhat alarmed.

So I visited the doctor, he took a blood sample, and luckily I had saved a stool sample (you never know when those things can come in handy). He checked them under the microscope and said he found malaria in the blood sample and amoebas in the stool sample. Yes!! I've hit the jackpot!

Peace Corps was called and a vehicle came to pick me up.

So anyways, I got to Nairobi, PC checked me out and sent me to Nairobi Hospital. They put me on a 'drip' to fill me with fluids because apparently I was pretty dehydrated. Eventually they ruled out malaria and blamed it on something else that causes really high fever and lots of diarrhea. Official diagnosis: gastroenteritis. Not as exotic as malaria, but I'll take it.

So I spent two nights at the hospital, had women waiting on me at the push of a button (they had to unhook me from the 'drip' so I could use the toilet...every couple hours), enjoyed hospital food, and watched some television (Sleepless in Seattle and Big! They love Tom Hanks...though not as much as Chuck Norris).

So I've been released. Now Mom, don't worry about me. Like I always say 'No Woman, No Cry'. It happens to everyone.

Now its back to school after missing basically the entire week. Too much work. O-bla-di o-bla-da


PS:

On my second day in the hospital my door was open and this elderly British woman saunters up and asks me "Anything off the trolley, dear?" True. This may not be amusing to some of you, but I had to chuckle.

Standing Tall ... on the Wings of My Dream

Hello after a long silence! I think maybe some of you are forgetting the sound of my typed voice. So let’s get down to it.

The school term started and I did most of the student-teacher conferences I had planned on doing. I wasn't able to do it with Form 3 due to time constraints, but I received very positive feedback from the Form 1's and 2's. Some of them thanked me for the opportunity to talk one on one without the others hearing them. I squeezed those meetings into the first week of school and also went over the Term 1 exams.

I no longer teach Form 1 Chemistry, instead I teach Form 1 Geography. This is ok since the teacher that replaced me is, in my opinion, much better in the subject than me. However, I was just starting to possibly like it. I had learned all about separating mixtures. Who knew there could be so many ways?!?! We've got decantation, filtration, evaporation, fractional distillation, solvent extraction, chromatography, crystallization ... and you use the different methods depending on miscible/immiscible liquids, soluble/insoluble solids in a liquid, ... I never knew these things...really. I think I'm going to miss it. Now I'm teaching a geography class that hasn't had a teacher for over a month and are quite a bit behind. I spent my first couple lessons talking about winds: katabatic winds, anabatic winds, berg winds, khamsin winds, fohn winds... and many more.

My question: who in Kenya decided that these topics were essential to teach Form 1 students? I didn't learn this in college, but three years down the road in the national exam a student could find a question such as: 'differentiate between khamsin, fohn, and berg winds and explain how they are formed.' I think most of them can answer the question now, but it is just one nugget of knowledge in a sea of possibilities.

Two teachers have left the school this term which means that two more joined the family. The first teacher slot was vacant for about one month, which created some trouble for the students and the teachers. Luckily the second slot was filled quickly. Also new to the school is a new principal, Mr. Kisilu Philip. He seems like a happenin' guy.

I've taken some time on the weekends to visit some of my fellow teachers who live in the surrounding area. Some of them live a half hour or more away by bicycle, but it is good to see more of the area and visit someone's home. Also on the weekends, the school has begun to teach Form 3's and 4's on Saturday. So some Saturdays I spend at the school teaching geography and preparing for the week.

A few weeks ago I had a visitor. Not just any visitor, but another American. Not just any American, but a female. And as I had to explain to my villagers she is/was not my wife. Yes, Amanda, my sister's roommate in college stopped by to visit on her way from Ukraine to the states. She was welcomed, told to feel at home, welcomed some more, told to feel free, and welcomed again. I think she felt welcome. We biked to the river (like an hour away), saw some crocodiles, and got some free food from some farmers after I endeared them with my prodigious Kikamba skills. Good times.

I was teacher on duty last week and it was a bit tiring. It was especially tiring since my midterm exams were due by the end of the week. Also, this week I have been at training and so before leaving I had to prepare some lessons for the students to do while I was gone. It kept me busy, but it was nice to relax a little bit this week in the presence of some other volunteers, share some ideas, swim in a pool, watch the World Cup (it’s a serious thing all over the world, but I wonder how it affects those of you in the U.S. Do you even care?), etc.

Spare change:

What famous rock group members are all dead including one that was assassinated? (Answer to come later)

We all love John Williams. There's no debate there, but if we had to choose a film score that we thought was his weakest what would it be? And let’s say, what has been his weakest/sub par score in the last 10 years?

I saw a clip of Perfect Strangers on Kenyan television two days ago. Balki Bartokomous and Cousin Larry Appleton...with so many old television shows being made into movies, why can't they bring you back?

The Detroit Tigers are the best team in ALL of baseball?!?! What? How does this happen? Or more importantly why is this happening? Why is this happening after I've supported them loyally for at least the past 12 years (all losing seasons), only to see them succeed in my absence? It fills me with agony and ecstasy. The bitter and the sweet.

Until next time: stay safe, and have your goats spayed or neutered.