End of Week 7
This is my last week before all of the "lasts", goodbyes, sadness, last minute work work work work, and preparing for home sets in. My last day of teaching was supposed to be Wednesday....and then I extended it to Friday because I couldn't bare to leave my kiddos after reading their letters (a post is coming after those, I promise!). Friday rolled around and only half of my class was there (I guess they leave early on Fridays...still trying to figure that out) but they BEGGED for Khalela and I to still teach them. We obliged and if you look on my Facebook, my kids made me "happy and [they] know it"...happier than I ever ever ever anticipated as I began my work as an English teacher a month or so ago. After talking to my class and seeing how sad they were, I internally debated for a few minutes and decided to teach for the rest of the next week (as long as I can!). To be honest, my reasons for not wanting to teach this upcoming week were incredibly selfish. I told myself that I wanted to finish my paper before going home, that I wanted to soak up Kenya before departing, that I wanted to spend my last few moments with the people and friends that I had made over the last two months. But really, my intentions were more selfish than anything. Reading their letters made me realize that they value me and appreciate me coming (and that they thought I disliked them whenever I didn't come last week) and I owe it to them to teach as long as I can. So, there you have it! I'll be teaching this next week (pending approval from the principal) and I couldn't be more excited to spend one more week with MY kiddos. I wrote each of my kids letters in response to their letters and I took a picture of my stack below. One kid said that there were 83 kids in my class. THAT IS CRAZY. A few days ago some relatives/friends of Professor Khan's came into town (he is gone until August 8 or so for a business trip of some sort) and to celebrate the occasion, the Guest Center served literally one of the best meals I've had so far. I couldn't tell you what it was, buuuuut it started with tomato soup and bread (which we haven't had for the last two months) and ended with chocolate cake and strawberries (which I probably haven't had in like 6 months). So so good! Thank you to Franceen for the special treat. Today, I went into town with some icipe colleagues and went to Shivling, the grocery store chain here. Wow, it was HOT but an exciting adventure nonetheless. Tonight, I Skyped 5 or 6 other BR interns in a group chat and it was tons of fun. We've done one before, but it's seriously one of the highlights of this entire journey. Everyone is so cool and has had such a different experience this year and I have loved getting to know them. I'm excited to meet back up in October for the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute!
