Lesson Number Two

I taught another lesson today. But instead of Form 1, it was Form 3. And instead of teaching 14-17 years olds, it was mostly people my age...which made things a bit weird once they found out. And by teaching another lesson, I basically just talked to the students about the book they were reading. It's called "The River and the Source" by Margaret Ogola. Although at one point I accidentally called her Ogla...haha. The headmistress wanted me to go over the characters and themes from the novel and so I spent most of the 40 minutes asking the students questions, trying to get them to talk. They understood the novel and didn't seem confused about anything. And of course, after class was over they started asking questions about America and myself. Most of the questions were the same as the Form 1's. "Are you single or married?", "how old are you?", "do you find it weird to listen to people speaking a language you don't know?", "how do you find Kenya?"...the questions were endless. And I was happy to answer them! I took pictures of them also, I mean come on y'all. They are only my second class ever! 

And as usual, the "wolf pack" (what I now call them) came to the library to talk with me. Vincent, Arnold, Edward and Oliver. Although mostly Vincent and Arnold talk to me. Yesterday they were telling me stories about bullying in Kenya. Which is very different from the bullying in America. They told me that a form 4 would go to a form 1 and give them 5 shillings. Then they would tell them to buy them a loaf of bread and milk. Now, I know that milk alone costs 50 shillings for half a liter. And the form 1 student would also be told to bring back change. So basically, they would have to use their own money, bring back the "change" and be told by the form 4-"see? I told you you'd get change back!" Apparently, they would also get beat up after lights out by all the older students (at boarding school). The only way you could avoid bullying is by having older friends. And I told them that they should have risen up and started a revolt. I told them that if I was in that position, I'd become friends with a bunch of older kids and then get all the form 1's to rise up against the form 4's because there are more form 1's than form 4's. If the form 1's just banded together they could have fought back. All the guys looked at me like I was crazy, but I think it could work. Although, now bullying isn't as bad as it was. Richard (one of the first form 4 guys I talked to) was back at school today. Because he missed so many classes with no excuse or permission, he had to dig and weed the entire assembly area all day. And also, normally every Tuesday for lunch we have beans and rice but apparently the price of beans has been rising so instead of beans we had potatos and rice. I was so hungry I just ate with my hands, didn't even wait for the spoon. And it was delicious!! 

And Dorcas brought her daughter to work today! Fiona! 

She kept asking me to take pictures even though she never smiled in any of them. 

And towards the end of the day she just kept talking to me but I had no clue what she was saying because she was speaking Swahili. I also was shown what the form 4's have to study for or expect to be tested on for their major exams coming up. They have to know how to write the most ridiculous things. For instance, how to write a shopping list in an email...I didn't even know there was a proper way to do that! But there is. Their tests here are so hard and all these kids have been doing since I got to the school (and probably before I got there) is study. Most of the students in the library are form 4's studying for their exams which are on October 22nd. I still don't really understand the schooling or testing system here. And if any of those kids went to America they would blow through all the courses! I really enjoy the "wolf pack" though and every day I look forward to our conversations! I learn so much about Kenya and just the way life is by talking to them. And I hope they learn from me too!