Kait’s Engaged!! Just after midnight, I somehow woke out of a deep sleep to answer my phone. I was so out of it, I thought it was the next morning and it was a fellow PCT calling about our Pod Day (more on that later). I was surprised to hear my sister on the phone but thrilled to talk with her. She’s finally engaged! I’m sooo excited!! And this means I will be going home at some point for her wedding and will not have to go a full 27 months without seeing my family. I only talked with Kait for less than 7 minutes but couldn’t sleep for 2 hours afterward (so worth it though).
Before leaving for Pod Day, we received the results of our mid-training oral proficiencies. I scored Intermediate-Mid, which is what I am supposed to score at by the end of training. Not bad. I got an 83.5 on the written exam that we got back yesterday. I’m hoping to do better on the final by actually studying for the exam.
For Pod Day, our Kihonda group was driven to Kayenzi and we now understand more fully why they keep getting flat tires on their bikes. We were joined by some Kayenzi teachers and PCV Aron led a session on making science classes hands-on. It was fricken awesome. We created O2 (oxygen). We made H2 (hydrogen)…and then blew up the balloon. We made liters of acids and bases and neutralized them. We calculated the gravitational constant (g) from a pendulum. And all of it was done using materials fairly readily available in Tanzania. There are a few things that are best obtained in Dar but many are quite common. We are now recognizing the many uses of objects around us like empty water bottles, used batteries, and the unwaxed floss PC provided in our med kits. It was a great session with good food in between. We bought potato sambusas midmorning from some women who cook them right on the school grounds and sell them to students during chai (tea) time. They were delicious; as was the lunch that the woman brought (she makes lunch for the Kayenzi CBT every day).
I’m really glad we had a session focusing on science labs. It’s difficult enough in the States where supplies are more readily available and easily replaced if broken. I feel much more confident about teaching Chemistry and am excited to get started planning my lesions and collecting materials for experiments.
At dinner, I prayed in Kiswahili for the first time. Mama had told me a simple prayer and I finally memorized it. She was proud. My family watched “George of the Jungle” tonight and I laughed along with them. The movie is on a disc with several other movies and is actually labeled as “The Jungle Book” – someone (probably in China) was confused.
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