DEO

On this lovely cool and rainy day, I went with my headmaster to Katesh to meet some official. First, we had some breakfast at a place that had the TV tuned to CNN or some other English speaking news channel. Although I had trouble seeing and hearing it, I did learn that Frankfurt Airport was canceling flights due to snow. I wondered how the Köddermanns are doing in Wiesbaden and imagined Klara and Vincent playing in the snow. Travelers may be upset but I bet the kids are having a blast.

After eating, we walked a ways up the hill to the district government building (or something to that effect I think). We spent all of about 5 minutes there so I could meet the District Education Officer (DEO) and I think his 2^nd in command. That was it; I couldn’t believe it. I had to get up at 04:45, ride a daladala for over 2 hours (& pay for it), and walk in mud through the rain just to say “hi” to some guy. And then my headmaster said something about running a few errands and finding another dala to Endasak where he’d try to bum a ride to Gitting. Wish I could do that. Instead, I was left to myself to fill the day in Katesh before my daladala headed back.

Not wasting the opportunity, I dropped off a letter at the post office then decided I would try PCV Justin’s house (really close to PO) to use the choo (bathroom). Justin still wasn’t back from training but his buddy (counterpart?) Benny was taking care of the place and invited me in for chai. I tried to refuse since I’d had breakfast maybe 1.5 hours before but him and his friend though it was necessary because it was “cold”. He also had his friend get some fried dough shaped like a doughnut (but not as good). At least I got to use the choo before I left and I’d effectively killed ~1.5 hours out of the rain. To pass some more time, I went to the Internet café for a ½ hour before doing my shopping. I need to make a calendar of teaching topics (Scheme of Work – SOW) but when I tried to buy the notebook at the stationary store for just this purpose, I couldn’t because the kid/young man didn’t know the price. Say what?! It was a little frustrating seeing exactly what I want but him not selling it to me. He did know the price of the cheap notebooks so I could at least get 3 of them to start writing notes for my classes in them. I had more luck at the safi duka where I found bleach and a dustpan! Now I can properly clean…and survive because I have more peanut butter.

I’m glad I had the foresight to bring my journal because I sat on the daladala for around 5+ hours – mostly waiting to leave Katesh; not very comfortable but still somewhat productive. On the ride today I noticed a person sitting/sleeping in a culvert and at least one culvert not really draining. The daladala also hit a goat or dog without any apparent concern from the driver. As I returned to the school, I met the 2^nd master, who gave me a whole stack of books for Physics and Chemistry. They should really help me in my preparations for teaching.