We've been at site now for a little over a week, and things are going well, but slowly. Because of the timing of things, we have arrived at site just as most people are leaving. This has its advantages and disadvantages. It's nice to have some time to get settled and begin to get to know our community without the stress of figuring out teaching on top of it, but it's also a lot of down time! Most of the tutors (professors) at the college have gone home for the holiday, and classes are out. Unfortunately, we don't know what we are going to be teaching next term so we can't even work on preparing lesson plans. It's a little hard to get here, all geared up to do good work, and find 4 weeks of downtime waiting for you at site!
But, we're trying to make the best of it and enjoy a little relaxation in the mean time. It's a good time to get to know our new community, and spend some quality time together! So, we've started our garden, gone on walks, experimented cooking things from the market (Cassava! I got an individual lesson from one of the women in the market), practiced our Runyankore with some of the community members, and read a lot of Harry Potter out loud to each other! I've felt a bit homesick, but I know that as relationships start to develop and our work here starts to feel more significant it will help me feel like our time here is being well spent. Also, I watched "Singing in the Rain" and plastered our living room walls with pictures of people and places from home, so that helps bring some cheer too! :-)
Tonight we had some of our PCV neighbors & friends over for dinner. We made garlic naan and a coconut milk curry...delicious! We loved hanging out and chatting - so nice to be with friends! Also, they were in town today so they picked us up some real, live cheese! Gouda! I'd never had gouda at home, but I'm pretty psyched to have some cheese in our pantry and a great excuse to eat it all in one sitting! (no refrigerator!) So...Friends and cheese, who can ask for more? ;-)
Keep in touch,
Emily
Hi Em,
ReplyDeleteI replied yesterday on Google, but you got cut off for some reason. That sucks to hear about all of your down time. It will be nice to get to know your community and build some relationships. We have 20 days of school left so the kids (and staff) are ready to get the heck out of here!!!! Parker is growing like a weed and his personality is really starting to show. Glad to hear you are both doing well!!!! TTYS!!!!!