Reasons Why Lisa Rocks
We all know Lisa is a rock star for multiple reasons. But, for those of you out there with some lingering skepticism, look at the evidence produced in these past two weeks. Lisa is not only teaching a subject that she has no background in (English) 18 time per week, but she is also organizing all of our activities. She puts together the sports list. She puts together the after school activities. She puts up with me. So, anything on top of that should kill a lesser soul! Please read on to discover why Lisa is a rock star.
Basketball Scrimmage with St. Judes
Saturday of last week we had a basketball scrimmage against St. Judes. We had nearly 200 students, teachers and staff attend. We played on the new basketball court. Lisa was a main contributor in organizing and executing this event. St. Judes is a school about 10 times our size in Arusha. Their mission is similar in that they sponsor really poor kids to get a great education. We are trying to develop a strong relationship with them because we have a lot in common. So, it was fun to get their boys and girls (and even teacher's) teams out there to play.
Arusha ½ Marathon
Hot on the tail of the St. Jude's basketball scrimmage, we had 22 of our students compete in the Arusha Safari ½ Marathon and 5K fun run. Since the event started at 6:45 AM (Yeah right…more like 7:30!) we had to find a place for all of our students to sleep. So, we kept them here! Yes, last week at about this time we had 18 snoring students on our living room floor and extra beds with the remaining ones down at Peter's house. It was a kick feeding them the night before….popcorn, pasta (brought from Peter's house in two big pots), tea (with loads of milk and sugar…in fact we ran out of sugar!), cookies, bananas… Needless to say that next morning our house looked like a hurricane had blown through! We finally got to bed around 10:30 only to hear our kids laughing and talking. Lisa had put on a movie for the girls to watch…I think it was Little Rascals. I finally went in after about an hour and said it was time to go to bed. At 4:00 the next morning, what do you think they did first? Yes, those girls finished watching Little Rascals! Anyway, we got everyone fed, washed, put to bed, woken up and down the road by 5 AM last Sunday morning. All of our efforts paid off too because we had the top two runners in the boys and girls 5K as well as the top two boys in their age division for the ½ marathon. And, here's the kicker….LISA RAN THE ½ MARATHON TOO! After no sleep, working her buns off all week and at the basketball game, she ran the ½. In case you were wondering, I was way too busy drinking coffee and talking to be bothered.
The Fear of Haircuts
It's not that I am afraid of cutting my hair. I do it regularly. It's more the fear that the electricity will go out in the middle of it and I'll be left looking a bit like Mr. T. Yesterday, for example, the electricity came on. I rushed in and grabbed my stuff and was buzzing away. No sooner had I cleaned up and clicked the clippers off than, sure enough, the electricity went off. I dodged that bullet. But, rest assured, one day it's going to happen. And, you're going to be looking at pictures on Lisa's Facebook page and ask "Why does Seth look so bedgraggled? Does he have mange?" And, while I may have mange too, it will likely also be because of a nasty run in with clippers, power cuts and poor timing.
Maasai Eyes
There is an interesting phenomenon I have encountered here that I would like to refer to as Maasai Eyes. We use white boards in our classrooms. All of our classrooms also have many large windows which allow sunlight to come streaming in. Great for mood enhancement, terrible for glare on the whiteboards. Several students have complained of eye problems, headaches, etc… So, we try to remedy the situation by putting up curtains. Pretty soon all of that wonderful natural light is blocked and the rooms are dark. Still not good enough. Still have kids complaining of eye problems. Now, last night we dropped a kid off after dark to walk home. And I began to put things together. I'm fairly convinced that our kids have a much higher amount of rods (or cones…can't remember which ones are responsible for night vision) than the average person. I think this helps them see at night like no other, but makes that white board like staring at the sun. Just a theory. Not going to get my PhD in that study just yet. And of course, it is a far cry better than Man Eyes which is the syndrome where you can't find anything even if it's right in front of your face. I might blog about that some other time.
Swimming in the Bush
Yesterday we took four students to TGT to experience squash, lifting weights, eating some great food and, of course, swimming. There is no water where these kids come from. They walk for miles to get water and bring it back in buckets on their heads. So, I can't imagine what must have been going through their minds yesterday when they saw that ENORMOUS pool of crystal clear water, just for people to play in! After some encouragement they got in. It was a treat to watch them encounter such a foreign concept. Mostly they just walked back and forth in the shallow end. Then they would try the arm motions while walking. By the end a few were brave enough to put their heads under for some time. I would have loved to have been there later in the night when they tried to explain to their friends and family what they did that day. I'm sure it's a little like me trying to explain some of our experiences here. Sometimes, words just aren't enough.
