Day 42: October 16

This morning Hellen decided to pick us up from our hotel, instead of having us take the public bus to school. I think she was nervous about us finding our way. But it was much more pleasant to go with her, and she sat down and ate breakfast with us at the Y.

We drove together to the Njia Health Center, then Hellen walked us over to the school. We were greeted by a very pregnant woman, who introduced herself as the 6th grade English teacher. All four of us walked over to the classroom.

When we entered the room, 65 students arose from their benches and greeted us in unison, first in Swahili, then in English. The teacher greeted them back, herself sounding like she was reciting words that had lost their meaning, then told us to introduce ourselves. In the middle of the introduction, she called out something from the side of the room and the entire class said "Sank you, teacha" and sat down.

The lesson went fairly well...we were teaching them how to write a note and a friendly letter in English. It was a tad disjointed as we got accustomed to teaching, but overall we got people to participate, and it seemed like the understood us. Thank goodness there were two of us!

Next, we were scooped up by the 5th grade English teacher and accompanied to the next classroom. The greeting was repeated, but this time we were prepared, and I told the class to be seated before we introduced ourselves and began teaching. We too were rewarded with a "Sank you, teacha" as they sat. This lesson was much smoother than the first even though this time we were teaching about years, months and weeks. I think we knew more what to expect.

Immediately following 5th grade, we were ushered into the 6B classroom. We were much more on top of of things this time. Third time is always the charm. Although they still weren't as responsive as the 5th graders.

After we dismissed class, we headed over to the Njia clinic for a good old PB&J we'd made this morning. It hit the spot after the grueling morning.

After class and lunch, we headed out with Hellen to do more errands. We stopped at the drug store and multiple tile stores looking for stuff for the Njia clinic. We almost ventured into the market but Hellen got worried that we wouldn't make it back alive (kidding! I don't think she fully realizes how compotant we are!). Once we bought some, we headed BACK to the clinic to unload the tiles. Ok, well Alicia did. I just sat there and chated with one of the doctors about school and religion. Haha. I felt only a little bad.

After this, we got back in the car and headed towards a craft market to buy some elephant carvings for the fundraiser in November. Hellen didn't end up getting anything, but we did.

Because of the traffic leaving Dar, Hellen sent us back on a bus. She practically lifted us onto the bus, of which we were grateful because we had no idea where we were going. We arrived safe and sound of course. Before going back to the hotel, we had dinner at a restaurant called Chef's Pride, which was delicious. We got back to the hotel to plan another day of class. This time with a better idea of what to do. It would be impossible if we weren't doing it together.
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