My First Math Class!

2012.7.12

My First Math Class!

Today was so awesome! I started the day teaching my first class of real students! It’s still only training, since we will only be teaching here for two weeks, but it was super fun! I know for sure that at least some of them understood what I was teaching. I’m still not sure if they understood it because I taught it well or if they already read through the material, but it was a really good feeling to know that at least 15 people in the class definitely know the material now. I’m planning on checking homework tomorrow that I assigned.

After our daily chai (tea time), we had the written part of our Language Proficiency Interview! It was actually really cool to be able see how much I know on paper! I felt really good about most of the test, even though there were a few words I didn’t know. I might have actually nailed all the grammar points!

After the written test, we (Hannah, Brian, Kyle, and Willie) had lunch and waited around for the exam interviewer to come to our school. I didn’t feel nervous at all while I was waiting, but I guess I was because I couldn’t stay still. For maybe two hours, I was walking around in circles inside the classroom where we study Swahili, waiting for the other four to take their turns with Loyce, the interviewer. I finally made my way in and was really surprised at how much I could understand!!! I think there was actually only one word during the entire interview that I didn’t understand! I was speaking really slowly, and got myself stuck at some points, but overall I think I did alright. What kept happening was that I would understand what Loyce asked me, then I would think of how I would answer in English, then try to translate (on the fly) into Swahili. This was EXTREMELY problematic since my English is much more developed than my Swahili. I kept wanting to say “If…, then…” statements and would/could statements, along with other things I haven’t learned yet. I’m pretty sure it turned out fine, but I kept laughing because I kept doing that throughout the whole interview. There was a point at which I wanted to say the word for milking cows (which I learned yesterday), but I could not remember it!!! After struggling for a while, I decided to go with “get milk from cows”, which still makes sense, but isn’t grammatically correct. At the very end of the interview, when Loyce asked me what I was doing later, I finally remembered and said that I was going to go home and learn how to milk the cow! I was so excited and I could see that Loyce was glad that I remembered it.

When I got home, Ema reminded me to ask Mama about milking the cows. I asked her if it was ok, which it was, and then if I could invite the other volunteers in my group. She said yes! They came over and got to meet my Mama and Baba and a few other people around the house. We had alozela juice, which is freaking awesome. It’s a sweet purple color, and is made by boiling a certain type of flower petal with nuts from a baobao tree. I definitely want to try to make a wine or beer or something out of it later when I get to site. Anyways! They all got to watch Mama and Ema milk one of the cows, but at one point we spooked it and it kicked over the bucket! We all moved out of the stable, then Hannah and Willie went back in, one at a time to watch and take more pictures. It was pretty awesome to have all of them over. I was so happy.

And it just continued through the whole night! I had so much fun cooking dinner with my Dada (host-sister), who is visiting right now from Arusha. We made spaghetti, the Tanzanian way, and talked the whole time, mostly in Swahili! At one point I realized that I was actually understanding most of it, and actually mentioned it to her and the rest of the family a few times. It was just an overall awesome night.

Now I’m finally feeling like I’m getting comfortable in this place. I’m so excited to get to my site in August, wherever it ends up being.