Work. We had our groundbreaking ceremony for our clinic, and it went really well. Still lots of hurdles before we can really start construction, but the word is getting out about the project. We had over a thousand people from the community show up at our ceremony, to watch the singing and dancing, and probably to watch the muzungus as well (muzungu being the word for “foreigner,” or “white person,” that is shouted at my on a daily basis.) I’m hoping to get some community health education programs going between now and when the clinic opens next year.
Teaching. I’m teaching 2 English classes, one to a group of about 12 second graders at the local orphanage, one with a group of scholarship students at the local university. Somehow, the class at the orphanage is going much better (they are no longer afraid of me). If any of you teachers out there have ideas on ways to teach English with no books or notebooks, I am all ears. I’ve been trying to teach body parts, and was focusing on facial features last week. First of all, the kids could not pronounce face. It was frace, with a rolled “r”. I cannot for the life of me figure this out. Also, to start the lesson, I drew a quick cartoon-ish face on the blackboard, and all the kids yelled out “Muzungu! Muzungu!” like they were playing pictionary, I’ve never thought about my completely rudimentary drawings having a race, but apparently they do.
Making. In my spare time, I’ve decided to learn how to crochet. I am not good at, and the only yarn you can get here is gross, crunchy acrylic stuff that is also really fine, so it takes forever. Still, the project is coming along, and it’s good to keep in my bag for things like bus rides and hour-long waits at the bank. It’s a secret, though.
Food. We’ve had a series of houseguests – people from our organization in the US, Humanity for Children. It was great having them, but the cooking slowed down, since it’s hard to cook for a big group every night. Now that it’s just Tom, me, and our new roommate, who will be here for the next year, I’m cooking a lot again. I made brownies in my fake stovetop oven (I melted the bottom out of one pan, so I need to rethink this, but they were still amazing). I also bought milk for the first time. I’ve been using powdered milk for everything, since it’s easy and it keeps. Yesterday brought my Nalgene to one of the neighborgood shops, and they filled it up with milk they had sitting on the counter. I took it home, boiled it, and then made ricotta out of it. It tastes really good, and I have plans to make ravioli. However, while I was letting it rest for a while, my roommate walked into the living room and casually asked, “so, whatcha making in there?” referring to the creepy-looking pan of curled milk on the stove. “Uh, I’m making cheese,” I responded, for the first time in my life.
The other interesting thing about having guests is that they're much less self-conscious about taking pictures here than I am. So when I'm already with a group of people taking pictures and attacting lots of attention anyway, I join in. As a result, I've added to my "cows of the world" photo collection. Here you go, Dad!
