First Weekend Back

Diving back into school at the start of a semester is always challenging, but my students did well. We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day Friday, though, so I'm glad I've had such a restful and pleasant weekend. Here's the rundown, you gluttons for boring details:

Friday after school: Bus duty. Every other day for 18 weeks, I stay a few extra hours after school and make sure everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing. Basically I halt elementary kids who are playing and ask them who's watching them. If they can't point to the mom/dad/driver, we start making phone calls. This week there were two little munchkins who were un-picked-up for some reason, so we hung out and tried to solve the problem until I eventually dropped them off at the elementary principal's house for safekeeping. (Another reason I don't want to be an administrator). But a bizarre benefit to the whole experience- the aforementioned administrator has found Good Milk here!! It comes from the organic food store and can only be purchased on Wednesdays (of course), but it is Good Milk! She gave me a liter in her great kindness, and I have been drinking it all weekend.

Friday night: Bollywood at Wendy's. A bunch of friends got together to make mini-pizzas and watch a movie. This evening's treasure was Dhoom 2, a mix of action-adventure-romance and of course catchy musical numbers. It lasted a long time, was in Hindi, and was just so dramatic. A noteworthy experience.

Saturday: The National Museum. My friend Dalina will be taking her class there on a field trip later this week, so Chris L and I joined her to scope the joint and write 3rd-grade-appropriate questions about the exhibits. The museum gets a solid B in my opinion. It's not huge, but it's interesting, and it's somewhere I've driven past for a year and a half and wanted to go in. A good activity on a rainy Saturday.

Hey! It rained on Saturday and Sunday! Remember, it's summer here- hot and dry. And Kenya's experiencing a drought that's putting lots of folks in danger of starvation. So this rain was quite welcome; it's truly a miracle to have rain in January. But we're still doing water conservation measures like saving our shower water to use to flush the toilet. So please keep praying about the food shortages in Kenya.

Saturday night: DP & Australia. DP stands for Diamond Plaza, the El Parasol of Indian food. Cheap, basic, unhealthy, and phenomenally delicious/addictive. Australia was the movie Australia. It was epic.

Sunday morning: a pleasant early run on the track- the cassia trees are starting to bloom. When the flame trees are in bloom, I think they're my favorite. Same with the jacarandas. But I've changed my mind again- the cassias are my favorite. =) Church was also good, as was lunch afterwards. Dalina contributed ranch dressing to our wraps, and Chris can now saute chicken. Big step forward.

And finally, this evening I spent with some Wheaton-connected friends and their kids. This husband's an excellent cook, the wife is serious about her relationship with Christ, and the kids are smart and delightful. I had a wonderful time.

The gaps in the weekend were a nice mix of sudoku (new big book from my parents for Christmas), Numb3rs (featuring the most handsome man on television, or on DVD as it were), and naps. I am well rested and looking forward to this upcoming week of school! I like living in Nairobi. =)