Monday July 4:
Today was a pretty low-key day, seeing as that the students exams have been over for a week so only half of our class was there today. Katie and I decided to teach animals today, and our lesson was pretty scattered because we seriously have nothing left to teach them. Sophia let us borrow her animals poster that had descriptions of 5 different types of animals; fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. We went over the poster with them, and then held up different drawings of animals and asked them which type of animal they were (ex. A picture of a lion, and the answer was mammal). Half of the students weren’t paying attention, while the other half kept running outside, but we were warned that this week would be a joke. Katie also made crossword puzzles, for example: 1 down: an animal that lives in water and breaths through gills, and the answer would be fish. They really didn’t understand the concept of a crossword puzzle, let alone even understand the 5 different categories of animals, so after 30 minutes our lesson was officially over. Katie and I spent the remaining hour and a half just playing with them, which was completely fine with me. If we weren’t here this week, since their exams are already over, nobody would be at school anyways. At about 11 am, we all headed over to the standard 1 classroom to paint desks. Last summer, a group donated tables and benches to every standard 1 class. Dr. Kelly had the idea to paint every 3 desks a different color; we had blue, green, yellow and red. This way, they can always refer to the groups as “group yellow” or “group red”. Also, it brought so much more personality to the dull, empty classrooms. I kept thinking if only all of the classrooms had tables how much of a difference that would make. If Katie and I’s 100 students had benches to sit on, lessons and projects would be so much easier and more productive. Just something else I can pray for, I guess.
We all walked over to the Demonstration school at about 2 to be picked up, and while we waited for Willie to come, Katie, Allison and I saw Gerald and some of his friends. There was a huge fire and Gerald showed us how they make their soccer balls; how damn creative these kids are, I swear. They take recycled plastic bags and roll them into balls, one bag inside of another. They then burn the edges so that the plastic bag melts and secures the “circle” shape. It was really neat to watch, and they were cracking us up as they were trying to bribe us to sell them our iPods for the football. Haha! When Willie picked us up, we went into town and Katie, Allison, Bebe and I went to Tasty Bites for an early dinner. It’s crazy how hungry we all are all the time! We had lunch at noon, and by 3 pm we were all starving. I’m not a fan of Tasty Bites, but I thought I’d give it another try and it still didn’t change my views. However, we all got a slice of the cake, which was so on point, so it made the rest of the meal worthwhile. Now we are back at Annie’s, and the Internet is out again. Typical. I guess it’s a good thing because I’d get really sad looking on Facebook and seeing everyone’s 4th of July plans. I know none of their plans even compare to this experience, but I definitely have the biggest case of FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. Haha! Anyways, tomorrow Katie and I have decided to bring in our laptops and let the kids watch a movie. They are going to completely freak-out and I’m so excited to see their reactions! We’re probably going to break the classroom into 2 groups, and 1 will watch “It Takes Two” on my computer, and the others will watch “Toy Story” on Katie’s computer. If we have any time left, we’re going to play our music and let them dance to it. I don’t know if any of these kids have even seen computers before, let alone watch a movie from it. It’ll definitely a fun day and I’ll be sure to get more good pictures. Touch base later; I cannot believe I only have a week left. I don’t think I’m ready to leave these children. Peace, love, Malawi.
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