The First Day

This morning breakfast was bread and a hard boiled egg again. After talking with the other volunteers it seems like a daily meal. Gasaya picked us up and took us to immigration to get volunteer visas. It was more money which we didn't like, but I guess this volunteer visa gets us great discounts on safaris and other trips we are thinking about taking. 

Then, we went to the school and Gasaya showed us around and introduced us to the staff. He told us we will start Monday at another school that has 90 kids to a class. Yes, 90. He thinks, and we agree, that it will be good to see the difference in the schools. We will be there for a week, and then back at the primary school. I will be teaching third grade English, and Jake will be helping with math and teaching sports. 

When we would walk into a class to be introduced, all the kids would stand up and say 'hello teachers how are you today?' We would respond and ask how they are, and they say 'we are good teachers, thank you teachers' and sit down. So respectful! It was interesting to see. There are two classes of each grade, with about 30kids in each class. I guess that it is common that teachers just don't show up some class periods, and that happened right after our tour. Jake was asked to cover the class, and he did great. He had the kids introduce themselves and tell an interesting fact, and then taught them some Spanish. It was pretty funny to watch. Then, we both took them outside for PE. The girls literally crowded around me, calling me madame and asking me questions and to play games with them. They were adorable. 

They have one soccer ball, one volleyball and a frisbee. They had never seen the frisbee, and I taught the girls how to throw and catch it. They loved it. (Dad, you would be proud! I told them my dad was an expert at frisbee). Jake played soccer with the boys. There are many Arsenal fans here including many of the teachers, so Jake feels like he belongs :) 

School only goes until noon on Fridays, so after we went to Neema's, which is a very nice craft store and cafe. I found out they have free wifi, so my plan was to go get the iPad and come back to email our families and post the previous entries. (So sorry it took so long to find wifi parents!) Jake and I explored Iringa for a few hours, and met back up with the other volunteers for dinner. We are resting now for about an hour, and then meeting up with them to go for a drink. 

I did not really know what to expect coming into this, but after the first day I can say that I am excited about this next month. I love the town, the people here and the kids at the school. I do know that I am going to disagree with many things at the school, and I hope  to be helpful in some positive change. They said they want feedback and ideas to improve, and after observing and helping on day one, I already see so many things we could do to improve it for the kids. We are starting tomorrow by taking them a soccer ball, football, 2 frisbee and 4 jump ropes that we brought with us. We are looking forward to their reaction!

Now that we found a place with wireless Internet (and avocado smoothies), I will be able to post more often. 

Here is part of the town: