Amy in Kenya

Life in Nairobi, Kenya

2008-09-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!

**while I am writing this I would like to note that Steve Green is playing in the background of the internet cafe that I am in**

Things are going really well at this end. I am loving teaching 1st grade. Everyday is a good story! The kids are great and are really teaching me about what it means to have a child-like faith. Their trust in you and their forgiveness and understanding is unbelievable. We are constantly praying together as a class and talking about Jesus. It is so much different from my school experience growing up as a kid. The other day before a math test a little girl raises her hand and says "Miss Keyser can we pray before we take our test!!" . I also have a prayer box for the kids to write a prayer request or draw a picture. We pray for our family and friends, and recently since it is Ramadan we pray for the Muslims everyday.

On Tuesday, I was surprised to have a new student! The little girl, her mom and my principal come into my classroom around 9:00am and say this is her first day at our school! So all of last week was spent catching her up---explaining the rules and routines of the classroom. When explaining why I want my bookshelves to be neat--and if they aren't the children have to give me a green ticket (which they earn to be able to buy something at the end of the month). she asked why do I take a green ticket? it sounds silly in my mind "well because I am a neat freak and want my classroom to be organized!" no no I said well we have to learn to take care of our things and be responsible. She is nodding her head as I am explaining. Then suddenly the boy next to her leans over and whispers "My mom says Miss Keyser is really tough"

My parents are really great!! they are so supportive-I only have one crazy protective-parent! :) I have parent helpers who come in throughout the week who help me grade, do paperwork and help with individual students. the ability level in my classroom is so diverse.

Another funny story- another little girl was late for class--about 20 minutes late. She comes walking in soaking wet from head to toe. She is also holding a sweatshirt which is dripping all over our classroom floor. She then goes to put it in her school bag like that! I say "wait wait no no no--where were you??" she said I got something on my sweatshirt and had to hand wash it in the bathroom sink! hey atleast she was being responsible right???

but they are a great little group! We are working on being respectful, responsible and safe! sometimes those things are tough for 1st graders. I think that hardest part about my job is many of my kids are not 6-7 years old like they should be. I have some 5 year olds in my class. So by 1:00 in the afternoon those 5 year olds are in tears and cannot make it throughout the day.

But I love my job! I love having my own classroom! And I am not stressed out about teaching. I honestly thought I would have no life this year-lesson planning and grading all the time. but I have really tried to manage my time well and not overwhelm myself.

Sammie is doing really well! He is busy with school and student government. he is taking Spanish this semester and loving it! so its fun to be able to help him with a language. because most of the time he's correcting my Swahili--this time I get to teach him the little Spanish that I remember!! his brother is getting married in just 3 weeks!! I have been to all of the wedding committee meetings and yesterday both families got together for lunch. I found out that in Kenya there is wedding registry!!! can you believe it??? the only problem is--when you buy the present you have to keep the receipt--and you do not check off at the store that you bought the gift. So you could end up with 8 blenders, 6 microwaves. because the store (Nakumatt--its just like walmart) does not keep track of what is bought off the registry. So you have to have your receipt to be able to return the item--imagine how long it takes to get everything taken care of!! but hey atleast there is wedding registry! I was cracking up though about the process. our friends who got married a few months ago said it took about 2 months to straighten out all of the gifts that were bought from Nakumatt off of the registry.

the lunch yesterday was really great. We went to Shiro's house (sammie's brother's fiancé). She lives in a really beautiful house! about 20 of our family members were there---and from sammie's family only 10 of us could make it. what a cultural experience. you walk into the house, you take off your shoes, and then everyone from shiros' family is standing in a line. you have to shake each and every one of their hands, and some times hug from side to side- does that make sense? you know that awkward when the person pulls you close and kisses both cheeks? sounds funny when you try explain it. if you go the wrong direction as the person you end up hitting each other in the face and looking like a doofus-happens to me al to. haven't totally figured it out yet. once you shake hands, you sit down--but the families cannot sit together. we sat on one side of the living room, and shiro's family sat on the other--since james and shiro are not married yet we cannot sit together. tradition. and Shiro was upstairs and was not allowed to come downstairs--technically at all of this meetings she is not allowed to be present. but that was broken yesterday when she got tired of sitting in her room and came down. its more of a tradition for the older generations. so when we sit down--the family greets us--we pray, wash hands and eat food. again the families sit together and talk. after we ate- they served soda/chai and fruit. then everyone has to give a speech!! EVERYONE! they all say the same thing--they put shiro and jame sin the middle of the room--and everyone must give them a blessing. most of it was in Kikuyu so id didn't understand most to fit--sometimes they spoke in English for me. I don't know any of Kikuyu (the tribal language). there was no Swahili the whole day! After the speeches- we took chai again and Sammie's family brought gifts. which was bananas, flour and sugar. The entire day lasted from 2:00pm-7:00pm. it was a long day!! but what an experience. Its good that they all got their speeches out--so it doesn't happen on the wedding day.

Today I am just hanging out and relaxing. Please be praying for good health and safety! Also, I am praying about what to do next year. My contract is up in June-and I have to tell the school my tentative decision in December. Just pray that God would open or close doors. I am looking at other schools while also praying about staying at West Nairobi for longer. Its a tough decision! but I absolutely love being here!!! God is good!

A praise is that my mom is coming very very soon!! She will be here for James and Shiro's wedding!!!

a picture of my 1st grade classroom!!! the kids are working hard!

The entire WNS staff at our Lukenya staff retreat!!

A picture of myself and all of my kenyan friends! This is after one of our committee meetings. They are a great group!

Busy Busy!

2008-08-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

Okay I need to update my blog! I know I know! Things are just crazy busy but I have no excuse so please forgive me. So I have started teaching 1st grade. I absolutely love it. I thought I would be crazy busy and have no life- but really I am pretty relaxed, taking one day at a time and loving what I am doing. I am not overwhelmed and really enjoy the curriculum i am using. The only problem is that the container that has all of our workbooks and curriculum- is not here yet. It's somewhere in the ocean so i have to make tons of photocopies of the kids workbooks. So thats time consuming! Please pray for the boat to come!!!

But I have settled in- starting to get a routine down. Loving being here!!! I am really starting to feel at home- knowing my way around and getting to know people. The big news recently is I finally bought a car. This will allow me to be more independent and get to do things outside of school. I am hoping to get more involved with my church or in the local community instead of being totally consumed with school. Please be praying for me as I search for this.

My weekends have also been extremely busy since I have been back. Meeting up with old friends, catching up on what has been happening since I have been gone. Sammie's brother James is getting married at the beginning of October so i am on another committee which is pretty exciting. I found out that they do have wedding registry here--the kicker is that you have to have all of your receipts, when someone buys you a gift they cannot scan it and check off that you have it so you end up with like 8 blenders! I was very surprised that they have something like registry but then realized how disorganized it is :)

But I love my job!! I love my kids! They are a great class! I will try to post some pictures of my classroom!! I have really enjoyed having my own rooms. Being a teacher is so rewarding.

thank you all for your prayers!!!

7 days....

2008-07-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Wow I cannot believe that my time here in the states is coming to a close! It has been a very busy summer! A summer of weddings, getting together with friends and family and eating lots of food that i had missed so very much (RITA'S water ice!!!) I am leaving for Kenya in 7 days! I am having mixed emotions about my departure! Feeling of excitement to go back and see everyone, begin my adventure of teaching 1st grade and learning more and more about the Kenyan culture- but also sad that i have to say goodbye to everyone here. I will try to update my blog as much as possible so keep checking for journal entries and pictures! On the right hand side you will see prayer requests and praises-I will also update that throughout the year. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I could not have lived out my dream without you! I love you all- please keep in touch- email me, post things on my blog or facebook or you can even call me!

My House/School in Kenya!!!

2008-07-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my house and school in Kenya. It takes about 20 minutes to drive from our house every morning to school. Not too bad. But its a nice little town house in a great location!!!

Okay pictures of the school....ready...go! This is a picture of one of the basketball courts on our campus!
The Elementary Playground was just put in a couple years ago.
The Elementary Building!
Where the kiddos eat lunch! pretty neat huh?

My first grade classroom! It's kind of bare because it was the end of the year!

Okay switching gears---pictures of my house!
My roommate cooking dinner in our kitchen!
my tiny/cozy bedroom! My mom made me that quilt for graduation :)
Our living room! Notice the non-matching furniture!
The front of our house! and our car!

Becky's Wedding :)

2008-07-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Becky and James are married!!!! YAYAYA! Check out some of the pictures from their wedding day. Becky looked beautiful!!! Everything went so well- we were there on time, our pictures were taken, no one got hurt, the wedding was beautiful, the reception was fun and they are finally married! yay!

The Bridesmaids! We all wore a different color-it was really cute. I wore purple, Candace wore Blue, Rachel (matron of honor) wore green, Lauren wore yellow and Kristen wore pink! We had a guy that matched us with their ties!
Me & the bride! She looked absolutely gorgeous!
The Culberts were there! it was so good to see them! Joie and Dave with their two kids- Alex and Will :)
The Messiah roommates! (LtoR) Alicia, Candace, Kristy and me holding Becky!
The Bridal Party!

More Pictures!

2008-07-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

here's some more pictures from the conference down in Mississippi! Enjoy!

These are the girls who are going to Kenya!
we slept in classrooms for the week--these were the girls in my room! we had a blast together!
Me & Kate. She's the H.S. English Teacher at my school
me and Lauren (she's going to Peru!
Some of the new WNS staff!!

2008-07-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have been down in Mississippi for the last two weeks going through Pre-Field Orientation. Which is funny because I was already on the field! But going into it with a good attitude-i learned so much through all of the seminars. Our days were filled with eating, seminars, getting to know other teachers who are teaching around the world through Network of International Christian Schools and of course took naps during our breaks! We were sometimes on information overload! It has been a blessing getting to know the future staff of WNS! They are a great bunch. Check out some pictures!

Still Under Construction!

2008-07-02T05:27:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone! well my blog is still under construction as you can see. My goal is to get it up and running before i go back to Kenya in about 3 weeks! While I am in Kenya I will update it with pictures, videos and updates on what I am up to!

2008-06-23T14:45:00.001-07:00

Check out my trip to Kenya!

2007-10-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

this is my first post!! how exciting! I'll be sure to add different things as much as I can.