Day Two of school and once again we arrived at 8am sharp for assembly. There was nothing on as we walked the school driveway – and after reminding the DP about the assembly, he soon got it going….it seems as though the school was on African time this morning!
Today was exam day (for the end of 2008 exams!!) Without us pestering the DP yesterday – I dont think we will even be doing the exams today – they really dont seem in a rush to get this done! Today was the English Composition and the Swahili (the Kenyan National Lanuage) Composition for the Seniors and for the Juniors was Maths and English.
We were assigned a class to give exams to and to watch over while the exam was taking place. Jax had a great start as she turned up to an empty classroom – and had to proceed to round up her class before the class could begin! Jordan had a good mannered class and began exams right on time. The pupils were allowed 40 minutes for the exam – but the DP is on African time so they got 55!
It was time for a break – and our first trip home of many for the day! But before we could leave we got dragged into the principals office – we hadnt had the chance to meet him – as this is his first day in the office for the year! The meeting was epic and lasted an hour – I have never heard a man repeat the same thing over and over to the point you wantd to shoot him! As we were stuck in this meeting it meant that exams could not proceed (we were pretty much the entire school staff) and even after the meeting had finished the DP insisted that we head home for our tea, as the entire school waited for the delivery of the next exam paper – talk about power!!
Finally we handed the next exam to the kids – as we proceed to begin the marking of the other exams. During this time the DP and the 2 other teachers left for the day – leaving us in charge of a school full of kids….talk about a pressure filled second day! Four classes were still doing there exams – and as 40 minutes approached and still no teachers were back! We decided to take the bull by the horns and walked around all the classes and ended the exams and took the papers off the kids – just as the last remaining teacher returned from his tea! One thing we have learnt so far is to use initive – or things wont get done!
The first two exams were complete – despite having to be completed by the end of last year! Welcome to Africa!
At lunch we were sent home as the students were told to spend the rest of the day `self teaching’ (I beginning to think this is a briliant idea!!). That afternoon Jordan slept while Jax attended the ‘old wifes club’ beading sessions making African jewellery, as our Nini had a big order to complete by tommorrow, and was joined by 4 friends. Gossip ensued (all in the local language Masai) with Jax’s Masai name being throwen about – making the situation awkward as you can imagine!
That night Benson (the second eldest son) took us for a walk to the mini ‘Rift Valley’ about 5KM walk away to ‘roll boulders’ off the cliffs. This is pretty self explanatory – you roll massive rocks into the valley and watch them crumble! Soon Jax was called home again as she was put on dinner duty- Nini’s eldest daughter – Anne – was visiting from her home in Nairobi, and proceeded to teach Jax the art of cooking in a mud hut and on the dirt foor!
It was delicious.
