Sunday, September 25, 2005
Friday, Sept 24
Yesterday I wrote all that stuff in this Journal about how awful my school is and how ominous if feels. And today...
I took a bunch of the flip charts I’ve used in presenting material and posted them in the various classrooms for students to look at or study or ignore or whatever. I was surprised to get a lot of good comments and help in putting up the charts. Even some interest from kids who are not taking chemistry.
Several students saw me outside my house and came over, just to talk. It turns out that there now will be a graduation ceremony for the For-IV students, just informal instead of the usual more formal one. I gather that basically means no Honored Guest Speakers. The students were concerned that I be there, it is important to them. That is a question, actually, because I will be in Arusha until the day before for our Close of Service Conference, and transportation to get back quickly is an issue.
Walking the campus, I am greeted by many students. Three groups of students gave me their Final Projects to mark – groups of about six students are supposed to visit a local industry, like a soap or match manufacturer or the Coke bottling plant, then write a report on it. It is clear that a lot of work, or copying, went into these Projects.
This evening I went to visit Ryan at Nganza next door. His school, an all girl’s school, had their graduation today, and when I got there they were having a dance with a DJ and big speakers for lots of sound. There was food and soda for everybody, beer for the staff. The girls were dancing up a storm, it was great to watch them. Tanzanian girls dance with lots and lots of hip action, and really get into it. In the middle of cramming for the National Exam and preparing skits, songs, and poems for their graduation, this evening was the emotional release. They all screamed whenever the DJ started a new song. The spirit in Ryan’s school is just fabulous!
And this morning I met one of our business course instructors downtown and he was so appreciative and complimentary about what I have done to help get this program going. He was looking for ways to make sure I would be here next year to make sure that it keeps going.
So it ain’t all bad, here. Sometimes it feels pretty damn good.
<<<>>>
There is something surreal about following the progress of Rita as she slowly pulls Texas and Louisiana to her breast, as I sit here reading John Updike on my front porch on this cloudless, hot, still day. It is all by BBC news headlines on every hour and half hour. The texts are repetitive, but then the changes seem even more significant. Rita is moving eastward. Winds are slackening but she is still very dangerous. It is not raining in New Orleans but portions of the city have re-flooded anyway. Emergency workers in Beaumont can only sit and wait for the winds to die down. She is expected to stall after making landfall. Galveston and Houston will be spared the brunt of her attack...
Yesterday I wrote all that stuff in this Journal about how awful my school is and how ominous if feels. And today...
I took a bunch of the flip charts I’ve used in presenting material and posted them in the various classrooms for students to look at or study or ignore or whatever. I was surprised to get a lot of good comments and help in putting up the charts. Even some interest from kids who are not taking chemistry.
Several students saw me outside my house and came over, just to talk. It turns out that there now will be a graduation ceremony for the For-IV students, just informal instead of the usual more formal one. I gather that basically means no Honored Guest Speakers. The students were concerned that I be there, it is important to them. That is a question, actually, because I will be in Arusha until the day before for our Close of Service Conference, and transportation to get back quickly is an issue.
Walking the campus, I am greeted by many students. Three groups of students gave me their Final Projects to mark – groups of about six students are supposed to visit a local industry, like a soap or match manufacturer or the Coke bottling plant, then write a report on it. It is clear that a lot of work, or copying, went into these Projects.
This evening I went to visit Ryan at Nganza next door. His school, an all girl’s school, had their graduation today, and when I got there they were having a dance with a DJ and big speakers for lots of sound. There was food and soda for everybody, beer for the staff. The girls were dancing up a storm, it was great to watch them. Tanzanian girls dance with lots and lots of hip action, and really get into it. In the middle of cramming for the National Exam and preparing skits, songs, and poems for their graduation, this evening was the emotional release. They all screamed whenever the DJ started a new song. The spirit in Ryan’s school is just fabulous!
And this morning I met one of our business course instructors downtown and he was so appreciative and complimentary about what I have done to help get this program going. He was looking for ways to make sure I would be here next year to make sure that it keeps going.
So it ain’t all bad, here. Sometimes it feels pretty damn good.
<<<
There is something surreal about following the progress of Rita as she slowly pulls Texas and Louisiana to her breast, as I sit here reading John Updike on my front porch on this cloudless, hot, still day. It is all by BBC news headlines on every hour and half hour. The texts are repetitive, but then the changes seem even more significant. Rita is moving eastward. Winds are slackening but she is still very dangerous. It is not raining in New Orleans but portions of the city have re-flooded anyway. Emergency workers in Beaumont can only sit and wait for the winds to die down. She is expected to stall after making landfall. Galveston and Houston will be spared the brunt of her attack...
