Just a quick update on what is happening in the Pare Mountains !
Well today I just returned from the dress makers with a fantastic dress. We are off to a St. Patricks day ball on the 19th of this Month so there was a call for a new dress. Its not to often we get to dress up anymore so we are all extremely excited about our adventure to Dar es Salaam next week and to throw on the gladrags. Getting a dress in Africa is not like getting a dress in Ireland. You do go shopping but it is shopping for material. It is a long process, firstly we have to get up at 6 am to catch the only bus out of Suji to the small town Same to get the material. The bus journey is always an interesting one, anything can happen. We have had people been thrown off for refusing to pay, there is always room for one more person..... the bus can accommodate 25 but often carries nearly 100 people standing ( I may be exaggerating a little bit) , but it is always a tight squeeze ! I reckon there will be people on the roof before the year is out ! The music is another interesting part of the journey, the African music is always blaring and we wonder how the driver does not loose concentrating or how anybody has not gone deaf yet! I make sure to always have the ipod on hand , although their music always wins out in the end and I do find myself at times singing along ! So you get the material back up the mountain ( Belinda and Aisling just about got theirs up, the bus got stuck in mud half way up and had to walk the rest of the way in their bare feet) and you bring the material to the lovely dressmaker Ruth just below our house. I spent a while on the Internet picking a design out and made some attempt to draw it out.She has a measuring tape and an ancient sewing machine ( not electrical). She is a very talented young woman and 4 days later I have a gorgeous dress , which would have cost about 200-300 euro at home, I paid 12 euro for material and the dressmaking skills (that included a tip !) I will be making more trips to Same for material.
Photos to be uploaded after the event !
Teaching is coming along nicely although we are all starting to get a bit nervous about the mocks coming up in May. The students in form 4 are now coming in at 7 pm and studying until about 11. So we are always on standby and check in with them a few times every evening.I also have my form 2 students talking with my sisters friends students in a school in Dublin. Here the students are learning a little bit about Irish schooling our culture along with learning how to type and use the Internet. It gets a little crowded when there are 60 students trying to sit around a laptop though, so hopefully we will have set up some kind of a computer lab by the end of the year.
Latest football updates
Suji high school ( the private school in the village ) 7-0 Malindi ( A bit of a disaster)
Malindi 4-0 Gonjanza. A great victory and some great football.
Malindi 2-2 Tae ,(some terrible Ref decisions)
So the football team is coming along nicely and the players are great.
I even have one of them in a Mayo jersey ! One of my form 4 students goes by the name Anthony Mayo, so i thought he deserved to wear the great colours of Co.Mayo ! A Ciaron Mac Donald in the making for sure.
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