What am I up to?

Teaching Form 2-ers the very beginnings of Algebra and what a variable is. Thus far (knock woods), they seem to be pretty good kids. I haven't had any major problems with the students so far. At first they were rally really resistant to coming up to the board to do problems, but I think they're getting more and more comfortable with the idea, which is great. One class on Thursday, I actually had some of the kids jumping out of their seats as they raised their hands to come up. That was a great feeling. They were also so good at solving for x that if they hadn't been struggling to understand variables the week before, I'd have thought they'd done it before. (And if the other math teachers hadn't assured me exactly where the students had left off in the Form One syllabus-- about halfway through.)

Last week I cut my finger so badly that after putting pressure on it the entire night, it was *still* bleeding. Now over a week later, the area between the tip of my finger and my fingernail is still numb. Does that mean it will be forever? I have no idea. Anyway, that was Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning (when I'd been up all night putting pressure on it) when it was still bleeding, it turned out that I couldn't teach that way. Something about when you walk around your heart beating faster and lot letting the cut close. So I actually had to miss out on my first real day of teaching, which was a bummer. Luckily my headmistress was really understanding. And I will admit: I was more OK with missing class than I would have been if I weren't tired as all heck.

There are two American Baptist missionaries who live just a 20 minute walk from my house. I've been hanging out with them a lot. Their house is incredibly nice; when I'm sitting in their living room or kitchen, I can't see a single thing that would suggest that I'm not currently in America (well, there are some carvings of Africa on the walls, but still). Plus they make delicious meals, things like pizza and hamburgers and enchiladas and all those things that I normally could never, ever get in Tanzania. They're way more all-American than my family has ever been, so it's nice to have somewhere to go where it's like I'm in America for an afternoon. And they're very sweet people as well. In fact, one of them came to my house and fixed my electrical problems, then caulked the gap between my wall and my ceiling-- the entirety of my bedroom and half the living room. The upshot? NO MORE LIZARD POOP FALLING FROM MY BEDROOM CEILING! That's right, I'm LIZARD POOP FREE!!!

Well, we're on our way out of the internet cafe now, so I should wrap this up. ALL OF YOU SHOULD WRITE!! Email me at melknapp@gmail.com and I'll send you my address!