Filler post

Hmmmm, so it looks like I won't be able to put up blog posts this coming week. I still plan to write them up and upload them sometime later. I'll still have email, so feel free to contact me.

Not getting enough sleep

Well, the fourth years finishing exams means that the rest of the school is about to start them. Today was the first day for the third years and the second and first years will start on Monday. I have 8 exams during this set of exams. I've been up past 11 every night this week (and past 1 twice) writing exams, which is a far-cry from the 9:30 bedtime I maintained during my first two terms. The other teachers are baffled that I'm still teaching lessons all along. They asked me why I wasn't in the staff room most of the day. I just walked out rather than trying to explain why I think it is helpful for students to have a teacher in the classroom.

Fortunately, our deputy principal brought some tree seedlings to school this week, so I really enjoyed that activity with the students. The students were really impressed that I could dig a hole and plant a tree (some students actually didn't fully grasp the concept and were planting seedlings that were still in plastic wrappers). I've encountered this a lot at school and I used to think that was because of their perception of Americans as being very removed from manual labor; I have since learned that it is because of their perception of teachers as being very removed from manual labor (I would stand jaw agape with all of my students if I saw any of the other teachers wielding any kind of gardening tool).

My topic in life skills this week was drugs. With my third years, we talked about alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and miraa (a leafy plant that is chewed as a stimulant). With the second years we only made it through the first two topics. All the third years who had been suspended for smoking marijuana were back for the lesson (one day after their trip to "jail"), including one who was expelled (I don't understand what these words mean anymore). One student asked what marijuana plants look like. Fortunately, lots of people here have T-shirts and handkerchiefs with the plant on it, so one student pulled her handkerchief from her desk and all the students' eyes widened with understanding. I felt like this was one of the most important and productive lessons that I had given all year, and it still baffles me that most schools do not make real efforts to teach students about these topics (unless you count caning students for any kind of suspicious behavior, which most of the teachers at my school deem sufficient) considering how rampant the problem is in schools.

I took all of the students into the lab this week (not all at the same time, though). I'm glad to report that I have no scars to show for it. It was really sobering to realize that the first years hadn't even held test tubes yet. They felt such pride just pouring compounds from one test tube to another. The bulk of my time in the lab, however, was spent putting out fires (not figuratively). Students were learning how to use the new Bunsen burners and apparently several of the hoses leak. I had forgotten how much I like fire. :)

My mind keeps coming back to exams. I wrote this set on the computer, which was really nice. I'm way more organized this time around, which has been somewhat refreshing, but has led to the title of this post. I had a few essays earlier this week to distract me, but now I'm in exam mode. I'm dreading the part where I will have to grade 8 stacks of papers in 36 hours. The principal makes it sound like we might close the day before Thanksgiving, which means I might be able to meet other volunteers and have a celebration. Unfortunately, this sleep deprivation may well continue until that point, so I'm expecting to be quite the zombie for Thanksgiving.

Today marks one year in Kenya for me and my training group. I'm usually pretty big on anniversaries, but I'm actually kinda numb to this one. Oh well, congrats to the 30 volunteers who have made it this far.

Great job guys!

My fourth years finished exams yesterday. No ceremony. No fanfare (well, they got a slightly fancier lunch). Just calmness after three weeks of exams.

Congratulations Andrew (Mwafusi), Daniel (Mwadime), Fanuel, Nicodemus, David, Linet, Anne, Serapia, Lazarous, Sophrine, Margaret, Catherine, Noel, Eunice, Jane, Lucy, Dinaice, Thomas, Hillary, Alex (Mkala), Steven, Isabella, Monica, Herman (Peshu) and Mariam.

In case you were confused, Sophrine, Noel and Hillary are all boys.

Now they wait a few months for results. Then a few more months to figure out if they qualify for university, college, vocational school or simply a bright future in Maktau.

Drugs and flame-throwers

This morning, I was sitting in my office grading exams (only a month overdue on that). I kinda zone out while I do that, so I didn't notice that several of my third year boys were summoned to the office. I subsequently didn't notice that several of my third year boys were sent to the village cell (as close as we have to a prison) for drug use (marijuana). All in all, one-third of my students were sent away for the day. There was no drug bust or anything. I'm not really surprised by this, but I'm pretty sure that the confessions were extracted "under duress" (read: savage beating. The other reason that I avoid the office sometimes). I don't know what happens to them next. I hope they'll be back soon. Otherwise, we're gonna lose a lot of really good students. I had even planned a lesson for later this week on the hazards of drug use.

Also, in the afternoon I was showing my students how to prepare ethene (yes, that is part of the syllabus, I'll probably have a syllabus-tirade post up here soon). After demonstrating the test for ethene (it turns bromine water from orange to colorless) I had a bunch of extra ethene coming out of a flask. So I did the only logical thing that I could think to do with a large supply of gaseous fuel. I showed my students how to make a flame thrower. I was kinda disappointed in myself actually. If I were a cool teacher, I would have showed them how to make a green flame thrower. Maybe later in the week...

The countdown continues

Sorry, I forgot to mention this. 31. 30. (71% of our original group remains.) No teachers left this time.

Anyone want to start taking bets on what percentage of the group will finish their two years?

What does this mean?

I am very grateful for all of the Kool-Aid I've gotten from the states. Thanks Thuy, thanks Peter, thanks Jackie.

Now I have a lot of Kool-Aid and I've started reading the packages. Apparently Tropical Punch and Cherry have to announce "artificial flavor" on the front. Fair enough, I didn't expect to find much real fruit in Kool-Aid.

Lemonade has to announce "natural flavor with other natural flavor" on the front. Pardon?!? ?????

It's not going to stop me from going through about a liter a day as we go through the exam cycle.

Yeah, nice.

Real life adventures of a mad scientist

So I had a lot of fun on Halloween being a mad scientist. I used the excuse to say things like "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate" and the numerous jokes about particles hanging out in bars (neutron walks into a bar..., sodium is having a drink..., hydrogen and oxygen are hanging out...). I'm pretty sure everyone found the jokes at least as funny as I do. Nearly.

This week there's been a lot of madness and a lot of science in my life. On Monday, I was using some nitric acid for a chemistry demonstration. I spilled some on my hand. I've spilled acid lots of times, and it's usually pretty minor. This time, though, it was a lot. And nitric acid is some pretty fierce stuff. It started itching a bit and then the burning set in. I would have dealt with it more urgently but I was in the classroom at the time. I felt that this justified a break in the lesson, so I ran back to the supply room and neutralized the acid. It was kinda painful and actually turned my fingers yellow. Mostly just painful when I was holding chalk. But that's not a big part of my profession.

On Tuesday, I was working with hydrochloric acid. I didn't spill any on my hands (see, I can be careful from time to time). Unfortunately, concentrated hydrochloric acid is pretty volatile. And rather unhealthy to breathe. I think it causes loss of appetite and headaches. Pretty sharp ones, too. I think there's something about lung damage in there too.

Wednesday I stayed out of the lab. It was glorious. Yesterday was a busy day in the lab since we had to prepare a lot of things for the laboratory portion of the chemistry exam (that was today). We had to clean a lot of supplies and prepare solutions and sort through a ton of equipment. Mercifully, the headmaster recruited an extra set of hands for this. Having a professional lab tech around definitely took a lot of the pressure off. The gentleman was on loan to us from a nearby school (that is much more staffed than we are). He was a bit old and it seemed like he wasn't all there (he would wander off from time to time or open gas taps for no reason). Still, having him around meant that I got to leave school before sunset. I definitely give the headmaster credit for coming through on this one (he also bought gloves after he saw what had happened to my hands).

Mercifully, the exam went off pretty well (the only snafu was when the gas started leaking out of one of the lines and burning on one of the lab benches). We were disappointed that we couldn't figure out the results that the students were supposed to get from doing the specified trials. This was a pretty harsh exam, so hopefully there will be low scores across the country (national exams are hella curved). Oh and apparently I rubbed my face absentmidedly at one point. I didn't feel it, but apparently I have a little yellow acid burn on my nose.

I really need to work on this safety thing a bit (gloves are a step in the right direction, now I just need to make a sale on goggles and breathing masks).