End of Stage One

Right..... Long time no right so loads to write..... hmm, i have appauling english. really shouldnt have been teaching that i gues... but hey. here goes!!!
Wednesday 7th - Away for 1 month. time has gone so quickly. was asked to do all of form 2w's geog lessons to which i agreed. obv! although, writing on the board for so long does actually make the arm ache! Had a chat with caroline - the new english teacher who replaced Faith. Shes 24 and this is her first job since completin uni. Spent the evening with her and Jackie and we wandered to moi tea. Then they taught me some kiswaheli whilst we were lounging on their bed. felt well at home. They cooked for me and then later in the evening Elizer (another teacher) came to their house to see if they knew where i was cos he hadnt seen my light and he wanted to check i was ok! So nice! Really nice evening.
Thursday 8th - Finished a geog topic with my class today but was just a pretty normal day. Again, spent evening wih Caroline and taught her some cards. went for a wander.
Friday 9th - After teaching a grammer lesson today i went to a drama festival with Caroline. There was some really good stuff going on - there was one which was done by an all guys school and some of them dressed as girls and i seriously wouldnt have realised they were guys if it hadnt have been pointed out. lol. we walked to town and i bumped into nick which was a nice suprise.
Sat 10th - I decided to spend the weekend at the school compound and after doing some washing i spent most of the day with caroline. get on really well with her so its really cool. we went for a walk in the evening with some students. Amazing lightening was going on, with the added bonus of no rain!
Sunday 11th - Spent the day with the same people today, Caroline, Jackie, Rob and Kennedy. We walked down to Brooke via the arboratum. Took loads of photos. Again, a really nice day! We went for another walk in the afternoon but in the other direction to the forest. On the way back we got caught in a bit of a storm so had to power walk back. lol.
Monday 12th - I finished marking the English books from my grammer lesson this morning and then took them for another lesson. went to rispers for the evening and helped her seperate some veg stalk and leaves.
Tuesday 13th - I sharpened some of the penils that i was giving to the students but gave myslef a blister and so stopped. decided they could sharpen them themselves. Mr langat took some photos of me teaching today. Was really wierd to think i would be leaving soon.
Wednesday 14th - My right hand around my knuckles was swollen due to some bites (i think) today and it was so so soo itchy. Went to visit the tea factory this afternoon which i found so intersting. we had to wear white jackets and hats to go in. tres amusing. i learnt there are 6 main stages to the tea process - i wont go into it in detail cos have loads still left to catch up with! (but the stages are 1-Reception, 2-Withering, 3-Cutting, 4-Oxidation, 5-Drying, 6-Sorting) Got told that on a really good day (24 hours) the factory could process 120000 cages, producing 20000kg of tea!! Went for drinks at joshuas house and then spent evening with Caroline and Jackie.
Thursday 15th - Went to the Masaai Mara today which was snazzy. A guy called edgar was driving us (an old student) and on the way there we got 2 flat tyres! It took us about 8 hours to get there and when we finally did arrive there was a bit of a problem to do with the cost of entering the park and so we nearly had to go straight home. Luckily it all worked out and we all got in for 500 shillings - beats having to pay $40!! lol. we only spent an hour and a half in the park but we still saw loads of stuff, including lots of lions n lion cubs. so cute!!! after having left the park we came across a large group of elephants which was well snazzy as we hadnt seen any in the actual park. On the way home we got another flat tyre. nice. lol. we stopped for a bite to eat at about 9.30 which was much appreciated as i had been needing the loo more n more!!!Davis bought us some reds on the way home and finally got home about 12ish.
Friday 16th - Last school day today! Got up early to attend the assembly and speak to the students to say goodbye. Joshua thanked me and then after the assembly we took some photos. Risper gave me a present, some nice flip flop things. At the beginning of my visit to Chagaik they said i could plant a tree but i think they forgot - sob! oh well! Went into town to change some money to give for the transport to the mara but made a mistake n didnt change enough. Said goodbye to risper and then met with some students (the ones who are coming to aylesbury in the summer) to go back to school. Mr Langat gave me some presents from him n the school which was cute! Spoke with Fred on returning to school (the geog teacher) and then he gave me a letter from the school which i can use as a reference.
Saturday 17th - Last day at Chagaik. Spent it with Caroline and it was a bit hectic. i had to go into town again to change some more money but everything went wrong and frist we missed a matatu thing, then they were all full n we had to walk to brooke. and by the time we got into town all the banks were shut apart from one which wasnt changing money that day. Caroline did some shopping and then we headed home. did some washing and then spent afternoon with Caroline.
Sunday 18th - Went to Carolines at 7 this morning as they had invited me for some breakfast before i left. The taxi came a bit later but then it ran out of petrol so the guy had to walk to get some more. i was like great. lol. but it all turned out fine, and i said goodbye to caroline, as she had walked down with me and elijah before going into town. i managed to withdraw some money which was a rel;ief and then we caught the coach to nairobi. It took about 6 hours and after dropping me at the hotel elijah said goodbye and went back to Chagaik. I was thoroughly excited to find my hotel room had a bath and hot water!! It actually made my day. the water was disgusting when i finished. lol. The hotel was next to a road and it was well wierd to be able to hear traffic cos where i had been staying it was 2km from the road! lol. Got a phone call from Auntie in the evening when i was about to go to sleep which was a well nice suprise! had a nice chat n then went to sleep.
And thats the end of Chagaik!!!! Actually had a wicked time there and an amazing experience. Was nice to have experienced life there a bit, rather than just being more of a tourist. Made some great friends and have some snazzy memories!