School, Fish, Crockpot and Sunsets.

Today was my first day teaching. Joanna is homeschooling Luke and Sarah and ever Wednesday they have “Exploration Day.” This is my day to teach. I have a little sheet with a few activities, and a science book that we look at a two page spread in. Today we did a little bit from two days. So we learned about seeds and about trees. We did bark rubbings from trees, collected all kinds of seeds to look at (including a funny little red fuzzy berry that grows on a palm tree, an avocado, little spinner things and a pinecone), made dye by mashing up a flower and sticking a coffee filter in it to see the color, and started soaking beans that we’re going to let start growing and take apart to journal their different stages of development. I had also found instructions for growing a popcorn plant from  popcorn kernels. The kids are really excited about this one, and not having to buy popcorn kernels because they’ll be able to grow them. It was a lot of fun. I, being a good English major from a liberal arts school, was careful to make sure that this was more than just a science day. So I added a few activities. I have some art books that Joanna gave me; it shows a painting and then has some questions and a little information about the artist and background of the painting. Today one of the next paintings was by Henri Rousseau, and it was of a jungle. This fit perfectly with our tree and plant observation, so we discussed the painting of trees. So we had some art appreciation. Then we read a neat poem by e.e. cummings about a Christmas tree. I would read a stanza and then ask a question to make sure they were following since, lets face it, poetry can be a little abstract sometimes, but Luke was all over the poem. He understood it quite well; I was really impressed. After reading the poem I explained that we were going to write our own tree poem together. So we put together this little poem:

 

My Christmas Tree

By Luke and Sarah Thelander (with a tiny bit of help by Jessica Fox)

 

My Christmas tree is big and happy,

Under it the presents take a nappy.

My Christmas tree is big and tall,

But we celebrate Jesus who was small.

 

I was very proud of them. They wanted to write about a christmas tree, I guess e.e. cummings inspired them. After writing the poem, I wrote it on two little pieces of paper which they decorated with markers and glitter. Then we went outside and collected pine needles (which were huge, they were 9-12 in. long, I’ve never seen pine needles this long!) And made little frames for our poem by connecting four bunches of pine needles in the corner with red and green pipe cleaners. It was very Christmas-y, which wasn’t quite the goal, it’s a little early, but it’s fine. So then we got in our literature and fine arts.

Here's a few pictures:

Luke and Sarah on the porch at the school with the frames

 Luke hard at work trimming his frame Sarah and her frame all finished except for trimming the ends a bit

They seemed to have a great time with it all. After this we ate snack, which was funny, because we sorta forgot about it till then end, and then it was hard to get them to leave the school to come to my house where we were going to eat lunch. But we made it eventually.

 

At my house Luke and Sarah dissected the seeds on my porch while I got lunch together. Sarah got bored and ended up helping me make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while Luke drew pictures of the seeds to go with his bark rubbings. Then they both helped mix up some juice and we had lunch. Then they decided that everything in my house was a hole (strange but true, or so they told me). This was based on a discussion on which Luke decided there was a snake in my house, and I said the door was shut so they couldn’t get in. But he saw a tiny hole in my door, and decided it would come in there, and then found imaginary holes all over until my whole house was a hole. Then they decided to speak snake, which nearly drove me in sane. For your information, snakes say something like “doopy de do.” They do not hiss; that is a common misperception. After confining them to speak in only the French or English language, we walked back to their house. Bearing all the fruits of the day—bark rubbings and seed drawings, poems and frames, the beginnings of a pop corn plant, and a pine cone, avocado pit, and apple seeds ready for planting in the Thelander’s yard. 

I think on a whole it was a fantastic day. They were pretty excited about everything and seemed to have a lot of fun. I know I had a great time. I’m looking forward to next Wednesday already which is on clouds and rain and evaporation. It should be pretty applicable too, seeing as how rainy season is certainly upon us (we’re having a torrential downpour right now).

 

Another exciting part of today:

 

Joanna gave me whole fish! I now have 6-8 whole Capitane fish sitting in a trashbag in my freezer. I think I have a basic understanding of how to filet and pan-fry them. Now I just have to figure out how to get them apart without having to thaw them all so I can try one someday soon.

 

Joanna also gave me a crock-pot which I really couldn’t be more excited about. It’s probably the world’s coolest crock-pot ever. It’s a casserole dish shape around, but taller; however, the lid can be used as a casserole dish in the oven and then placed on the crock pot to keep warm, or you can remove the pot and lid to use the eating surface as a cooking surface for eggs, sandwiches and hamburgers. I’m really in awe of this crock-pot. It will also be handy because it gives me a way to cook my whole chicken. I’d heard that basically all the meat you could get here was whole chickens from Joanna. But then when we were in Lebamba shopping yesterday and I asked about meat, Joanna asked if I wanted, and I quote, “Chicken or scary meat.” I said I’d try both. So I got a chicken, and I ended up not getting scary meat this trip. Well, I did get sausage that she was not so sure about. I opted not to get the hamburger with a staple stuck inside the package. I also didn’t get any of the random cut meats that just sit unwrapped in the freezer. You can’t tell exactly what they are or really anything about them. So they are nicknamed “scary meat.” I was going to get fish, but Joanna happened to have the Capitaines in her freezer and said she’d give them to me. She was very excited to get them out of her freezer and I am very happy to have them in mine.

 

Tomorrow will be a bit of a quieter day. I’m going to go work on the library a little bit, normally I will go work at the baby clinic, but because everyone just got back from meetings in Libreville we’re going to let them get back into the swing of things before I start that.

 

However, after talking with Joanna Monday night, I mentioned that I was interested in medical missions, and she said that I’d have to sit in and watch some surgeries and maybe shadow different people at the hospital some. I’m incredibly excited about this. Then today Keir said that Monday I can come down to the hospital, meet all the PAACS residents and follow them around on rounds. Then I’ll get a tour of the hospital. I’m really incredibly excited about this! I can’t wait to get to see it all.

 Here's a picture of the sunset from  from Monday night, this is a view from my porch:

Tonight we watched the Sunset. The Sun was a bright red ball in the blue sky. I've never seen anything like it. We watched it sink behind the horizon in literally one minute. It was amazing. I've never seen the sun visibly sink like that.  

Jessica

P.S. I almost just died (well, that might be a little extreme...) walking down into my livingroom/kitchen to get peanut butter (I'm hungry). I stepped into the middle of the room and almost fell when I slipped on a huge puddle. Further inspection has shown that despite the fact that I closed the Knockles on my window, the rain got in over the top and leaked all over my livingroom floor. Luckily, it's all dried up now, and I needed to mop in there anyway. So, no problem. But very exciting for the few second when I thought I might break something!