My First Site Visit!

First off, can I just say that I'm super pumped you're all reading this blog? I was going through my Blogger Stats and I am blown away by how many times this blog as been viewed already. I hope you enjoy reading about my new, very different, life here in Nairobi. Keep the comments coming; I love them!

Well, my first full week on the job has come to an end, and I must say, I'm feeling like I am right where I belong. The commute continues to be miserably long, and I work 10+ hour days, but I come home feeling like I'm moving in the right direction every day. I also get to experience myriad new things (which is something I always hunger for) so at the end of the day I can't really think of anything to complain about. Sure there are challenges and frustrations, but the good absolutely exponentially outweighs the bad.

My adjustment to working in an office has going surprisingly smoothly. Our office is located in a fairly new, modern building on one of the main roads out of the city. It is very secure: there is a gated entry with guards who check trunks of cars as they enter and make note of any unfamiliar vehicle's license plates, etc. Once you get inside, there are two other guards posted just inside the door near reception. After making it past them as well, you take the elevator up to my office. In order to enter the floors housing our company, you have to pass muster at a fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint scanners are great, they not only provide security, but also automatically clock us in every morning and out every evening. It is a lot more efficient than having to sign-in or log-in somewhere. The only tricky thing is that since you have to scan in and out on every floor, I was totally at the mercy of co-workers for the first three days before IT was able to get my fingerprint into the system. Nothing makes you feel sketchier than loitering by the door to an office area, waiting to piggyback in on some hapless employee. But now that's all taken care of and not an issue anymore, thankfully!

The Curriculum Department, Teacher Training Department, and Production Department are all together in one big room. The Curriculum Team is the biggest in the company, with over 30 members. We have rows of short cubicles facing each other, and I am right by the door so I can see everyone in the room (and since I'm super nosy this is great!). Also on our floor is an open area for meetings, a few other departments (still trying to pin down exactly who is where), some small conference rooms, a large conference room, and a kitchen. I love the kitchen, because twice a day they bring in hot milk and clean mugs to make tea. Amazing. I generally need my first hit of deliciousness around 8:30am and the other around 2:30pm. It is perfect. Between all the milk tea and my breakfast cereal/yogurt, I am pretty sure I've consumed more dairy here in the past two weeks than I have in the past three months at home.

The office in general is very quiet. There are 5 wazungu (Americans in this case) on my floor and we are usually the ones you hear talking or laughing too loudly. It is definitely an adjustment to be in a huge quiet office full of adults instead of a room of crazy, energetic little kids. But I like it so far. This week I've been working a lot on finalizing long-term curriculum plans for Nursery Class, and figuring out what our whole Term 2 is going to look like. I'm also writing a variety of leveled children's books, preparing script templates, and teaching Virginia how to mail merge documents so that we can do things as efficiently as possible. Efficiency, for me, is the the name of the game, especially as we get into the nitty gritty of writing the actual scripts and preparing to innovate some new lessons and strategies for teaching concepts. Although I sit for the VAST majority of the day at a computer, I am really really excited about what I am doing so the time goes surprisingly quickly.

On Thursday, I was super pumped because I got to go out on my first school visit! The video production was heading out to a rural school just outside of Nairobi. Literally if you do a Google Map search of this town, all that comes up is our school. With the address "Dirt Road".

Google Maps is not wrong.

We left the office around 7:00am and due to (say it with me now) awful traffic, it took us about an hour and a half to get to the school. Let me begin by saying, our schools are pretty "no frills." The structures are simple, and really exist basically to provide a safe, enclosed space that protects pupils from the elements as they learn. Unlike many other school building organizations, who build great structures and then peace out, our concentration is not on the building itself, but on what occurs INSIDE that building. As one teacher said when being interviewed, "When the parents talk, it isn't about the school buildings or structures. It is about what is offered inside and the opportunities." We are one of only a very few organizations worldwide who concentrate so heavily on the actual curriculum being offered in our schools. Each teacher gets an e-reader with super scripted lesson plans, ensuring a standard delivery across our really diverse schools and teachers. It is a really innovative and fascinating process and I am excited to be a part of it.

Two classrooms (one on this side and one on the back).

Latrines. I have peed in many a squat toilet in my day, yet none could be so aptly described as a "hole in the ground."

Another set of classrooms, but 4 this time (two on the front, two on the back).

The final building (two classrooms on the back, and storage/offices on the front).

Looking out from the Baby Class to the field and latrines.

The exterior of the building from the Baby Class door.

This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands.

Thursday was kind of an off-day to visit a school, because it was Nominations Day in Kenya. Basically, there are a ton of political parties, including six main parties. For each of those parties, many people put their name in for each position (Mayor, Representative, President, etc). Nominations Day is when members of each political party go to a central location and vote to narrow down the choices so that only one representative from each party is on the ballot for each position come elections in March. Public primary schools are closed, as many of them are used as polling places. Though our schools were open, many kids didn't come to school, so our Nursery Class had only 5 students, and the Baby Class I sat in on had 2. Usually class sizes are much bigger.

Anyway, I spent the whole morning in Baby Class. The two little ones, began the morning increeeedibly distracted by me, but slowly they got used to me being there (though I had to stand/sit directly behind them so they weren't just staring) and went along with their day. I think the teacher was also a little nervous to have me in there, but she was fine. Although it didn't give me the totally true school experience, it definitely got my mind going and 3 pages of notes outlined some ways I think we can improve things, as well as things we are already doing really well. It was exciting to actually get out to the schools and see the kids that my curriculum will be directly impacting.

Not quite a SmartBoard...but it does the trick. 

Learning the names of colours.

So much space for two teensie kids.

Just about every other activity on the Baby Class Schedule is "toileting."

Playtime means I get to take pictures!

Although it is technically the hot season, Thursday morning was quite cold and rainy. I had goosebumps on my arms and got the chills pretty bad in my short sleeved shirt.

They thought my camera was hilarious. Especially when I took a bunch of pictures and showed them.

I am having this printed for my desk.

Absolutely precious!

At recess, I was the hit of the school. "Mzungu! MZUNGU!!" The kids cried, rushing me. At one point I think I had about 25-30 kids just trying to touch me: patting my hands, touching my hair, hanging on my arms. Foreigner celebrity status strikes again. They also loved hamming for my camera, and were very excited to get to push the buttons to take pictures themselves. It was a total crowd pleaser.

They stopped in their tracks with a screeching halt when they saw me coming, haha.

One of the photos taken by a kid randomly pushing the button on my camera as I held it.

"Teacha, teacha!"

During the afternoon, I hung out with Victor and his team as they interviewed kids, parents, and teachers for a video they are putting together for the company-wide meeting next week. It was really exciting to hear, in their own words, why kids and parents like coming to our schools, and what makes the teachers want to stay there.

Adorable Class 4 girl who wants to be a singer when she grows up.

One of the mothers, who asked to take a picture with me. She said "I have two kids here. I like it very much. It is the best school. Thank you!"

At one point, a teacher was being interviewed and he was asked what he thought his students would be doing in the future. I got a little teary when he replied, "What do I believe the pupils will do in the future? Whatever their dream is. If they want to be a doctor, they can be. Because of [this school], they can meet their dreams." Another said that "Parents can see that our pupils, they are doing better than other schools' students. They can do their ABCs when other students can't. They can read and answer questions better and faster." One of the grade 6 students was asked what he thought of the school, and he said "My favorite thing about [the school] is our teachers. They are teaching well, and if you don't understand something you can always ask....If someone wants to send their children here, I say do it. Because [our school] is the best school." A few students also mentioned that they liked our schools because the teachers were trained well, and because the teachers weren't allowed to beat them. It was very interesting to listen to their answers to the interview questions.

Too soon, it was time to head back to the city. The kids came out to do their Outdoor Skills class (basically PE) and I snapped a few final photos of them dancing and laughing with their teachers. It was a great day.

Gorgeous end to the day!

The whole school lot!

Friday I was back at the office, but with a little more motivation after actually getting to meet the kids I'm serving. I am really looking forward to going out to more schools (hopefully this week) because I know the urban schools will be very different from this one in a lot of ways.