Jul 3, 2008

I love my english students!



Yesterday we had our second English test in class. Two of my students, Eric & Roselle, arrived late so I sent them outside to take the test. While I continued teaching, I stole a glance out the window and there was Eric (our hilarious friend who always cracks me up) looking through an English-Kinyagwanda dictionary! I stomped out there and yelled “Bibi Eric!” which means “bad.” Meanwhile, the rest of my class was looking on from the window laughing absolutely hysterically! During the break, I made him a hat that said “I am bad” on it and explained that in America in the olden days, students who were bad had to sit in the corner with dunce hats on. They thought it was real funny and he wore it the rest of the day J My class is so wonderful to be with and I love the fellowship that comes from being with them almost everyday. And I have 13 students now! Woah.

I’ve also still been a bit sick and am having problems with my stomach. Pastor Beatrice and Auntie (the wonderful woman who cooks for us) asked me yesterday what kinds of foods would be good for me to eat. After telling them that meat upsets my stomach and that I wanted bland foods, we showed up to dinner to see a large pot of cow! They assured me that since it wasn’t cooked with oil, but rather with water, that it would make my stomach feel lots better! After taking only a small piece of meat, they proceeded to put the cow’s hip, along with the bone, on my plate telling me that I needed to eat the whole thing to feel better. I ate the whole bowl, and pastor told me I needed even more! Ahh! Then yesterday at breakfast, they poured me a giant bowl of pourage (which is definitely not my favorite food here..) saying that I needed to eat the whole thing! And they tried to have us drink raw eggs also.. we found out they were raw after Hilliary tried to crack it thinking it was hard boiled. Apparently, they drink their eggs here!

On a more serious note, I think I might have a parasite and it is real annoying not feeling my best. Please keep this in your prayers as I really want to get well quickly. And please pray for energy and perseverance to go about our daily activities even if I don’t feel the best.

And mom and dad, don’t worry too much about me being sick! Everyone we live with wanted to rush me to the hospital 2 days ago just for simple diarrhea so if I need to go to the doctor, they’ll definitely take me in a heartbeat J

I was trying to upload the picture of my class and of Eric with his funny hat on but none of the pictures will work.. I'm so bummed :(

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Megan,
You write such a colorfu story. I like "Eric". As you write about him, I become attached to him, too. Your English class sounds fun.

I am feeling badly for you with your stomach problems. I say this with a smile . . . the "do gooders," Beatrice and Auntie are going to kill you. I would hate to eat that much if I were well. Hopefully your parasite is digesting some of this food. (Hopefully not, actually!)

Patti, who I work with, thinks you are a great writer and enjoys keeping up with both yours and Hill's blog. Love, Julianne

Anonymous said...

Where we were in west Africa it was easy to take a stool sample to the lab (often associated with a pharmacy) - you don't even need to see a doctor. If you have ameobas DON'T let them give you Flagyl - it's horrible and has really bad psychological side effects - fasogyne (sp?) is a much better choice. Also, if you ever get a fever you need to get a blood test for malaria (you can just go to the lab and they'll draw the blood) - there's a Chinese medicine (herbal?) called Arsumax that works really good and doesn't have some of the really bad side effects that the other malaria drugs do. Hope this is helpful.
Sarah Park (Northlake prayer ministry)