Weekly update 13 April

Good Day All,

 

Not too much to report on this week. The mountain climb went well. I have all the details coming as soon as we get the pictures sorted out.

I am sad to say that Betsy went home early today with a nasty sore throat and cold. I drove her back around 1pm today. The last words she said were, "you're on your own for dinner". I came back to school to teach a science class for a teacher who is at a conference in Kenya. She's gone for 2 weeks so I am doing the whole unit. I hope I don't have to make a test. We are studying sound waves and the workings of the inner ear. It is painfully apparent to me that I should have done more reading on this topic other than the 5 minutes before class. I stumbled through it but I got a lot of blank stares. I used a slinky to demonstrate how longitudinal waves work with compression and rarefraction. That perked them up.

I mentor a student on Fridays. He is a senior looking to go to a technical university in Texas next year. His folks are translators up in Chad. We usually sit and talk about his future and problems he is dealing with and we have built a good relationship. Today, we were invited to join the middle school PE class. Frank Sanchez teaches it and he is a Covenanter from California. He likes to keep things interesting so this week he has been fabricating the necessary equipment to hold a junior version of the Scottish Highland Games. He uses palm nuts for the stone toss, and banana stalks for the caber toss. The kids think it's great. They will practice up for the final competition next Friday. He wants to hold an adult version on a Saturday and I thought it would be a good class fundraiser. Pay a few bucks to compete, get a glass of lemonade and the winners get a plate of cookies or something. The big SIL yearly garage sale is next Saturday and I thought since everybody will be poking around killing an afternoon, why not make a little cash for a class trip. We'll see, I guess.

I have arranged for our school to sponsor some repairing and cleaning up of a local handicap children's center. There are 12 or 13 kids there, mostly orphans, who are all either physically or mentally handicapped. I went out yesterday with the nurse from AOC who volunteers for Hope Services that does a lot of work to support many orphanages around the city. The facilities are dismal but a few Saturdays of making and installing screen windows and making some new furniture will do wonders for their kids. I had a family coming from the states bring a whole bunch of chewable vitamins for the kids. They eat yams and rice and occasionally bread. The government supports this place a little but they rely on many volunteers for stability. We raised some funds last fall and the kids got a few special meals during Christmas time. Many of the kids don't get any schooling so they just do nothing all day. Any new activities are cause for celebration. The kids are so friendly and inquisitive. It's tough to see the way they live. I hope to bring a bunch of student workers out next week to get a few things going.

 

Well, that's about it from here. It was threatening rain a while ago but looks like it gave up. Usually we get about 15 minutes notice when gray skies come rolling in and it lets loose. We had a real roof-rattler the other day. At least an inch in 15 minutes. A lightning strike at school knocked out a bunch of stuff in the library and put us out of internet for most of Monday. Crazy. We look forward to seeing everybody soon.

 

Take Care and God Bless

 

Brian & Betsy