5:00 pm, walking down to my classroom to grab the computer I left there,
“Miss Galloway! Wanna know something?” She says. She’s not even in my class, but we’ve connected through a mutual friend- “You’ve already earned yourself a nickname.” I braced myself for the worst, totally unsure of what’s about to come out of her mouth next. “Mrs. Frizzle in disguise.” WHEW. I’ve heard that before- not offensive, not untrue. “The students here at RVA don’t know what to do with you. They’re not used to someone with so much energy who actually cares.”

First part of the statement, not a surprise… I’ve been labeled as weird or strange my whole life because of that energy, but in the classroom, it becomes my biggest asset. PowerPoint lecture notes? Yep, that can be fun and engaging. If I’m bored, you’ll be bored too, so I choose to keep myself entertained while I talk! Not a difficult task- the bar is pretty low. Talk about high bar though- students have already noticed I care. I care about chemistry, I care about them, I care about the weather, I care about what’s for dinner. Can’t help it, it’s who I am, and I’m thankful for that, especially if it means my students feel that love. So what does it look like to love my students here? Well, here’s a glimpse into my days…

MONDAY: The alarm goes off and I hit snooze again. It’s a terrible habit, but habit it is. I roll out of bed, and eventually meander the 45 second walk to my classroom where I begin to prep for my day. After teaching first and second period, I spend my third period running up to the business office to exchange money for Kenyan shillings, in the workroom printing copies, or planning for class the next day. At the end of third period, the school takes a 20 minute break for chai time. Some students drink the milky-sweet tea, while others take the time to simply socialize, basking in the sun on the lawn, or perching on the stone half-walls.

“Bon-Jour!” My early arriving student raised in West Africa comes humming into class. Greeting him back with my one year of college French, I quickly realize I am way out of my league with this blonde American African-raised fluent-French-speaker. He is often the first to my fourth period, and I’ve been able to learn more about him and his unique struggles. Grandma just got cancer, civil war in his home country, doesn’t know if his family will be able to stay there…

The end of fourth period brings a three hour break until I teach 7th. I’ve found the beginning of this is the best time to take 45 minutes alone to decompress and rest. The “lunch” period is an hour and a half long, and represents a time when students are participating in band, doing homework, or taking a nap. I usually spend most of this time studying for AP Chem or re-organizing my lessons to match my new curriculum order for Regular Chem.

The day ends with a 20 minute “8th period” where students come find me for help. 4pm, I’m ready to roll out, hopefully prepped and ready for Tuesday!

Monday evening brings dinner outdoors (COVID protocol friendly ya know) with a wonderful family that has extended a standing invitation to join them at 5:30 on their front lawn. This is a sweet time of socializing and reprieve, made even better by the fact that I don’t have to cook!

TUESDAY: “Good Mornings and Positive Vibes” starts playing from Spotify as I attempt to encourage myself awake. Once in the classroom, students pull out their homework to be checked as I pull names from my pool of “popsicle sticks of DOOM” to hear answers to the assignment from the night before. My computer pings as emails roll in about weekend activities, student health reports, or grade level meetings happening next week.

My room full of guys laughs at my antics as the Periodic Table on a pull string doesn’t catch to stay down, or as I write “election” one more time instead of “electron” while lecturing in AP Chem. The 5 ladies in the room don’t even begin to dampen the testosterone of the 16 other students bring to the *periodic?* table. They ask intriguing questions and make deep connections as I untangle of the hard set rules they once learned in Regular Chem to replace them with a more accurate nuanced understanding.

I stay a little later in my classroom today, knowing I have cafo-duty tonight at 5. I walk into the cafo ready for an hour and a half of fun. Students are cohorted with their dorms for COVID safety and quarantine protection, so when eating inside, they eat within their dorm groupings. Working cafo-duty not only earns me a free meal (again with the not cooking), it also provides me an opportunity to see students without their masks on, and to interact with students who aren’t in any of my classes.

Under the stairwell area sit the middle schoolers, giggling about something nobody else will ever understand. Upstairs, I find junior girls defending the most recent outfit choice in light of the dress code. In the fireside room full of senior boys I walk into a debate about the protein content of the vegetarian lasagna being served. By the windows, I see sophomore boys on the prowl… they approach me and ask about extra garlic bread to add to their plates. 40 minutes later, this meal slot ends and I take my meal break as the kitchen staff sanitizes and gets ready for wave two of students.

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WEDNESDAY: I was up later last night than I intended- but that’s okay. Days like today (who am I kidding, it’s becoming everyday) is what coffee was made for. I lay in bed and watch a video message from my roommate back home before dragging myself into the kitchen. I sit down and write out a list…

“Gladys! I am so thankful for you. I hope your week went well and you’re getting into the rhythm of your new schedule working in each of our different homes. I’m so appreciate for all you do for me! This week could you please:

• Clean the bathroom
• Clean floors
• Shake out rugs
• Clean out ashes from fireplace
• Bake something yummy to share with my dorm girls tomorrow night!
• Chop the sweet potato, green pepper and onion
• Laundry

You should find some milk in the fridge for chai this week! I tried to remember to get some!”

Gladys is my inside worker, and the most amazing human in the world. I didn’t think I would want someone, nor would I need someone, to help me with domestic chores, but let me tell you! I’m not sure my house would EVER get cleaned if I didn’t have Gladys coming on Wednesdays! After the first week she told me to ‘leave a nice long list next time…’ She always gets it done, and what I have listed above is only a fraction of what she accomplishes in a day!

I leave for my classroom, the door unlocked behind me for Gladys to come work her magic! I stop in during my third period prep to catch up with her and hear how her family and home are, and maybe to grab a fresh baked sweet treat she’s made for me to share with others!

After dinner, I wander off to another part of campus to spend some with with other ladies on staff studying scripture together. I enjoy the time in prayer and hearing about “Titchie World” (elementary) or life in student health. We pray for each other and then I walk home in the dark, staring at the clear skies that let me see the milky-way and constellations crystal clear- I don’t recognize these stars… they look a little different on this side of the world.

THURSDAY: I’m almost there! Still learning some students names, I carry my seating-chart-cheat-sheet on my clipboard around the room with me while I stamp homework for completion. I put stars on my roster next to the names I’m struggling to recall… most of them are Korean. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll remember one more than I did today. If I notice them on purpose, the names will come… If I avoid calling on them because I’m embarrassed I still can’t remember, I’ll never know these kids and relationship building will be futile. Noticing them means watching them smile with their eyes with their faces behind masks, or eaves-dropping on their conversations and noticing the ease with which words completely unknown to me come out of their mouths when they interact with each other in their mother tongue.

The day passes and I walk into my next role: Dorm cover. 7pm-11pm on Thursday nights, I pack up a bag and waltz over to KUW, the dorm I’ve partnered with for the year to give the family living there the evening off of responsibility. I bring snacks to pull the girls out of their rooms and into the lounge to interact with me. Today I’ve brought Glady’s baked goods and popcorn. I make it in the pot on the lounge stove and holler down the hall, “POPCORN! COME AND GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!” Siracha is pulled out and sprinkled across the popcorn as girls bring a bowl to hold evening munching treasure. For an hour or two, I chat with girls sweeping or emptying the garbage for dorm chores, or girls popping in and out to get hot water for ramen or tea. I win and lose a few rounds of Dutch blitz until 9pm rolls around and we head as a group to the gym for their designated signed out time. I’m there to supervise… and by supervise, I mean pop into the weight room every once in a while, but mostly run back and forth in the gym playing football (soccer) until it’s time to head back to the dorm at 9:45.

We all make it back and I lock the dorm door at 10-not a single girls was even a minute late to curfew. A girl plops down on the couch by me and I ask her if she enjoyed her “late studie” (what they call the time allowed out of the dorm in the evenings… an upper classman privilege). “Oh yeah, I went for a walk with a friend…” Uh huh. Define friend for me… “Well, it was a boy… it’s complicated.” Sure it is. Try me… turns out, it wasn’t that complicated, but that’s okay. Things always seem more complicated than they are. 11 pm rolls around, the dorm has quieted and it’s time I hit the hay- if I can get the door to the dorm locked from the outside. The skeleton keys are a finicky nightmare, and I eventually give up, instead locking the dorm door from the inside and sneaking out through the dorm parents apartment. I collapse into bed, excited that tomorrow holds the start of the weekend.

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FRIDAY: “The Elements of the Periodic Table” song blasts from my speakers as I welcome my students to Friday. Element of the week is one of my favorite traditions, especially since my students here give WAY better drumrolls in for the big reveal than my students in the States ever did. I sing along to sections of the song set to the tune of Modern Major General and prance around the room in celebration of the end of the week. As we wrap up our facts about the element for the week, I earn a round of applause and bow to my captive audience, stuck with my antics whether they like it or not.

Chai time is replaced with ‘flag raising’ where the band plays the Kenyan national anthem while our Kenyan senior students solemnly raise the flag. The first verse is repeated twice, once to be sung in Swahili, once in English… I haven’t really heard any students sing along, but apparently some do.

Lunch comes around and I’m on cafo-duty again. This time, it’s more awkward since students eat outside. This means they aren’t eating with just their dorm and I get to be the bad guy. I approach a table of (usually) boys and lean down close to inspect the laminated paper taped to the middle of the table. I slowly lift my eyes and make a show of counting…. “One… two… three… four… five…? Six?” I pretend to rub dirt off the number taped down on the table that clearly shows “Capacity 4” written on it. I make a snarky comment about passing the counting unit in kindergarten class. They get the hint and two students sigh dramatically as they stand up with a tray. One student is ready though- he gets my humor and is quick to come back that his school didn’t have kindergarten… so obviously the numbers are fine! We laugh together as the friend group splits up into two separate tables on the cafo porch.

The sun is out today, so for my 6th period prep, I take my grading outside to a picnic table after I finish cafo-duty as the students filter into their next class. The AP English teacher has the same idea, and brings his students out for a class period of reading in small groups throughout the courtyard. I watch from my spot across the yard as the Korean history teacher chatters away in Korean as he teaches his class. We offer US History, Canadian History, Korean History, World History… each required for the students diploma to be valid in their home country. I recently asked a student when I overheard them talking about the legislative branch which government system they study in government class. Turns out they were studying for US History, not government, so they didn’t actually know. We speculated there would be different units on different governments!

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Seventh period rolls around and I can tell my students are anxious for the weekend. Across the center aisle of my classroom, Swahili words are being exchanged between two students. Maybe they’re talking about getting ice-cream from the Arcade (school store) after class, or maybe they’re making secret arrangements for the transfer of top secret documents later that night… I’ll never know. I joke with one of the students about matching since we’re both wearing blue paisley shirts. I think it’s hilarious- he’s not too sure he wants to match his teacher, but I think he secretly likes the attention.

The bell for the day rings and I wander home, planning to take it easy and go to bed early. Of course, never happens. I end up wandering out to the football field in my rainboots and raincoat where the sophomores are selling snacks and hot chocolate where I chat with other students and staff for a bit.

SATURDAY: SLEEP. I’ll probably stay in bed too late, but hey, it’s my day off. I spend most of it grading since I couldn’t get much grading done during the week. Maybe I go for a run with my new friend the 5th grade teacher, or maybe I perch my hammock in the eucalyptus leaves overlooking the Rift Valley. Maybe I just watch a few episodes of a TV show… or maybe I do all of the above. I try to take it easy, resting for next week… that is until 7pm where I’m in charge of showing a movie in my classroom for the students to have an evening of fun.

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SUNDAY: I’m in the early chruch group today. 9am baby! I bring my chair to “Titchie Court” (the elementary covered outdoor basketball court) where I join half of campus for worship lead by staff and students, followed by a sermon. 10:15, I’m sitting on my neighbor’s front porch where we host Sunday School for a group of 10th grade girls. We read through our passage of Mark, asking questions of the text and chatting about life.

I head home and grab some lunch, then I start plotting for the next week.

“If I order these veggies in the veggie order, I can make meal X, Y, and Z… but then I’d need to order this other thing in Chanaranda order… but maybe I could use the sausage I have in my freezer from the German Butcher order from last month. Do I need cheese? When is the Brown’s cheese delivery? Where’s the spreadsheet for that one? Oh golly. Maybe I’ll just walk down to the Duka.” As I think through meal-prepping and try to avoid getting overwhelmed, two little eyeballs partially covered with a little mop of mouse brown hair appear in my kitchen window.

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“Well hey Rowan!” It’s my second grade neighbor just peeping in to say hi- “I didn’t see you today…” he says. We usually pass each other at least once a day as each of our yards acts as the other persons throughfare. I smile and ask him about his plans… pretty typical, he plans to spend time at the playground.

I head down to my classroom to make sure I’m all set to start a new week. I hear saxophones and trumpets practicing the same line from “Sleigh Bells” that I played every year when I was in high school band. Shouts of joy and frustration float across campus from the football field and basketball courts. Students are sitting at the tables outside my classroom and greet me joyfully as I approach their group. It’s the same girl who told me I’m Mrs. Frizzle in disguise. She’s smiling and laughing with her friends as they do, or don’t do, the homework that is splayed out before them. I stop and chat with these kiddos for a few minutes on my way in, and on my way out of my room, because really, I do care.

Prayer Points

• Please pray for my students who are struggling with unknowns, new students who are trying to find their place in friend groups, academic loads that are starting to feel heavier as the school schedule sets in, and for relationships as students navigate perceived intimidating dorm parents or girl/boy drama, and new roommates.
• Please pray for me as I navigate a busy schedule and try to figure out how to rest well in the glimpses of downtime I find.
• Please pray that I would continue to see my students individually and would find opportunities to get to know them each better, creating opportunities to speak life into them.
• Please pray for health on campus- there’s a bug that seems to be going through campus- COVID tests keep coming back negative, but that doesn’t mean they’re not sick… just not sick with COVID! (Which really is a HUGE praise!)