Hey

hello,
So in my last post, I was not able to be completely honest about everything because I had people watching over my back. The food here is not very good. I tell my host family that I enjoy the food, but in all honesty, I dread going to dinner, because I am not sure what exactly I will be eating. I have a system for eating my food which helps me eat. First, I will eat the main dish, then I immediately drink water to wash it down, after the water I eat a little bit of fruit to get the taste out of my mouth. It isn't the best system, but it is all I have to work with. I think I would prefer a Peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of some of this food, and if you know me, that says a lot about dinner time here.

Today I was teaching in a few different classes, and going back in forth between them. The reason is the teachers here in Africa will just leave their class if they have to go out and run and errand, or if they can't make it at all the class will just sit in their room and do nothing. I felt obligated to go back and forth between two different classes because the teacher was gone. After one teacher came back I spent the rest of the day in a grade 1 class with absolutely no curriculum. It is sad that these children fear their teachers because their teachers use a cane in order to punish them. They hit them on the fore arms with the cane as a form of punishment. I have been using classroom management techniques that we use in America, and they work just fine here. Some teachers have asked me why we don't use the stick in America and I explain to them how we handle classes, and they still think that the stick would be better for them. They do see that my classes are still just as behaved as theirs are, so hopefully some of my techniques will rub off on them.

Everywhere I go, I am the center of attention. I have not seen another white person since I left the airport, and it shows when I walk down the street. I constantly hear "Oh Brunni, Oh Brunni" which means white man, I just smile and wave and the children giggle. In school everyone calls me "brada Mock" (Brother Marc). Every time I take out my camera I am swarmed with school children wanting to get into the picture.

Thank you for all of your continued prayers while I am here, I can actually feel that God is taking care of me and watching over my back.

Thank you and God Bless,

Marc