I came in late today as I am still feeling very rough. ( As well as the poor sleep, very coldy, so struggling with the desire to sleep all the time -trying to stave off a bit of M.E?) I headed straight for the room in which I was marking yesterday before being interrupted to down vodka. The cook bless her bought me a cup of tea. Then having finished I decided to take the books into year one as they had no teacher with them (colleagues had been doing some cover, but with a small school that is very hard and I had vaguely thought hmmm should I be offering) anyway as soon as I went in they cried out Angliski and grabbed the books off me, so rather than try and dissuade them I figured let's go with this, I have just checked what needs doing this way I can try and go round to each of them while they are feeling receptive and get them to do some catch up work. So that is what I did. The head popped in too so that was nice and towards the end they got restless but as it was not a formal class I did not try and stop those who were fighting and when they got hurt I comforted them and hoped that they might make the connection for themselves. The head told me that in 10 minutes they were going to see a film and I turned down the chance to watch about the White Ship a story that seems to be connected to the play earlier this week (.http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/366888.The_White_Steamship) It was only about 10 minutes in that I suddenly realised that I was supposed to be with year two, who urgently need to do their play practice, but they too were in the film. So yes I had no teaching till 2.20 today so in theory could have been in bed all this time. Never mind. You win some and you loose some. But tomorrow I will have to do twice as much work as I will need to do the missed classes.
More worryingly there seems to be a great lack of money. I have just had half my expenses, but the others do not seem to be as lucky as me, so that is both worrying for them but also makes me feel very uncomfortable about how much work I do in relation to them. I have unofficially been told how much people earn here and it is not a lot, but they have the land too and live with other family members too all of which helps and my colleagues do not look downtrodden or impoverished, but I do know that money is an issue in the whole valley. The men,who is my eyes, are small holders, see themselves as unemployed, but perhaps underemployed or unable to capitalise on their land is maybe more realistic way to describe them. Anyway I had better find my after school children.
It has been one of those days. I knew that we were due to go to the house of our bereaved colleague after my after school classes, but today it is me who has two classes and my colleague just one meaning she would finish ahead of me so I had wondered how this would play out. Anyway half an hour into my second class she asked me to finish early. I said I would be free in 15 minutes as the students had not done their homework so we could not do what I had been planning and then we headed off to my colleagues. As I grabbed my notebook computer and looked for my wrap to wrap it in, I had an uncomfortable sensation as I could not find the wrap. (I had only been mulling to myself recently how long I have had this wrap since my sister bought it for me on one of her holidays, it is bigger than local wraps and perfect for wearing here) so whilst the others laughed en route in the car to the house that turned out to be round the corner I festered.. I wondered given their levity whether this meant what I was about to witness would be very merry. but no As soon as we stepped through the iron door of their plot of land, the mood turned very sombre. We took our shoes off as is the custom and each of us greeted our colleague, who bless her looked absolutely shattered, then we stepped through the kitchen in which I noticed a urn, people but little else and we entered a room with three low long tables so festooned with food it could have been Christmasand mats all around and another urn with which to supply us endless tea. There were swirly hair shaped things, with even more tantalisingly crispy things on top, in each section, a cob loaf type thing, little cholla like rolls, jam, dried fruit and nuts (a local speciality) and Russian and other salads and all joined together with the lovely puffed up dough things that are served for every festive occasion which were scattered the length and breadth of the three tables. They are very moorish. We were each served a tea, but prayers were issued before we were able to tuck in. Everyone was incredibly quiet, and my colleague had given me the crispy thing on top and eating it without one shattering it all over the place and two seeming to make a huge amount of noise was very difficult. I sat in the corner from where I could see a large shelving unit a bit reminiscent of 70's UK, on which sat a photo of my colleagues mum, she looked very like her grand-daughter who is a student in the school. There was also a splendid picture of her dad, all of which reminded me a bit of when Nathan and I went to the funeral in Kenya, behind me was a huge wall hanging and on the far wall there was a carpet hanging. When we had all finished as ever we said Amen, and I thought that was it, but then we went back through the kitchen and sat in another room, where someone came round and washed our hands, which again reminded me of Kenya, and Senegal just a bowl and they splash water on you, and you rinse of your hands, I noticed everyone else seemed to know how to rinse their hands just so, and then rub all the water off. To my surprise then a table cloth was produced (we were in another room with low lying mats all around, and hangings on every wall but the window wall) which was spread out and covered all the floor between the mats. A broth came round and I thought it was going to be Rams head time, but no, two large trays of plov with hunks of lamb. Each of us was cut off a bit, given some fat and some skin and I thought how am I going to eat this and what a shame the dog cannot benefit from this, but although everyone ate some, including me, no one polished off what was on their plate and instead doggy bags were produced for everyone (so yes someone was very happy) and another one with sweets and the lovely puffy things, so I have come home laden again. We washed our hands again and came out, and apparently something like this will happen in my colleagues home on a regular basis for the first 40 days of mourning. Ugh. However, I was very happy that I had been asked to attend and very pleased that I did attend. Just ugh in that it seemed very tense and draining. One of the nicest things, off the room we ate the second meal in was a blue double door behind which we could hear shrieks of laughter through out as the children of the household played together. I guess this is what it is like most of the time in such a household though perhaps there were other children visiting too, sons and daughters of the bereaved sisters who were all in the house. Made me realise how quiet Nathan's singleton upbringing had been and why the grand-daughter did not seem as wiped out by grannies death as her mother. For her the silent, tearful adults and the food is matched by the laughter and fun.
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