Update: 18 months

January 5, 2015

Well, here it is. The year I come home is upon us. 2015 seemed so far away in July 2013, but now I have only about 8 months left and I know the remaining time is going to fly by. Here goes the 18 month update.

"My job"

My job the past month and a half has been pretty non-existent. I was at a fellow volunteer's site for Thanksgiving, didn't have any grading to do (since my kids all took the national exam), and then had the amazing chance to show my parents and brother around Tanzania! But in October and about half of November I was working a lot with my students on preparing for their exams. My Form II students had their exams in mid-October, but my Form IV physics students were busy doing exercises, studying, asking me questions, and getting in some last minute practice for the practical portion of their national exam.

For most of the time I was in my office available to supply the students with equipment for any experiments they wanted to practice. I had gone over a handful of the possible practicals with them throughout the semester and it was really cool being able to set them free to try them on their own. I was really impressed with how focused they all were. As I walked from place to place, they were all on task and performing well. My only worry was that they focused too much on physics and didn't have enough time for their other subjects. I guess as the physics teacher it's a good problem to have.

Now I'm at the end of my break here and gearing up to get back in the classroom. I will find out in a week what classes I'll be teaching this year. I'm hoping for physics Form III and IV, but we'll see. I'll have one full semester with them; from January until late May. Then maybe a month and a half to two months of second semester before I leave, so I'll have to be efficient in the short time I have left here.

"Life"

Life has been mostly the same at my house the last few months. The big thing to report here is that MY FAMILY CAME TO VISIT! But that's a whole blog in itself, so I'll get that started after this one. Promise.

"Back home"

I got a good amount of family time in this past month, but as the end draws nearer I'm starting to miss my friends back home more. I guess its kind of an anticipation thing. I missed a lot during the first few months, and after that I got pretty used to the idea of not being able to see them for a good long while. It was easy to get wrapped up in my life here with the new everything. Now as people start asking what I'll do when I get home and where I'll live and if I'll extend here, I am starting to get excited about seeing everyone again.

2 biggest challenges right now:

- Staying focused on my work here
- Figuring out what I'll do when I get back