Nkoilale Primary School has a New Teacher

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Marcia Meyer is a retired teacher from Portland Oregon who wanted to volunteer as a teacher in Kenya. I thought she will be a great fit for Nkoilale primary and her and Grace will make a great team and as you can see in these pictures, they have become BEST friends, In fact they are roommates.

I spoke to Marcia earlier this morning and she told me that she felt so natural being in Nkoilale she spoke very highly of Grace, and she LOVES the Kids. She has been their only 10 days and she having a great time with the kids and visiting the village and meeting the locals. She is planning on staying and volunteering at Nkoilale until April next year. She will be sharing her story with us when she gets settled.

Nkoile New Taecher

(Grace Wrote this) Today I took Marcia to Seiyio’s home. She was very happy to see her at home. We had a very long talk and I took a video. I will see how it will get to you. We also passed through Nickson’s home. Good news is that, Marcia met Nickson’s sister who is ten yrs old and has not been enrolled to school. She asked me to ask her if she would like to go to school. She was so sad that she started crying and that touched Marcia’s heart that she decided to sponsor her to school. We are going to visit the family on Sunday in order to meet with her father. We would like to talk to him to allow his daughter to join school in January. I hope all goes well and Sinore joins school in the New Year.

 

Nkoilale New Teacher with Grace

September 16 to October 7, 2014 (Tauplitz, Birthdays and Autumn)

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Today (7. Oct) is the day after my two month anniversary with my new soulmate, Austria. My general impression of Austria so far could be described as a tangled mess full of all the different kinds of good feelings you could experience. With some more time I think these feelings will slowly start to be untangled as my culture shock and disbelief over living in a new country wear off. For now, however, I am content with not having to define that!

Rotary usually gives you a general explanation of each stage of your exchange so that you are prepared for the feelings that come with each time period. These stages run along the lines of culture shock, extreme language absorption, homesickness, etc. These stages didn’t mean much to me as I was trying to see them through the eyes of others. But now as I am experiencing every little thing so richly for myself, I understand completely what they meant and am even starting to paint a picture of what my exchange means to me. I am able to recognize my own personal stages, learn more about myself from how I cope with each new challenge, and strive to thrive in this crazy new life.

Most every exchange says on their return that they now have two lives. Two families, two sets of friends, and two homes. Currently, I feel as though I am transitioning into this mindset. Within my meek little two months I have already built a foundation. I have met friends, have gotten to know my host family, and have tasted the surrounding areas. I feel like I will only build upon this foundation until I too will feel as though Austria is my other home. Then in 9 months I will again have to leave home to live in another country (I really can’t catch a break on this one). Now, on to more exciting things! 🙂

Tauplitz Wochenende (September 19-21):

Two weekends ago I was blessed with another Rotary getaway in Tauplitz, Steiermark. Here I finally met the 30-ish exchange students from the southern hemisphere who arrived in January and will also leave in January (AKA our “Oldies”). That makes a total of about 85 rotary exchange students living throughout Austria! On Friday those of us living in and around Vienna met up and travelled in our massive group to the other 50 or so exchange students. On Friday after we arrived we were able to relax, talk to each other about our experiences and host families so far, and exchange lots of love that only exchange students know how to give. I really don’t know what I would do without this exchange student love and encouragement!

The next day was the day that we all hiked around two gorgeous lakes high in the Alps. A group of 10 or so students with the best gear and the lowest intelligence took the hardest hike straight up a mountain where they died (kidding, about the intelligence part). The rest of us were out and about for about 7 hours on our leisurely and gorgeous hike. You have probably already seen the photos of this since you are most likely only reading this from my Facebook page. There are no words to explain how breathtaking these views were. Combined with the fresh Austrian air and surrounded by amazing friends, it was completely rejuvenating. There is no way that someone could not have been happy in this setting.

That night we took a tiny little train-type vehicle across town (this “town” was a small collection of hotels and houses in a huge meadow tucked safely in the Alps) to a dance “club” where we danced through our exhaustion into the wee hours of the night (perhaps until 10 pm). A weekend well spent and much needed!

More Activities:

The weekend was the birthday of the Schneider Oma, or my host father’s mother. All of my host grandparents are extremely sweet and I always leave their homes fat and happy. 🙂 This is really nice for me as I haven’t ever really been able to experience having grandparents so close by! The birthday girl last weekend was Erna and for her birthday we all had dinner together. “We” includes my host family and the family of my host father’s brother. Karina’s (my host mom) parents also joined us that Sunday at a Gasthaus for lunch and more celebrations.

The next weekend we had another birthday, this time for the lovely Karina! For Karina’s birthday we went with practically the rest of the town (all of the friends of Karina and Korni) to a music concert. I dragged Facundo from Argentina along and together with my host family, decked out in funky crazy clothes, we danced until late into the night to some great funk and soul music by the band “74Tea.” This was also the 20th birthday of the band and it is this band that my two uncles play in! Feel free to look them up on youtube as they really are entertaining. Sunday was again a nice slow day and we ate Karina’s birthday lunch at a fantastic Gasthaus from her family. For those of you who don’t know, a Gasthaus is a restaurant and sometimes also a hotel owned by a family that serves delicious and authentic Austrian food.

Some other activities that I managed to squeeze in there is a festival in Retz and a short visit to the Oktoberfest in Vienna. There are several festivals this time of year coinciding with Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. It is Dirndl season in Austria and I can’t get enough of it! 🙂

Language Status

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Vanessa is starting to run out of basic German to learn and her German progress is starting to slow down. Vanessa is frustrated because Vanessa wants to speak German jetzt.

I don’t think I could have fit any more German learning into the first month if I tried; my knowledge level spiked. However, I have pretty much now learned all of the basics and the process is now a bit slower. Naturally, this is frustrating for someone who would learn the entire German language overnight if she could, but unfortunately life doesn’t work like that and I will have to be satisfied with steadier learning growth for awhile. Here are all the things that are currently contributing to my Deutsch lernen…

My Unterlage in school (or that thing that you put on desks for note taking, a calendar, etc): Every day in the subjects that are boring or that I don’t understand enough to participate in, I write vocabulary words on my Unterlage until I can’t fit any more. It probably holds about 200 words. Then, I keep this Unterlage for a week or two, practicing these words. When I am tired of them, I cross off the ones I know well, copy down the ones I still need to practice on my next sheet, and begin again with new words I have found somewhere. It works well because I’m learning German, my teachers think I’m working very diligently on school work, and it cures my stark boredom.

With my new class schedule I am now in 5 different classes with German. I have German with my own class, and then 4 different classes with little kids (ages 11-12). I have at least two German periods per day and at most, 4 (out of 6). I can already understand and do about 70% of their work. It also gives me a chance to find more useful vocabulary words that I will then copy down and translate at home. At first these classes were my most difficult periods but now, I enjoy them.

On my computer I have also created several lists of verbs, past tenses, phrases, and general vocabulary that I enjoy making and adding to, but should probably actually study more often.

When I have free periods in school I read children’s books in German, which I would probably still read for fun even if I didn’t have to learn a new language.

Let’s not forget the constant German speaking at all hours of the day. That certainly helps (until morning and late at night, when my brain starts to rejects any and every language thrown at it)!

Questions & Answers

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Questions & Answers:

As I mentioned in my last post, feel free to email or Facebook message me with questions and I will do my best to answer them all in my blog posts! Here are the questions that I have been asked over the course of the last several weeks:

What are your favorite Austrian foods?

I love Knödel and of course, Wiener Schnitzel is always a safe bet. Knödel can be made out of potatoes (to go with meat, gravy) or dough with a sweet filling. In this case I prefer the dessert! Schnitzel is chicken or pork breaded and fried the Austrian way and usually served with french fries or potato salad.

How are Austrians different from Americans?

Well, the subtleties are too many to count and these subtleties fit in with the different lifestyle in Austria. But in general, I would say Austrians are a bit more reserved. They greet good friends with a kiss on each cheek, but they almost never hug. I have really missed being able to hug everyone in America! However, although they are not as openly affectionate as what I am used to, they are still very warm kindhearted people and once you get to know them, you see that more and more.

What are your general impressions of Austria so far?

What kind of a question is that! Austria is a beautiful little country with a huge heart, and it already has a special place in mine. If you want some more information, it’s all right here in the blog. 🙂

Have you been homesick yet?

A little bit…every time after I Skype with my niece and nephew, and when I have any problems with anything here in Austria. Every time I have even the slightest problem, it is magnified by the fact that everything is foreign and this makes me miss familiarity.

Do you like the school?

The school is very different, but yes, I enjoy it as much as one can enjoy school. 🙂

Does your new family have a kitty?

Yes, and her name is Julie.

Do they have the same style in Austria?

In general yes, something stylish in Austria would also be stylish in the US. However, they dress up much more often in Austria. In other words, something in the US that wouldn’t be considered stylish but would be accepted because no one really cares would be absolutely unacceptable to wear out and about in Austria. For example, boys wearing basketball shorts to school or anyone wearing sweatpants out of the house. Sorry, 75% of students at Chelan High School!

Are you going to come back?

We’ll see. 😉

Much love,

Vanessa

Golf Tournament

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Kosen – Trip to Kenya – August 2014

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Hi Everyone.

My family and I are back home from our Trip to Kenya.  My wife Diane and My daughter Hailey had a wonderful time visiting family and friends for the first time.  We also had time to go on a 3 days safari in Masai Mara which coincided with the wildebeest migration season.  This Safari was also very important to both Hailey and I, in Aug 1978 my Dad took me on safari, I was 5 yrs old and at 5 yrs this was my daughter’s first safari and from the look of things she is a natural.

On Sept 10th I met with Grace and presented her with 2 Laptop computers that were donated by Lester Cooper from the Chelan Rotary and also gave her the money to pay for the kid’s tuition (fee) and shopping for the 6 new kids as well as for the other 9 that we have been supporting from the beginning of the year. I also had time to visit with the kids and they were very happy and thankful to each and every one of you for your Love and kind support. They told me to let you know that they are working very hard at school and they want to make us all proud. Grace gave me their school report form and their performance was impressive. I will bring the report forms to our next meeting.

Dr Claver, Andy Kunkel and I also visited the 5 of the 9 solar lights beneficiaries and to our delight every one of the solar Kits was working perfectly. We had to change only 1 bulb that had gone out.  These families have kept the solar kit in a very good condition. We left Grace with 8 extra bulbs for replacement if needed.

The Lights continue to have a great and positive impact to the community, I talked to the women and they told me how the lights have changed their lives both financially and socially. They make the traditional necklaces, bracelets and other Masai traditional bead work at night and sell them to Tourist during the day and also have time to do other family chores during the day. One story was even more compelling, one of ladies told me that she put one light outside of her house facing the livestock coral and ever since they have not experienced any incidents with the predators like Leopard, hyenas or lions attacking or even killing their livestock. For the Masai People livestock are a very major source of income and livelihood. Thanks to the solar lights for they have deterred these predators from coming into the village at night, the village and more importantly the people are safe at night.

The children continue to enjoy doing their homework and studies at home without any worries about darkness setting in or getting sick from smoke from kerosene lamps or firewood.

“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” -Howard Zinn

 Kosen

Board Meeting Special – September 2014

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Fire Relief

The Lake Chelan Rotary Club, at a special Board meeting on Tuesday, July 22, donated $10,000 of club reserves to the victims of the devastating fires in Central Washington.  The donation was made to the Fire Relief fund of the Community Foundation of North Central Washington (www.cfncw.org/firerelieffund). Rotary President Jeff Fehr said “we are all impacted by the terrible fire tragedies affecting our neighbors to the North, and we wanted to step up and help out. We raise money from our activities just so we can help out when the need is there. Lake Chelan Rotary is the nearest Rotary club to Pateros, Brewster, and the Methow Valley and we want to do all we can to help.”

In addition the Lake Chelan Rotary Club has committed through their Community Pride and Small Project committees of their club to begin such community projects that become available to begin the restoration of the communities that have been hit by the fire devastation.  These future efforts will be funded by donations to the Lake Chelan Rotary Community & International Fund which is a 501(c)(3) charity managed by the club.  Anyone wishing to donate to this unique effort can send checks to the Fund made out to LC Rotary Community & International Fund at P.O. Box 601, Chelan, WA 98816.  Any questions about the Fund, or requests for community projects can be directed to Jeff Fehr at 888-0856 or 679-6560.

Vanessa – German Progress and English Regression

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My German, in my opinion, is coming along wonderfully. I can understand mostly everything that is spoken directly to me, but I am still not able to follow along completely in a normal conversation between two native speakers. My grammar is terrible, but I will have to worry about that later because if I worried about my grammar now I wouldn’t be able to say very much at all. 🙂 My German teacher at school (for little kid German) did not believe me when I told her that I did not study German in my school in America!

On the other hand, my other languages have been noticeably deteriorating. It is a lot harder to speak English and sometimes I wonder if my English is even correct, but oh well I don’t need English anymore anyways. If I must sacrifice some English eloquence to be fluent in German, then so be it! My Spanish has unfortunately been neglected to the point of no return. If I try to speak Spanish in my Spanish class, I immediately revert back to German. My brain just can’t handle that yet! Sometimes I feel like I am in the stage where I have no languages and I just can’t communicate for awhile.

Vanessa – September 1- Present (Activities):

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I usually have something planned every week for the weekend. The weekend before last I visited Wien with some other exchange students and then came back the next day for a hike and outing with several local families who are friends of my host family. We hiked up a small mountain to some old ruins, had a glass of wine, and enjoyed the sunshine while the children ran around and played games. Then we made our way into a museum full of only the most unnecessary inventions. For example, glasses with a tennis net drawn on the bottom half of them so you “knew how high you needed to hit the ball.” Basically it was just a building full of entertaining objects to make you laugh! After the museum we went all went to dinner together at something called a Heurigen. It was just an open area where are a large group of people could sit down, eat some good food, and drink wine. Many times the owner of the Heurigen is serving up his wine from that year, and if you ever visit Austria you may not leave without experiencing and authentic Heurigen.

Last weekend was first a Rotary meeting in which the three exchange students living in my district were formally introduced to our rotary club. That night all of us exchange students travelled back to my town of Hollabrunn where a pre-celebration of Oktoberfest was taking place. The next day was the traditional Oktoberfest celebration in which I got to wear a dirndl and listen to traditional Austrian music. The real Oktoberfest takes place every year in Munich, Germany and is popular for people all around the world. Hollabrunn, however, also has a much smaller Oktoberfest and this is what I got to visit with my host family!

Vanessa – September 1- Present (School!):

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I was nervous to start school where I knew I would understand nothing, know no one, and be completely out of my element. But in the end I really had nothing to fear. I am in the sixth grade (or 10th grade in America) and my class is completely nice and welcoming. I didn’t go into the 7th grade with kids my own age because in that class they do a lot of preparation for the final exam that all Austrians must take at the end of their general education. The Austrian school system is completely different so I will give you a quick rundown. You have only one class of 15-20 students that you stay with from the time you are kids. You are only with this class and in one room the whole school year. Instead of the students switching classes, the teachers go from class room to class room. The daily schedule is also different for each day of the week. You have 6 periods per day and these periods change all the time. In total there are 10-12 subjects that I sit through every week, but I only get a grade in 7 of these which I choose. My schedule is also slightly special since I have not learned and do not need to learn all of the subjects as the other kids. So for classes like French, Latin, and Religion I go to the first or seconds grades during their German periods.

School is also shorter in Gymnasium. On a normal day school is out at 1:20. We do not have lunch in school but instead two 10-15 minute breaks where we are allowed to eat a snack. After school I usually go home where we then eat lunch together. School can be boring sometimes as I cannot understand all of the German that is being spoken so fast during lessons. But that is normal for any school anywhere (except in Mrs. Jenkins class, or any other of my dear Chelan teachers who may be reading this)! I have already finished the only English book I brought from America thanks to these long hours of understanding absolutely nothing.