Quick Quip

I had Class 2 for general music a few days ago and made the mistake of bringing my Nalgene bottle to class.  The problem was I already had a Nalgene bottle in class and, of course, this spurred a serious discussion amongst my students.

"Why do you have two water bottles, Mrs. Brueck?"

"Because one is Mr. Brueck's, and one is mine."

"That's why you wear that ring, because you're married to Mr. Brueck." (giggle, giggle, giggle)

"You're right.  Good job."

Here's the kicker, from a sweet-faced, very serious boy on the front row:
"He mar-ried you?"

Ummm...what's that supposed to mean?

The Best Laid Plans

In seventh grade, I decided to become a band director when I grew up. Or as the kids say here, "when I got big."  Anyway, it worked!  I went to college and voila, I was certified to teach band. 

So I taught every subject but music for a year. Hmmm. 

Then I did teach band...and strings.  Hmmm.

Now I'm teaching English and general music and....choir.  Hmmm.

But, I love it!  Who knew?  Certainly not my seventh grade self.  Or my college self that said I would NEVER teach strings.  Or my post-college self that said no way to choir or general music.

I think I'm starting to understand Proverbs 16:9 - "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."

Thankfully, my choir director husband has agreed to let me be the assistant and to actually do most of the teaching for choir. 

All of that to say, I'm learning right along side of our kids and really enjoying it.  We do silly things like make siren sounds and sing bum-bum-bum-bum-bumble-bee over and over.  And somehow (and by somehow I mean Richard), the 25 Class 4-6 students in Primary School Choir are starting to sound like..a choir. 
It's amazing.

We have our first performance coming up in three weeks for School Recitation.  Every class from K4 up through Class 9 presents something they have learned this term.  Our choir will present the hymn "Let All Things Now Living" in two-part harmony.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Tea Talk

I have a confession: I took 443 pictures this past weekend.  Mostly just Saturday.  I promise I will not post all of them.  I promise I will try to use them judiciously and in place of copious words.  Whew!  I feel better.

OK...ready...set...Go!

This is a field of tea, early in the morning when it was still cloudy and misty.  And beautiful.

This is Fiona, the owner.  Her grandfather came to Kenya in the late 1800's and accomplished many things.  He built a girls' school, a church and the Tea Farm.  They originally had 350 acres of tea.  It looked like this:

The first tea was brought to Kenya because Indians (from India) were contracted to build the railway system, and they liked to have tea!  A few sample trees were brought along and planted as an experiment.

This is one of the old, original small leaf tea trees in flower. 

The flower forms a seed, but nowadays they make new bushes from cuttings, not the seeds.

The tea is planted in rows that grow together at the tops because they are constantly pruned.  They are kept pretty low for easy picking and are cut back to 22 inches every four years to keep things in check.

The new growth is harvested every 14-21 days by hand.  You pick the bud of a new leaf and the next two leaves keeping the bit of stalk with it.

Tea is a great cash crop because it can be harvested 365 days a year.  Coffee only comes in twice a year.

So these leaves are picked by hand, sorted for quality, taken to the nearby tea factory and processed into tea as we know it in 24 hours.  You have to have a factory nearby because the tea making process must start within hours of being picked.

The process sorts out the softest and best bits from the most fibrous and makes several grades of tea.  If you get Pekoe Tea, you have the best bits.  Cheaper teas are made by mixing in the stalky and veiny parts.

Their tea becomes black tea during processing, but you could make green tea out of it just using a different processing method.

Either way, it's a beautiful way to make a living!

Monkey Business

When we were in Wales two years ago, we stayed with a couple who read a chapter of the Bible and prayed together over breakfast every morning, and they invited us to join them.  We loved it and try to do the same together each morning.

This is the spot Richard and I chose for our morning devotions together on Saturday. We were facing the garden and the tea fields. All was right with the world.

 

Suddenly, two black and white monkeys with long white tails came running up this path and jumped into the avocado tree above us.  Surprise!

There were eventually five Black-and-White Colobus Monkeys above us, eating avocados, doing their morning "business" (duck!) and grooming each other. 

They were also dropping the remains of the fruits and we had to dodge a bit.  The dogs, however, thoroughly enjoyed finishing off the remains of the avocados inside on the rug by the fireplace.

They jumped from tree to tree and seemed to be having a glorious time.  Imagine looking through your camera to see this monkey staring at you and starting to leap.  Thankfully, it was heading for the next tree, but I thought it was coming for me!

It was nice to start the day with God's Word and then experience His creation up close and personal.

My New Favorite Place

We woke up Saturday at the Tea Farm with this view out of our window. It wasn't raining anymore, but everything was overcast.  It didn't matter.  It was like going to sleep in stormy ocean and waking up in the garden of a mountain king.  Absolutely beautiful.

We could see tea plants in every direction beyond the garden.  Marcus (the proprietor) filled two bird feeders and flocks of tiny birds were fighting with the doves over the spoils.

This was taken right off the front veranda.

The gardeners were up early getting the grounds ready for the day.  We were the only boarding guests, but several groups of people were coming in for a "tea talk" and lunch on the lawn. (Stayed tuned!)

At 7,000 feet, the air was cool, crisp, clean and mosquito free.  What a wonderful start to a holiday!

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Richard turned 30 on Friday and thankfully, I was along for the celebration.  We took a long weekend for our holiday and went gallivanting.  Such fun! 

We went into town, had a leisurely breakfast of quiche and mini pastries, saw a movie, bought some books and went to Spur for an authentic steak dinner. 

By authentic, I mean, an African restaurant set up to resemble the American southwest with cowboys and Indians. 

The restaurant is part of the Mayfair Hotel, a beautiful inn in the heart of Nairobi. 

 Richard had a steak (He better have!  That's why we went!).

I had a guacamole bacon cheeseburger that was so big, I couldn't fit top and bottom buns in my mouth at the same time.  The onion straws were worth going back for another time.

We had reservations at Kiambethu Tea Farm and were to arrive at 6:00 pm, thirty minutes to spare before dark. During dinner however, it started raining.  You know what happens to drivers in the deep South when it starts snowing?  How traffic laws don't apply and common sense leaves everyone as they scurry to find bread, milk and gasoline?  That's what Nairobi is like when it rains.  We went 1 kilometer in 45 minutes.  It was now dark and still raining, but we broke free of the jam and were on our way.

We had directions, pretty solid directions too for driving in a country with few street signs and no street lights.  We missed the first turn three times but were straightened out by a phone call.  Our next clue to finding the Tea Farm was a sign for the Kenchu Chicken Plant.  Unbeknown to us, the road we were looking for is being renovated so all the signs have been torn down.  Not that you could see them in the dark and rain anyway.  All of this led us past the Tea Farm, dodging donkeys, broken-down cars with no lights, moving cars with no lights and sneaky, un-lit, unmarked speed bumps, through upcountry to the Limuru Post Office.  Our friend with the directions called to check on us.  A quick U-ie and 20 minutes later we turned onto the final road.  A dirt road that had turned into a mud road.  It was a blast!

We finally turned into the drive for the Tea Farm an hour and half late and were met by Fiona and Marcus, the British-Kenyan proprietors.  And several dogs. And a fire in the fireplace.  And hot tea. And a warm bed.  Aaaaahhhh....  Happy birthday, Richard!

Ick

Good news:  I have been asked/given permission to put together a keyboard lab so that I can teach piano lessons.  We have a tiny room that has been an art room but is being converted into our new lab.

Bad news:  This slug already calls my new lab home!