10 ways...

Here are 10 ways how I know that I've become cultured to Kenya and away from America... and yes, these have all happened within the first 48 hours of being here....

10. A 20 oz. soda took me three different sittings to finish. They are HUGE. I'm used to 300 mL sodas. A 20 oz is 600 mL. That is a big difference. It's like.... double.

9. I'm sure this one has happened to a lot of people coming back, I went to hit the blinker and turned on the windshield wipers. Classic!

8. I wondered where the askari (guard) was at the opening of Eden Prairie Mall who hands out the little plastic parking tag.

7. I was in Old Navy with my Uncle and I complained that I would never pay $12 for a shirt and he kindly informs me that $12 is a very cheap price. I'm so used to Toye Market.

6. I was driving fast because I didn't see any spike strips ahead, then I remembered that the po-pos have cars that are fast enough to chase you down, so I slowed down.

5. I started to rinse of my dinner plate and wash the dish until I was reminded about a little heavenly utility called the dishwasher.

4. Locking up and rolling up windows as if I was certain that 12 people would try to break into my car when I visited the nursing home. My great aunt's response, "Don't you think we should leave the windows open a bit, to allow air flow?"

3. Wondering why I was one of the slowest cars on the road when I was going 110 kilometers/hour instead of the fastest.

2. I was driving in the left lane because that is the slow lane in Kenya... sorry black SUV who seems to have been in a hurry...

1. I actually had this thought while sitting at a red light, "Where have the round-a-bouts gone?"

There are plenty more things that will pop up here or there.

Grandma went home yesterday. The memorial service is on Thursday.

RYAN

Taming the Beast

Just over a week classes started here at RVA. A few days before classes started, I had the opportunity to go Nairobi's Animal Orphanage. This is a place that has found animals out in the wild whose parents have been killed. The animals would die out in the wild with no one to care for them. I went with a family named the Janders. They had arranged to go in early because they met someone who worked there. This guy said that if we came early enough, he would let us pet some of the animals. After making a few rounds and petting some pretty cool animals he led us into a small little room. Inside this room lived 3 little cheetahs. Two were a few months old and one was 2 weeks old. He then picked one of the 2 month year old cheetahs up and offered it to the Jander kids to hold. They refused. I, realizing that I might not ever get this opportunity again, accepted. The cheetah went crazy in my arms. It was scratching and wiggling, trying to get away. I even recieved a decent size scratch on my neck.

After a few moments, the cheetah settled down and fell asleep in my arms. It was a very cool experience. This is one of those moments you realize that I am living in a pretty cool place, surrounded by amazing opportunities. Some days I miss America, friends and family very much and wonder why I am here and what makes working here any different than working in America. The day I got to hold the cheetah was a small reminder that I am so privileged to be here!

The cheetah sleeps Here is the 2 week year old cheetah

I've titled this blog, "Taming the Beast" because that is exactly what I had to do to the baby cheetah for one and for two, that is what I feel like I'm doing as I start this academic year off. I am in a completely new situation teaching US History, not to mention that I am teaching High School students instead of Elementary Students. When I first received the curriculum and learned of some of my other responsibilities I was feeling very overwhelmed. After two weeks, I am still feeling a little stressed about this term/year but I am starting to wrap my arms around it and am feeling like I can accomplish this task ahead of me. I want to feel in control of what is going on, but I have realized that the more I try to be in control, the more frustrated I get. I need to rely on His strength to get me through this term. Only when I do that will I find and have found comfort.

I ask for your prayers for the students and staff here as we are beginning a new year at RVA. Since we are primarily a boarding school, right about now, (two week mark) a lot of our students are starting to feel homesick and miss their parents, especially the new students. Please pray for them to be comforted.

Long Time

Well, since my last post, much has happened. Let's sum up.

A whole year has gone by and I haven't even updated once. I feel horrible about this. I guess as I go from day to day, everything seems normal and you friends would not want to read about normal things. I keep reminding myself that what is normal for me here is completely different for most people. There are so many things I could have been updating about. Here is a quick summary of my first year at RVA.

-I taught grade 5. My first full year of teaching. It was crazy. I showed up to pretty much nothing and having to make most of it up. What was left for me, I didn't think I could use because it just wasn't my style. So, that first term was hectic. I had 19 kids from 5 or 6 different countries. I truly enjoyed my time in the 5th grade. However, I never felt comfortable there. I felt like I would be better used serving students from another grade level. I prayed about this a lot and talked things through with my principal John and my prayer partner Todd. More on this later...

-I had the opportunity to travel through Tanzania and to Zanzibar. I spent a few days in Dar es Salaam. It was an amazing city. The city even included a SUBWAY (uh, sandwich shop, not underground transit)!!! Zanzibar was an unforgettable experience.

-I made some extraordinary friends here in Kijabe. RVA is such a unique place and the staff come together so well.

-I had the opportunity to coach the JV Boy's Volleyball team. We won our league (3 other teams! :))

-My friend Tom Beukhof came out for a visit for a few weeks and we went to Mombasa and to Masai Mara to see some animals!

-I agreed to watch someone's cat while they were home in America for the year. I had the cat for three weeks before it either ran away or was captured by a monkey or something because it hasn't come back for about 2 weeks now. :( The cat liked me, so I don't think it ran away...

-You are probably wondering why I am not posting pictures of any of these exciting events. Well, late into third term, I was attending a playoff rugby game in Nairobi. I took my backpack with me so I could check email in town, where the internet is quicker. We parked in a gated parking lot with guards. We locked the car and I left my bag in the car thinking it would be ok since the car was parked less than 20 yards from the Guard House. Well, the car was broken into and my bag was stolen. The contents of the bag were my computer with all my lesson plans, pictures, gradebooks, music, my back up hard-drive, digital camera and iPod. Needless to say I was bummed. But, God is good, as no one was harmed in this incident and God allowed there to be extra funds in my workfunds to purchase a new computer and back up hard drive, and iPod. I didn't get a new camera. Still waiting on God for that one. But that is the reason that there are no photos from this previous year.

-I went to Masai Mara again with a family called the Janders.

And now I am gearing up for year number two at Rift Valley Academy. Going back to my first story about not being comfortable where I was at in 5th grade. I struggled with this issue for a long while. I know that God has called me here to minister to these kids and I just wasn't connecting with 5th graders the same way I was connecting with Jr. High and High School kids. Being an elementary teacher really consumes your time and so I was not having the opportunities that I would have liked to connect with the older kids. So as I prayed and talked with John and Todd, I began to explore options for the next year. It is pretty cool to see God work through all of this. John told me that he wanted me to be where I would have the most passion for the kids but he just couldn't give me up to the high school without being covered at the elementary school. Throughout third term, things were looking like I would stay at elementary because the people who were slated to come out for elementary just were not getting their support. God worked in some marvelous ways and a few of the teachers met their deadlines in the last week. There was then a surplus of elementary teachers. I was then released to the high school to teach in the Social Studies department! YES! It just turns out that this department needed the most help in covering the classes. So, as of a few days ago, I have my assignment for next year. I am teaching 3 periods of US History, 1 period of Model United Nations, and 1 period of IGCSE History. That last one is a British curriculum for the European students here. I am nervous about teaching this one but I know that God will give me the strength I need. My other responsibilities for this term include:

-Assistant Varsity Men's Football (Soccer) Coach

-Sponsorer for 10th graders

-Dorm coverage for Duma Dorm (10th grade boys)

I am excited for this new opportunity for me here. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit nervous as well. Please pray for me as I get ready for this year and that it would jump off to a great start.

I am hoping to update this way more frequently now. The posts will be shorter and I hope to share some interesting things about life here in Kenya. Things that I find to be normal but most people would not find to be normal.

God BLESS!

RYAN

Death of a Boxcar

I am writing this post after my first few days of being a full blown teacher. I will write about that experience in a few days. I am still processing my thoughts about how it all went. For now, I feel great about the first week and know it went well. Starting Monday, we really dive into the curriculum. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

What I want to share is about the night I had two nights prior to school starting. Myself, along with a 26 year old dentist that is here until December took the senior high guys out camping for a night. It was a blast. We stayed at what is called "the hot springs". It takes about 45 minutes along the railroad tracks near RVA to hike out there. The title of this post comes from the sad fact that at the bottom of the ravine there was a boxcar that fell off a train a while back. When I was in high school it was fun to stand in the boxcar (which was on a slope) and then tilt the camera to give the illusion that we were standing and defying gravity. (This is hard to explain in writing and best to show a picture which I don't have). Anyways, I was horrified to find out that just recently, people have come to the boxcar and hacked it to pieces for scrap metal. This is all that is left: (picture upl0ader not working at the moment, I will post later...)

For all that remember and loved the boxcar, now is the time for a moment of silence.

As for the camping. It was incredible. The only things you have to worry about while camping out here are thugs (thieves) or baboons. Luckily we didn't have to deal with either. Matt (the dentist) and I had a wonderful time and opportunity to share with the guys what it meant to be a Christian leader at the school during their final year. It was a great discussion. We then opened it up to allow them to ask us any questions on their hearts. They asked about college life, how to stay strong in their faith and the inevitable, girls. I let Matt handle this category because I have very little experience in this department.

All in all, it was a great time and I am very thankful to the Lord for giving me this opportunity!

More to come about school...

Thanks again for all your prayers and eat a Chipolte burrito for me! :)

RYAN

Support update:
I feel like I should be transparent with you all about my money situations, since a lot of you are responsible for my being here in Kenya! I just got my monthly statement for the month of August and I was about $400 shy of my target. This is not horrible since the previous month I was about $400 over the target. But I would just encourage you all to keep praying for this situation that God would bring a few more faithful supporters to me. If you are interested in giving towards this ministry just shoot me an email at ryan.e.dahlman@gmail.com!

Oh, the things you'll find!

When I was leaving the great state of Minnesota for Kenya I was a little bummed. The reason for this bum feeling was that I was taking very little state sport pride with me. I wanted to be able to flaunt my love for my Minnesota sports teams all over the world. While at the Minneapolis airport I decided to buy a Minnesota Twins baseball hat. The store there, however, only had a small selection and nothing really that I could see myself wearing. So I bought a Minnesota Wild hat. I really like the hat and a lot of street vendors in Nairobi have offered to trade me their craft for my hat. Fat chance. This hat is staying with this guy.

However, I have still been in a funk because I do not have any memorabilia of my favorite sports team, the Minnesota Twins. Check that, I have a shirt with Johan Santana on the back. My friend Tony and I got them thinking that he would be a Twin forever. Most of us know, that this is not true as he was traded to the New York Mets. I needed something current to show my pride especially as the Twins are in a major divisional race right now.
This brings me to Friday. I was in town doing a little grocery shopping at a supermarket called Uchumi. I was getting towards the end of my shopping when I look into the clothing section of the grocery store. Yes, you read that correct, there is a clothing section of the the grocery stores here in Kenya. I look in the sports corner and I see a Minnesota Twins jersey hanging. I just about lost it. What on earth is an American baseball jersey doing in Kenya. (editor's note: Baseball is not played or watched or even known about in Kenya). I go over to the jersey and it is a small. I was bummed. I asked the attendant if he had any larger sizes of this jersey. He pointed me to a Chicago White Sox jersey. I told him that I would buy the White Sox jersey only so that I could burn the White Sox jersey. He flipped through the remaining jersey's and the last one on the rack was this:

I swear that I could hear angels singing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus behind me. It was a little big on me but I bought it nonetheless. It cost KSH 1100/= . This, in US dollars, comes to about $15. If you come to Kijabe now, you will definitely see me sporting this jersey! GO TWINS.

Another funny story about things you will find here:
I was going through a second-hand clothes market and found some interesting items.
-The first funny thing I found was a Terrell Davis NFL Denver Broncos jersey. He is retired now, for about 6 years or something like that.... probably more....
-Another thing that I found (and bought) was a server's uniform for Buffalo Wild Wings. B-DUBS has come to Kenya! Well, at least the server's uniforms, not the actual restaurant.

The last story that I want to share about my trip to town yesterday was that of Philadelphia cream cheese. This is a rare item in Kenya and you buy it whenever you get the chance because it does not show up often. I was looking at the prices and sizes. One size was 100 grams of cream cheese and it was going for KSH 200/=. The only other size was 200 grams. A logical thinking person would assume that the price for this would be KSH 400/=. Not in Africa. It was being sold for KSH 600/=. That is right. When you package something with two times the amount you do not sell for twice as much here... you sell it for three times as much. I was confused, so I asked the guy working there if he could explain it to me. He told me that the packaging was nicer on the 200 gram one so it cost an extra KSH 200/=. (It was the same packaging on both of them.) Sometimes you just have to laugh and go on with life here!

I hope that everyone reading this is doing well. Please send me a comment or an update on your life. I miss you all!

RYAN

Evangelistic Football

I thought that it is time for an update!

I have been adjusting to life here at Rift Valley Academy nicely. It has been very good to have a history here because I know what I am getting myself into. The past few days have been doing much of the same things:
1. Setting up my classroom
-This entails manipulating the physical layout of the room.
-Going over many pages of curriculum and sorting through different teaching ideas, worksheets, and having other curriculum meetings. (Tomorrow I am meeting with the 3rd and 4th grade teachers to discuss Social Studies and Science!)
-Complaining about the drab paint in the room and wanting to but not being able to change the color until Christmas (at the earliest).
-Looking through the class list (of 19) and figuring out a seating chart and design.
-Designing a new desk that we are discussing having built for the students
2. Setting up my house
-Although not everything has found its home, most things are away!
-Buying material for curtains. I never envisioned doing that! :)
-Cooking dinner most nights for myself. I actually am surprising myself with how well I have been doing!
-Hosting a lot of senior high kids. These kids live here on station as their parents work at the school or hospital here. I told them that my house was always an open place to hang out. Boy, I guess they took that to heart! :)
3. Exercising
-Indoor soccer, basketball, racquetball, flag american football, real football!
4. Going to the "dukas" to buy vegetables and other food staples.
5. Learning Kiswahili
-I took a Language Acquisition course for a few days and have been learning new Kiswahili phrases. I hope to continue this but I am just not sure how much I can learn when I start teaching. But for now, I am enjoying myself and the phrases I am learning.
6. Dog sitting
-a few friends that I have made over the past two months (the Janders) bought a new puppy that is a rottweiler/German shepherd mix). The dog's name is Carly and I will be her caretaker for about 2 weeks.

Finally, I want to talk about a great outreach opportunity I had yesterday. Myself along with about 7 people from RVA and 6 Kenyans went to the old Kijabe Town which is about 5 miles from RVA to play the local team in a friendly "football" match. It was incredible. The field was so funny. It doubles as a cow/goat/sheep pasture and has poop all over it. Also it is not level with many divets around. It was more dirt than grass. The lines they had painted were not straight either. However, the game itself was very fun and great fellowship. I played goalkeeper for most of the game as I am a pretty poor fielder. I conceded two goals but in the end we scored three to take the win. The referee was something else. I am pretty sure the guy did not understand the offsides rule as many people were called for the rule when it shouldn't have but that is all a part of the experience. The most amazing part was that at halftime we shared a little devotional with the other team. Imagine my surprise when one of the Kenyans from my team, the guy who set this match up) introduced me and told me that I was supposed to give the devotional. So I made it up as I went and he translated. I shared that our plan is not what is important in this life rather it is what God's plan is for our life that is what is important.
Wow, what a fun day.

RYAN

At RVA

Hello Friends!
It sure has been a while since the last time I wrote on here. Things have been pretty busy as of late and this is practically the first time I have had the opportunity to use the internet! Part of this is because my new computer hard drive crashed and I need to have a new one shipped from Dell! Boy, this is pretty frustrating but it is the way things go some time.

But enough with the bad news.... I am finally at RVA! It has only taken about a month or so from when I first left Minnesota but I am actually here! God is great. I would have some awesome pictures to put up here, but again, computer crash has sort of limited me!

Here are some quick updates about what I am experiencing:
-I have all ready moved houses. They started me out in this small place in the single women's complex. However, a larger place near a boy's dorm opened up and so I moved into there! It is pretty sweet!
-I am being fed almost every night by different families on the RVA campus. It is good to be welcomed!
-I found out for sure that I am teaching the 5th grade here. This is a huge answer to prayer as my principle was toying with the idea of me teaching 2nd. I am very happy where I am.
-Because of my wonderful supporters, I had a few extra outgoing dollars and was able to buy a piki piki (motorcycle) off a missionary who was returning to America. It is nice to have some wheels
-When I left America, my fantasy baseball team was 3rd from the bottom. Now that I have left and have had limited access to my team, I shot right up the standings and am now sitting about mid pack or so. Oh, the irony...

Well, I will write more later! I hope to get my computer going again within the next few weeks so I can load this blog up with the much needed pictures! Stay in touch! Send me an email or comment on the blog! I am missing being around you all!

RYAN