Greetings from Sikalongo,

I have found internet access in Sikalongo so that is where I am writing from.
Hmmm...I feel like there is too much to tell in the amount of time I have. But anyway today there were actually clouds in the sky. It looked very much like Kansas right before it is about to rain. But it didn't. However,it is a sign that the seasons are changing. I can also feel the difference. It is much hotter and more humid than when I got here.
Today in physics class we had an unexpected visitor -- a bat. Apparently it had slept in the rafters and for some reason woke up in physics class and began madly flying around the room. I was writing at on the board with my back to the class when all the sudden I heard screaming. I didn't know what was going on at first and then I noticed what I thought was some kind of huge insect at first. After a few moments of chaos some of the boys gained their composure and started swatting at it with their notebooks. This went on for a couple minutes while the bat dodged here and there through the room. Finally, one of the pupil nailed it and I think killed it. It was knocked out anyway, so we put it outside. I forgot to check if it was still there when class was over.
Other than the occasional bat, I am slowly getting more comfortable teaching and I think the pupils are slowly getting accostomed to my "lack of accent" as I like to think of it.
Basketball "practice" started on wed. Practice is in quotes because we didn't have a ball. So they just ran. Other than that it was just like practice back at Central Christian high school except that rims are a little crooked and the backboard is wood and we were outside and some kids didn't have shoes. But on the bright side it was still more fun than soccer. And there is a 6'6" kid who can drop-step dunk it!
At home, I am starting to feel a little more like a part of the family. I do get my own shima on occasion. They showed me how to make it -- grind up maize into a fine powder, put it in a pot and add water, and cook until it looks like mashed potatoes. Also, we have been having fish lately. Which is good cuz i like the way fish tastes -- I just don't like that way it looks at me. Sometimes we have a bunch of little fish that we eat whole, or others we have big fish that we pick that meat of the bones. The first time we had the big fish I thought I was done with mine and I asked what to do with the head. Yup, they eat that too.
Well, thats all for now but I want to give a shout out to my brother who recently decided to devote his life to monastacism (don't tell my mom).

--Ba Tyler (Ba means Mr.)

Mwabuka buti? (literally "how did you wake up) It is how we say good morning here. A lot has happened in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago Mark came from Batoka and we had Tonga lessons together in Sikalongo. It was nice to have someone else there who I don't have to speak slowly to and also is experiencing culture shock. Tonga is very hard to learn. Monday and Tuesday we spent memorizing basic vocabulary words. Then on Wed we were going to start memorizing sentences. That is sort of characteristic of the way education works here -- you just memorize. I tried to explain to the teacher that it would be more beneficial if we learned how to conjugate verbs, modify nouns, etc. so we could construct sentences because I am not going to be able to memorize all the sentences or phrases I want to use. It helped a little but he finally just said we need to learn it by hearing and speaking it. So thursday we spent playing chess. (which I have been doing a lot of. My record is 16-2-1, not that I am keeping track or anything
This past week school started --kind of, some kids came, some teachers taught, but in my American perspective, not much was accomplished this week. I spent most of the week observing other teachers. However, on friday I did give my first lessons. I gave an 80 minute lecture on acids. I did not think I could talk about anything for 80 minutes especially not in front of a bunch of people. I guess I missed the day in speech class where you give an 80 minute presentation. I was very nervous at the beginning but by the end it was not too bad. The hardest part is slowing down my speech enough for the students to understand.
I am teaching 2 biology classes, 2 chemistry, and 3 physics. This amounts to 21 hours a week -- each class is 3 hours a week.
As for my home life, I am slowly getting used to it. My alarm (the chickens and turkeys) goes off every morning at 6:00. My "bath" is already prepared for me and when I get done with that so is my breakfast, which usually is bread with jam or PB on it. Then I ride my bike to the school which takes about 10 minutes. School starts at 7:00 which means that you start thinking about starting school at 7:00. Last monday, we had a staff meeting at 7:00 and guess who was the first one there? And I have by far the furthest to go. School gets out at 1:20. Then I go back home for lunch which is usually rice and some meat or eggs. The rest of my family usually eats nsima which is a cornmeal type food but they don't think I like it despite my telling them it is fine with me. Supper is usually the same way. Then they bring me a snack and tea right before bed. This usually consists of the same stuff as breakfast and I am the only one who eats it. I have offered to share but they will not accept any so I eat in front of the rest of the family --which is a little awkward for me but I guess that is the way they do things here. They treat their guests very well. They even washed my bed sheets and clothes without my asking them to. (I washed my clothes myself last sunday but they told me not to do that that is not my job.)
At the school, in the afternoon the students have study time or work time or sports. We might start basketball practice on monday.
The evenings are usually pretty boring, other than play chess or read there is not much to do. It gets dark here about 6:30 and I am usually in bed by 10:00. One of the things I have learned here is that it is much easier to get up at 6:00 when you go to bed at 10:00. Of course its much easier to go to bed at 10 when Jon Stewart and sportcenter aren't on.

-- Mr. Tyler (or Taylor or Tyrer, or Tayrer...haha... they don't have r's in tonga so their l's sound like r's)