Date-Challenged

Some weeks ago I received notification that my flight from Cleveland to New York was cancelled. My initial response to myself was, "How could that computer make such a silly mistake; I am meant to fly precisely one month from today." And then I got a sinking feeling. Yep, I had made all my domestic airline reservations for February instead of for March. Fortunately that one cancelled leg of many meant that I could cancel the entire ticket without penalty and rebook. Whew! That was close.

Last night I decided I probably should check exactly what time after midnight on Friday morning I am scheduled to leave Dar es Salaam. It was then that I discovered I leave at 12:45 a.m. on THURSDAY morning. I am so happy I checked. It has meant a busy day here today (I'm writing this at my desk during a brief lunch break).

Tomorrow morning I head to Dar es Salaam. I arrive in Detroit on this Thursday. I'll rent a car there and then head to Toledo on Sunday, where I'll be until Wednesday morning when I head to Cleveland. I leave from Cleveland for New York City on Friday afternoon, staying until Monday morning when I fly to Chicago, where I stay until flying to Los Angeles on the following Sunday. From there I fly to Calgary to celebrate St. Patrick's feast, leaving in time to arrive in London to celebrate St. Joseph's feast, returning to Dar es Salaam on Friday, 25 March.

It's a busy schedule, but I'm very much looking forward to sharing the good news about St. Peter Claver High School!

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Now that's an allusion not everyone will get!

The answer is sporadic! My days are long and full, and I don't have time enough to write much here presently. Yesterday I treated myself and tried to sleep in until 5:50 a.m. I got to our multi-purpose hall at 6:30 when the day at school began. At 7:30, when the students begin to move to the classroom assembly area, it began to pour rain -- buckets. We waited until 7:50, when I told the students to make a dash for it.

They ran to the classrooms, and I ran to my office, which I left at 6:00 o'clock last night in order to return to the MPH, where I helped to prefect the dinner. I moved on to "preps" (study hall), until 7:30, when I headed home to dinner with Martin and Kizito. This was a pretty typical day -- what wasn't typical is that last night I didn't return to my office and went to bed instead!

All of us Jesuits are leading such lives right now. Sossy has to worry about things here and the parish. My companion Kizito is teaching a class for a teacher who has fallen ill plus taking care of things as my assistant (AND, poor Kizito, will have even more to deal with when I leave for the States in six days!), and Martin is teaching two mathematics classes plus helping with practical matters in the Jesuit community and dealing with issues as the "clerk of works" for the building.

It is an endurance test, which I hope we all manage to pass!

Some More Pictures

These were taken by me -- or at least with my camera!

Geting Settled After Arrival

More photos from 23 January.

More pictures from the arrival day of our students.

Registration

Finally, some photos of our opening -- some by me but most taken by Laura Heid.

Whew!

A lot to catch you up on. Descriptions, photos, and video.

Alas, you'll have to continue to wait because my connection in Ihumwa is so poor. I'm in town now but haven't the time to upload things.

It's enough for you non-Face Book readers to know that during the first week of class I was diagnosed with malaria and spent much of the time from Tuesday-Friday in bed. I'm still easily exhausted now, but I don't have much other choice than to charge on.

The students are mostly wonderful, and as has been the case with my other times as a principal the most enjoyable part of the job is being with them -- even when they aren't so wonderful.

Oh, and if you thought the size of the cobra I posted over a year ago was spectacular, you should see the one that our workers killed just outside our dining hall -- the students now understand why I insist on their staying on paths.

More later.