Finale.
It’s all over.
From counting day every day, posting on my tumblr everyday, forgetting to post, going to all these different places, teaching, and everything in between it’s been an amazing year and a few months. I came to Kenya June 6th not knowing anything or anyone. I arrived at the airport at night, found a short skinny man with my name on a piece of paper… and the rest is history.
I set out exactly what I wanted to do and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I impacted the school, the kids, and the program. Together along with the other music teachers we improved our program, raised the level, I instilled my values as a teacher, and had some fun on the side =)
From learning how to ride a motorcycle in Zanzibar, road tripping to Uganda, bungee jumping over the nile, petting cheetahs, seeing all the wildlife a person needs to in their life time, the adventures seem to pile on. Being on national television twice, the inside cover of the newspaper, and meeting and playing with Riccardo Muti are just a few of the adventures that highlight this unpredictable year. One day when I am home in NY and I have a real fast internet connection, I’ll add some pictures that the world hasn’t seen.. haha!
From having 0 friends a year ago, I look through my phone book and can’t even remember some of my contacts. I have established a great rapport with my school the faculty, the students, and made friends that I will keep in touch with for years to come.
I’ll miss this school. Everyone here has treated me with the utmost respect… and maybe too much! For my students: I’ll miss them more than they will know. When you don’t have many friends in a country, I would reach out to my students. No matter if they were 6 or 16. The students would always tell me, “Mr. Andrew, why are you always telling us your problems…?” We’ll if they read this… maybe they’ll understand =) They were there for me as I was there for them.
As everyone knows in my school, I’ll only be a 3 hour matatu ride away living in Nairobi. And if Thika Road finishes… maybe an hour and a half! I’ll be the Head of Music at Nairobi Academy, and during my spare time trying to be an awesome squash player.
I feel like I have done a good job, and now the reality sets in that I am all done here. It’s extremely sad. I feel empty, but I feel accomplished. It was amazing meeting and having Gillian Clements here. She started the program in 2006. She is a tremendous person, and she started this beautiful strings program here. The program is all set for the next strings teacher; Rachel Nesvig. She will do a terrific job, I am sure. She has the right personality and attitude to succeed here. It’s really sad to walk around school and it be so quiet. The reality sets in that my work here is done, and I am no longer the strings teacher here. I never thought I would be so connected, but it is what happened.
I am happy I left on a good note, and if this is the beginning of my teaching career, I would say I am off to a good start.
