Ignoring the alarm.

The idea Nikki gave me of setting an alarm seemed like a good one until I decided to dismiss the alarm, because I was busy doing something else. I now have a better idea that I'll set aside time during one of my free blocks everyday to post in the blog. This is also a good time for me to get anything done that I didn't have time to do during class or did not get to, since I often forget at night. I am getting a little behind on my reading so my goal is to try and catch up today during the beginning of class and during f block. Hopefully if Eric decides to come to class today I can ask him a couple questions about his experiences in Kenya. I also want to send an email to the girl I met at the college either today or tomorrow.

Oops

Well I haven't been posting in a while, but I still have not been getting behind on my goals. I have stayed up to date on my reading deadlines and have finished my research on the history of Kenya. I also have made many plans for this weekend in order to keep going on my project. This weekend I'm going to watch Access to the Danger Zone which is a documentary showing the dangers faced in certain countries. Although it took me a while to find and it does not focus the entire time on Kenya I think it will be something good to add to my research. I am also going to an African restaurant on Friday to get a cultural experience. I have decided that penny wars will not work for my fundraiser so I am going to have a bake sale in front of a grocery store in Littleton next weekend where I have had success in the past raising money for other things. This will combine with the money raised from George KJ and Robbie's lottery and any additional ideas I think of. Next week I hope to start talking to people I know who have been to Kenya know that I have enough of my own background information. I need to be more careful of reminding myself to write on the blog, because I remember to work on my project, but always forget to post on the blog afterward.

Fundraising idea

Last week someone suggested that I try and do a class cup kind of competition in order to fundraise for the organization. I think doing penny wars would be a good way to raise money. I still need to talk to some people to see if this idea could actually work. I also started to think about my midterm presentation and what I would be putting in it. I think that I will use a powerpoint to show the information that I have gotten so far and what I am learning about Kenya and the problems. Next week I will not be in class for two days so I need to keep myself focused so I do not get behind schedule

Distracted

Today without having class I found myself distracted and did not get much work done. My mind was focused on many other things and I did not make progress. When I checked the blog tonight I was very happy to see peoples comments. Both of the ones I got today were very helpful, and I am going to use both of them in thinking about what I will do tomorrow. Tomorrow during class I hope to get some reading done and finalize my idea for the fundraiser. I will first try KJ's idea of listening to music in order to focus, and if that does not work I can try working somewhere quieter with less distractions.

Yesterday

Yesterday in class I first helped Nikki with her interview. It was interesting to see how other people's projects are going and be able to help them out. Then after I sat down to finish reading the articles I found over the weekend. I found it harder to focus with everyone else around me, and found that I was not making much progress. At home though, when I was searching around the foundation's website I was making a lot more progress. It got me very excited to raise money for the foundation, after learning how little money could go so far to help a village. Today in class I want to look at a couple more things on the website and then start to plan what I am going to do to raise money.

Sunday

Today I finished the reading that I had set for myself. It is surprising me how long it is taking me to get through the reading. So much goes on in each chapter and in only two chapters Wangari is now thirteen years old and heading away to boarding school. I am impressed so far about all that she accomplishes as a young girl, both to help her mom and in school. I now know for the future that I will have to set aside more time to do my reading than usual. I also found some articles about Kenya that I want to read in class tomorrow, as well as after school starting to do research of the charity I chose.

Samosas

While I have been away I have been reading the memoir on the long car rides. At first it was hard to get into, but now that I am about forty pages into it, it is starting to get more interesting. I still have the rest of the chapter to finish to reach my deadline for the weekend. Tomorrow I also hope to find a couple more articles to read, and then on Monday look at some information in the reference books. Today after I saw an Indonesian restaurant I thought it would be an interesting idea to try and find a restaurant that served Kenyan food in the area. I found a restaurant in Waltham called Karibu that offers East African food. As part of my cultural experience I think it would be an interesting idea for me to go and try the food there. I will even do my best not to be freaked out by the idea of eating everything with my hands as is done, but I can not promise that I will not make a complete fool of myself.

Getting Started

Today during class I started researching about Kenya for my project. I wanted to have a good base of knowledge about Kenya and its history before focusing on other parts of my project. I found a couple websites that I read in class and am now starting to understand more about the country. I was shocked by some of the horrifying facts about the conditions the people live in there, but this made me more excited about raising money for these people. Tomorrow I will not be in class, so for the rest of the weekend I plan to continue to research about Kenya and start reading my book, so I reach my deadline of getting to page 53 by the end of the weekend.

Finalizing the Project

Today I finalized my project and began writing my project proposal. I originally had a lot of separate ideas and could not figure out what to do. I figured out today how I could incorporate two of my ideas together to make a project that I was really interested in. I wanted to both fundraise for a charity and incorporate my passion for travel. I decided to put them together to study the problems in Kenya and then raise money for a charity there that is helping these people. I spent time today figuring out how I would use all three aspects of the project reading, writing, listening, thinking, speaking, and organization. I picked an organization, One Village at a Time, that I want to raise money for, and picked a book to read, Unbowed by Wangari Maathai. I found the proposal easy to write once I knew exactly what I was going to do. Tonight I still have to organize my calendar to create deadlines to follow for the next two months.