Alright folks. It's here. The computer. So! I hope I might get posts up once a week- fairly reasonable if the internet decides to work all the time. But, what, am I my internet's keeper? I can't answer for what it might do!
Anyways, important stuff- NEW RESTAURANT IN TOWN WITH A PICTURE OF A HAMBURGER AND AN ICE CREAM ON IT. Checking that out stat. Hope it's not a trap for Americans... Because it would totally work.
Less important stuff- school started! Finishing chapter 1 on Friday. Man it took much too long to do that... It's been pretty tiring if you couldn't tell by my plethora of sentence fragments. Can't. Even. Type. Full. Sentences. Although, on second thought, non-surprisingly, that actually takes more effort.
Permit me to give you an anecdote of my time as a teacher thus far:
I tell one class that I'll come in during their 3-hour long lunch break/siesta to give extra help if needed or desired. The kids protested a little bit saying that that's not a great time. But I stuck to my guns, figuring I could at least do some lesson planning if no one shows up. I get to the school and work for the hour, and sure enough, no one comes to the big teachers work room/building thing for extra help. I pack up my things and hit the road, firing my bike on all 0 cylinders.
I run into some of my students who ask me, incredulously, where I was going! Everyone's at the classroom! I turn back and sure enough- 40 kids who had been just sitting in a hot classroom waiting for me. They saw me but figured it would be impolite to interrupt my work in the teacher's room! Soooo they ended up not having a night class and I ended up teaching them for two hours. But still- oops? It was slightly embarrassing telling the other teachers there at the time that no one showed up (to which they said duh! It's the break!), leaving, and then coming straight back to find my kids..
Currently, I'm excited for potential projects coming up. I'll be meeting soon with the public high school and discussing how I can start working there non-formally. A teacher/businessman at my high school wants to start a business-themed English club. Absolutely PERFECT for practicing income-generating activities disguised as opportunities for using English to buy, sell, trade... all that jazz. If I can talk with the local women's organization, I might be able to bring a few people to Ouaga for a conference on how to manufacture and sell Shea butter here to raise funds and improve, well, the quality of life! One can never have too much Shea butter. Right?
After starting working with the hospital and health clinics, myself, my counterpart, and the doctor have been thinking of health projects. Mainly sanitation of food cooked by street vendors and of the vegetables covering the ground and being sold at the market. I'll figure that out I guess... I also met with a group who does sensibilizations for AIDS/HIV awareness, family planning, nutrition, and more. Hopefully, I'll be able to work alongside them when they come back into town!
There are fields to improve, trees to plant, spelling bees to organize... Plenty to keep me occupied if I can stay focused and determined. Of course I never mentioned anything about my committee or the various summer camps during, you guessed it, summer. BREATHE.
There's just so much I could say about my time here and I don't know what to share! Maybe next week I'll do something about the various social rules and norms as understood by an American 5 months in. Things can be... interesting here. Example- the general public do NOT know what waiting in line is. Ugh...
So! Hang in there folks. Stay strong. Fight the power. All that jazz. Have fun voting and watching Anna Karenina and all those hip things going on across the Atlantic. Do it... for me. (By the way, just read Anna Karenina on my new Kindle [thanks again man!] and boy was that depressing. I think you can sum up the novel with "Don't trust jockeys". Solid life advice.)
