I just got back from a mini-vacation to Ghana, aka the land of plenty. It was seriously awesome. Emily and I went for a few days to pick up her friends at the airport. At some points I could have sworn I was in the United States. We went to a mall and watched a movie (The International, it wasn't that great) and we went to a sports bar and i drank a margarita! And although I had to slow myself down, and put on a bit of an accent, it was nice to speak comfortably to complete strangers. But at some points, i kind of missed speaking french, and i dont know why, but i missed Togo a little bit too.
This little trip really put things in perspective for me. My sympathy for Togo as a country has vanished, but my sympathy for the people living here has never been stronger. I understand I only saw one part of one city in Ghana, therefore i cannot judge the entire country on what i saw. that being said, in terms of development, the basement may be just as deep as Togo's, but the ceiling is much much higher. I saw things that i would never imagine seeing even in the wealthiest sections of Lome. Which makes me wonder what Ghana is doing right, and what Togo is doing wrong. They're right next door, and yet the standard of living is so much higher. Anyway enough about that.
Check out these youtube videos from my friend David. He was walking through village one day and came across a blind kid banging on a bucket and singing his heart out. So David became friends with this 10 year old boy named Zoglo and now they play music together. Zoglo comes to David's house and they kick out the jams, or they go to the market and play for money and they make enough for Zoglo to buy food until the next week. As I've said, Zoglo is 10 years old, and blind. He doesnt speak any french, and he write all of the songs himself. Here are two of them.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
pictures!
I'm in Lome and i get to use the awesome internet at the Peace Corps bureau so i've uploaded all of my pictures. i'm in Lome to buy a visa for Ghana, which I did this morning. and i'm going to kill a few days down here while Emily and Jillian sort out some stuff for Camp Unite. Then i have a big meeting in Pagala for 4 or 5 days. After that, Emily and I are off to Ghana for 3 days. Her friends are coming in from Scotland, and were picking them up at the airport and making a little vacation out of it. After that, i have to hurry up and get back to village to organize a club.
anyway, the stuff you really care about... http://picasaweb.google.com/drew.quinton
bookmark it. i'll let you know when the next time i upload pictures will be, but i know it wont be for a long time.
anyway, the stuff you really care about... http://picasaweb.google.com/drew.quinton
bookmark it. i'll let you know when the next time i upload pictures will be, but i know it wont be for a long time.
Saturday, 28 February 2009
reverse chronology
It's thursday, 26 February at 11:26 and I'm writing this on my laptop in my house. First of all, I'd like to point out the change of my mailing address on the right. I bought a postbox at the post office in Tchamba, and suposedly my mail will get to that one much faster.
Anyway, the last week or two in general, and today specifically has been extremely productive. This morning I went to a middle school called Tchamba CEG Ville II on the outskirts of town to ask about doing a map project. This is a project wherein you have a map of the world on a sheet of paper divided up into a ton of little boxes, like graph paper. Then you draw a much bigger grid on the wall, and copy the map box by box up on the wall. At CEG Ville II, they didn't have a one big wall uninterupted by windows, except for on a new building currently under construction that hasn't been painted yet. So they asked me if I would come back in September.
Then Heather and I went to the library to ask if we started an English club for adults, could we hold it there. The guy working there gladly agreed and actually wants to be in the club. A lot of people have asked Heather and me if they can practice speaking English with us. They would like to get better at speaking English, but don't have anyone to talk to. So if we get everyone in the same place at the same time, we can have conversations in English, and they can practice.
From the library, I went to the highschool to ask if I could do a world map there. The director was really enthusiastic about it, and I asked if I could work with a teacher, like a geography or math teacher. The geography teacher was in the office when I asked, and he was excited too. And the highschool has a huge, smooth, blank wall that would be perfect. This map is gonna be huge.
After the highschool, I went to the hardware store to inquire about the price of paint. It turns out that it's not too much, I may even pay for all of it myself. But after you count buying brushes and stuff, it could get expensive, and I don't know yet how I can subsidize the cost. Maybe I could ask the school if they could help or even ask the students to each chip in a bit. Ironically, at the hardware store I met the guy who helped a previous volunteer paint a world map on an elementary school a few years ago. I asked him where he lived and he said “do you know where EPP Watuwa is?” It's an elementary school in town, yeah, I know where it is. “Just go around there and ask where the rasta mon lives, they'll tell you.” So I'm gonna try to be friends with that guy.
All of this stuff happened today, and it's not even noon yet. Life out here is completely unpredictable.
Also, earlier this week Heather and I went to CEG Ville I (the other middle school) and asked about starting a club. We asked the director to get together 40 of his most motivated kids, 20 girls and 20 boys. We don't really know what direction this club is going in, but she's a health volunteer, and I'm a Girls Education volunteer, so health, nutrition, etc and gender equity will definitely be on the agenda. And we figure if we get 40 motivated students in the same room and ask them “What do you want to learn about?” we'll get somewhere. Ask them what projects they're interested in, what problems they're having, and what they want more of that they're not getting enough of and we can supplement that.
And last week a guy from an NGO called ADIFF, whose goals are exactly the same as the Peace Corps GEE program, came from Sokodé to visit me in Tchamba. He took me around to the 4 different elementary schools that his NGO sponsors and introduced me to all the kiddies. Sometimes when people introduce me, I feel like they slightly misrepresent me, but I don't have the french to correct them in their subtleties. But Français introduced me to the kids exactly as I would have, had I the ability. And he made sure to tell them to call me “Akilou” instead of “anasara”or “blanc”. ADIFF sponsors certain kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford school dues, notebooks, or uniforms. And they hold extra study sessions two days a week for the kids that they sponsor. So I think tomorrow (which will be yesterday by the time I post this) I will go to one of the schools and greet the kids again and sit in on one of the study sessions.
And Milo is doing well. I can tell he's getting bigger because he can't hide in the little places he used to be able to. And he spends a lot of time in my mango tree out front. He hasn't killed any vertibrates yet (mice, lizards, birds) but he's been feasting on insects and spiders. I guess he'll just have to hunt the little stuff until he levels up and can kill bigger, faster things.
So things have been going well, but that's not to say I'm not missing America a ton. The other day I realized how invaluable drive-thrus are. Not that I even used them that often, but just the idea of getting absolutely anything you want, steaming hot or freezing cold, without having to cook it, or go find someone selling it, or waiting for it to be in season made me long to be in the United States. Then I tell myself stuff like, people have lived this way for all of human existance save for the last century or so; I don't need a drive-thru. Aw, but man, they're so nice to have...
Anyway, the last week or two in general, and today specifically has been extremely productive. This morning I went to a middle school called Tchamba CEG Ville II on the outskirts of town to ask about doing a map project. This is a project wherein you have a map of the world on a sheet of paper divided up into a ton of little boxes, like graph paper. Then you draw a much bigger grid on the wall, and copy the map box by box up on the wall. At CEG Ville II, they didn't have a one big wall uninterupted by windows, except for on a new building currently under construction that hasn't been painted yet. So they asked me if I would come back in September.
Then Heather and I went to the library to ask if we started an English club for adults, could we hold it there. The guy working there gladly agreed and actually wants to be in the club. A lot of people have asked Heather and me if they can practice speaking English with us. They would like to get better at speaking English, but don't have anyone to talk to. So if we get everyone in the same place at the same time, we can have conversations in English, and they can practice.
From the library, I went to the highschool to ask if I could do a world map there. The director was really enthusiastic about it, and I asked if I could work with a teacher, like a geography or math teacher. The geography teacher was in the office when I asked, and he was excited too. And the highschool has a huge, smooth, blank wall that would be perfect. This map is gonna be huge.
After the highschool, I went to the hardware store to inquire about the price of paint. It turns out that it's not too much, I may even pay for all of it myself. But after you count buying brushes and stuff, it could get expensive, and I don't know yet how I can subsidize the cost. Maybe I could ask the school if they could help or even ask the students to each chip in a bit. Ironically, at the hardware store I met the guy who helped a previous volunteer paint a world map on an elementary school a few years ago. I asked him where he lived and he said “do you know where EPP Watuwa is?” It's an elementary school in town, yeah, I know where it is. “Just go around there and ask where the rasta mon lives, they'll tell you.” So I'm gonna try to be friends with that guy.
All of this stuff happened today, and it's not even noon yet. Life out here is completely unpredictable.
Also, earlier this week Heather and I went to CEG Ville I (the other middle school) and asked about starting a club. We asked the director to get together 40 of his most motivated kids, 20 girls and 20 boys. We don't really know what direction this club is going in, but she's a health volunteer, and I'm a Girls Education volunteer, so health, nutrition, etc and gender equity will definitely be on the agenda. And we figure if we get 40 motivated students in the same room and ask them “What do you want to learn about?” we'll get somewhere. Ask them what projects they're interested in, what problems they're having, and what they want more of that they're not getting enough of and we can supplement that.
And last week a guy from an NGO called ADIFF, whose goals are exactly the same as the Peace Corps GEE program, came from Sokodé to visit me in Tchamba. He took me around to the 4 different elementary schools that his NGO sponsors and introduced me to all the kiddies. Sometimes when people introduce me, I feel like they slightly misrepresent me, but I don't have the french to correct them in their subtleties. But Français introduced me to the kids exactly as I would have, had I the ability. And he made sure to tell them to call me “Akilou” instead of “anasara”or “blanc”. ADIFF sponsors certain kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford school dues, notebooks, or uniforms. And they hold extra study sessions two days a week for the kids that they sponsor. So I think tomorrow (which will be yesterday by the time I post this) I will go to one of the schools and greet the kids again and sit in on one of the study sessions.
And Milo is doing well. I can tell he's getting bigger because he can't hide in the little places he used to be able to. And he spends a lot of time in my mango tree out front. He hasn't killed any vertibrates yet (mice, lizards, birds) but he's been feasting on insects and spiders. I guess he'll just have to hunt the little stuff until he levels up and can kill bigger, faster things.
So things have been going well, but that's not to say I'm not missing America a ton. The other day I realized how invaluable drive-thrus are. Not that I even used them that often, but just the idea of getting absolutely anything you want, steaming hot or freezing cold, without having to cook it, or go find someone selling it, or waiting for it to be in season made me long to be in the United States. Then I tell myself stuff like, people have lived this way for all of human existance save for the last century or so; I don't need a drive-thru. Aw, but man, they're so nice to have...
Monday, 9 February 2009
The answer to life, the universe, and everything
I believe that the key to life is moderation in all things, even moderation itself. Without the harsh bite of a winter wind biting your ears and nose, you could never appreciate a soft breeze in May. Without ever having your heart broken, you can never truly fall in love. If you've never been hungry, you don't really know what a full belly is. Without pain there is no pleasure.
I believe that the key to life is finding a balance. A balance between being extremely rich and poverty stricken, between being over-stressed and over-relaxed, too connected and too isolated.
I believe that every aspect of life can be set at a perfect value called “enough”. It's located precisely between “too much” and “not enough”. But therein lies the trick. Without ever fiinding yourself surrounded by too much or not enough you don't know where to find that happy spot in the middle. And even if you do find that spot perchance, you wouldn't know how to appreciate it, not fully at least.
This is where finding moderation within moderation comes in. Without ever pushing the limits, you don't know where the middle is. If you only stay in the middle your whole life, you'll miss the point. It's necessary to first find the extremes, then happily settle in the middle. It's necessary to experience extreme loniness and to feel over-crowded. It's necessary to be dirt-broke and to have more money than you know what to do with before you can appreciate and be happy with having exactly “enough”.
I do concede that there are no constants when it comes to that perfect value somewhere in the middle. The perfect value undoubetedly varies from person to person, and I hold that that perfect place can even vary within one individual over time.
So I guess there's nothing left to do but get on with it. I'm off to find every extreme in every facet of life, and then to settle down happily in the middle. It's going to be an adventure. I'll let you know how it turns out.
I believe that the key to life is finding a balance. A balance between being extremely rich and poverty stricken, between being over-stressed and over-relaxed, too connected and too isolated.
I believe that every aspect of life can be set at a perfect value called “enough”. It's located precisely between “too much” and “not enough”. But therein lies the trick. Without ever fiinding yourself surrounded by too much or not enough you don't know where to find that happy spot in the middle. And even if you do find that spot perchance, you wouldn't know how to appreciate it, not fully at least.
This is where finding moderation within moderation comes in. Without ever pushing the limits, you don't know where the middle is. If you only stay in the middle your whole life, you'll miss the point. It's necessary to first find the extremes, then happily settle in the middle. It's necessary to experience extreme loniness and to feel over-crowded. It's necessary to be dirt-broke and to have more money than you know what to do with before you can appreciate and be happy with having exactly “enough”.
I do concede that there are no constants when it comes to that perfect value somewhere in the middle. The perfect value undoubetedly varies from person to person, and I hold that that perfect place can even vary within one individual over time.
So I guess there's nothing left to do but get on with it. I'm off to find every extreme in every facet of life, and then to settle down happily in the middle. It's going to be an adventure. I'll let you know how it turns out.
i couldn't make this stuff up
4 February
So over the last couple of days people have been saying some great stuff to me. Here are some clips.
While eating lunch. Enter two girls wearing some nice dresses. One of the guys I'm eating with says to me (in English): “Ah, yes. The African girls. You are wanting to send one home?”
In a tchouck stand (think grass hut with people drinking beer-ish stuff [tchouck] out of half-cocoanuts [calabashes]) Monsieur Walla, as he told me to call him, and I are discussing life in general. After a long conversation and two calabashes of tchouck he concludes with: “Les belles femmes sont tres dangereus”
And last but far from least. This one goes out to Dave, Eric, and those Canadian kids we met in Prague.
Guy: “Tu viens de où?”
me: “America”
guy: “you are coming from America?”
me: “yes”
guy: “you are an American man?”
me: “yes”
guy: “you are coming from Washington?”
me: “no”
guy: “Chicago?”
me: “no”
guy: “Los Angeles?”
me: “no”
guy: “Canada?”
Yep... America's hat.
So over the last couple of days people have been saying some great stuff to me. Here are some clips.
While eating lunch. Enter two girls wearing some nice dresses. One of the guys I'm eating with says to me (in English): “Ah, yes. The African girls. You are wanting to send one home?”
In a tchouck stand (think grass hut with people drinking beer-ish stuff [tchouck] out of half-cocoanuts [calabashes]) Monsieur Walla, as he told me to call him, and I are discussing life in general. After a long conversation and two calabashes of tchouck he concludes with: “Les belles femmes sont tres dangereus”
And last but far from least. This one goes out to Dave, Eric, and those Canadian kids we met in Prague.
Guy: “Tu viens de où?”
me: “America”
guy: “you are coming from America?”
me: “yes”
guy: “you are an American man?”
me: “yes”
guy: “you are coming from Washington?”
me: “no”
guy: “Chicago?”
me: “no”
guy: “Los Angeles?”
me: “no”
guy: “Canada?”
Yep... America's hat.
Et le travail?
Written 1 February
Last week was my best week at post to-date. I was busy every day and now I have three different project ideas.
The first project idea came about after talking to a guy who stopped by my house. He has worked with Peace Corps volunteers in the past and wanted to meet me and see if he could help with any projects I wanted to do. But through talking with him I realized that I have no idea what kinds of problems the girls of Tchamba actually face. I went to the highschool a few weeks back and asked for the enrollment breakdown: how many girls/guys are in each class. I found out that only 14% of the highschool students are girls and there are only 11 in their final year out of 91 total.
So my idea (well, I can hardly call it my idea because it's nothing new) is to start a girls' club. I figure I would invite some or all (haven't decided yet) of the girls enrolled in highschool to come hang out for a bit one day a week. We can play games, or they can bring homework, maybe I could teach a life skills lesson or two. I'll just ask them “hey, what do you you wanna do for the afternoon?” But through this club I can get to know them individually and start to ask questions that get at why there are only 11 girls about to graduate. After the problems are diagnosed, I can then start to take the necessary steps to alleviate said problems. Then, I took it a step further. Maybe in a year or two I can get the girls from my club to go back to whatever elementary school they attended and start their own girls' club as kind of a role model. This may not end up working out anything like this, but it's a spark, and it's exactly what I needed to get some stuff started.
Also, Emily, who lives in Wasarabo about 35 kilometers away, and I were talking about doing a project together. We both want to get some kids to paint a world map on the side of a building. The way it works is you take a map of the world printed on graph paper, and transfer each square individually onto a much bigger graph on a wall. And there are a ton of ways to spin it: I could illustrate the math behind it: longitude, latitude, the difference in scale between the paper, the wall, and the actual planet; or I could talk about the different geographical regions meteorologically or politically or whatever. Anyway, Emily and I figured we'd buy a bunch of paint together and I'd visit her village to help her get this project off the ground, and then she'd visit here and we'd do the same, learning from our mistakes the first time around.
And this last project idea is not my idea at all, but it's the one I'm the most excited about. Last week I met a guy at the internet cafe, and then earlier this week, he called me and invited me over his house. He said that he talked about this with a previous volunteer, but his service ended before they could get it off the ground. This guy, Kougbada, is a teacher at an elementary school. He wants to start a computer lab. He has a room, kind of like a shed in his compound but with an external door. He wants to try to get 10 computers to get students to learn how to use them. What he doesn't know is where to get funding or where to buy them and the technical stuff like that, which is what I can help him with. I figured if we get a computer lab up and running within a year, I can spend a second year teaching a computer literacy course. Stuff like how to type, how to use a word processor (bold, italics, indenting, fonts and sizes, etc...), how to do a google search or if I'm feeling really ambitious how to use stuff like excel. I know some other volunteers who have done computer literacy courses and they said you have to start at the beginning. The very beginning. Things like how to double click, what a folder is, what “delete” means.
Kougbada is a really intelligent guy. He invited me back to his house for lunch to which I went earlier this afternoon. He speaks really good English, and our conversation was about the American credit crisis and how much change I thought Obama is really going to bring. And stuff like how the grammar structure of English is Germanic but the vocabulary is very Latin-based. It was really nice to not only be able to speak English past “How are you? I am going to the market.” but to be intellectually stimulated and challenged. Hell, even if this computer lab thing falls through, at least I have a guy I can hang out with and talk about some stuff I normally can't talk about.
On a completely different note, I've been feeling great. I'm not sick or losing a ton of weight or anything like that. Although, my left big-toe nail has turned black for some reason... Meh... C'est comme ca.
Last week was my best week at post to-date. I was busy every day and now I have three different project ideas.
The first project idea came about after talking to a guy who stopped by my house. He has worked with Peace Corps volunteers in the past and wanted to meet me and see if he could help with any projects I wanted to do. But through talking with him I realized that I have no idea what kinds of problems the girls of Tchamba actually face. I went to the highschool a few weeks back and asked for the enrollment breakdown: how many girls/guys are in each class. I found out that only 14% of the highschool students are girls and there are only 11 in their final year out of 91 total.
So my idea (well, I can hardly call it my idea because it's nothing new) is to start a girls' club. I figure I would invite some or all (haven't decided yet) of the girls enrolled in highschool to come hang out for a bit one day a week. We can play games, or they can bring homework, maybe I could teach a life skills lesson or two. I'll just ask them “hey, what do you you wanna do for the afternoon?” But through this club I can get to know them individually and start to ask questions that get at why there are only 11 girls about to graduate. After the problems are diagnosed, I can then start to take the necessary steps to alleviate said problems. Then, I took it a step further. Maybe in a year or two I can get the girls from my club to go back to whatever elementary school they attended and start their own girls' club as kind of a role model. This may not end up working out anything like this, but it's a spark, and it's exactly what I needed to get some stuff started.
Also, Emily, who lives in Wasarabo about 35 kilometers away, and I were talking about doing a project together. We both want to get some kids to paint a world map on the side of a building. The way it works is you take a map of the world printed on graph paper, and transfer each square individually onto a much bigger graph on a wall. And there are a ton of ways to spin it: I could illustrate the math behind it: longitude, latitude, the difference in scale between the paper, the wall, and the actual planet; or I could talk about the different geographical regions meteorologically or politically or whatever. Anyway, Emily and I figured we'd buy a bunch of paint together and I'd visit her village to help her get this project off the ground, and then she'd visit here and we'd do the same, learning from our mistakes the first time around.
And this last project idea is not my idea at all, but it's the one I'm the most excited about. Last week I met a guy at the internet cafe, and then earlier this week, he called me and invited me over his house. He said that he talked about this with a previous volunteer, but his service ended before they could get it off the ground. This guy, Kougbada, is a teacher at an elementary school. He wants to start a computer lab. He has a room, kind of like a shed in his compound but with an external door. He wants to try to get 10 computers to get students to learn how to use them. What he doesn't know is where to get funding or where to buy them and the technical stuff like that, which is what I can help him with. I figured if we get a computer lab up and running within a year, I can spend a second year teaching a computer literacy course. Stuff like how to type, how to use a word processor (bold, italics, indenting, fonts and sizes, etc...), how to do a google search or if I'm feeling really ambitious how to use stuff like excel. I know some other volunteers who have done computer literacy courses and they said you have to start at the beginning. The very beginning. Things like how to double click, what a folder is, what “delete” means.
Kougbada is a really intelligent guy. He invited me back to his house for lunch to which I went earlier this afternoon. He speaks really good English, and our conversation was about the American credit crisis and how much change I thought Obama is really going to bring. And stuff like how the grammar structure of English is Germanic but the vocabulary is very Latin-based. It was really nice to not only be able to speak English past “How are you? I am going to the market.” but to be intellectually stimulated and challenged. Hell, even if this computer lab thing falls through, at least I have a guy I can hang out with and talk about some stuff I normally can't talk about.
On a completely different note, I've been feeling great. I'm not sick or losing a ton of weight or anything like that. Although, my left big-toe nail has turned black for some reason... Meh... C'est comme ca.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
a cat, a disease, and 130 girls...
So i woke up one morning with a scrape on my forehead. I thought it was weird because i didnt remember falling or hidding my head on anything the night before, but oh well. it took a long time to heal and when it scabbed over, it was kind of yellow and crusty. Then a few days later i had another one on my chin and a day after that i had a big one on my cheek. they were all crusting over with this yellow junk, like something you'd find oozing out of your eye after getting pink eye. gross. so i called the med unit and Paula told me i had impetigo. she told me the name of an antibiotic, so i rode my bike over the the hospital and bought 40 pills for the equivilent of about a buck fifty. The gross sores went away after a few days and i look normal again. well, as normal as i've ever looked.
Also, there are now two of us living in my house. i got a little kitty. he is so cute: mostly white with a brown patch on his head and back, and he has three black stripes at the end of his tail. i named him Milo, and i informed him that it is his duty to catch any and all mice that come into the house, also, if he feels like eating a spider or cricket along the way, i wont mind at all.
And here is a story from yesterday morning. So my homologue has been MIA for the last couple of weeks. so i went to his house and told him i was bored and needed something to do, could i go do something with him. he said that he was going into Sokodé tomorrow and he will not be back for a week. he said that he had meetings to attend with the NGO that he works for, PLAN. i asked if i could go to one of his meetings and he said that i wouldnt be interested and that it would be just a bunch of other NGOs talking about boring stuff.
So i decided, fine, i need something to do this week, i cant just sit around and do nothing. so the next morning i went to a school and asked to meet the director (think principal). I chatted with a math teacher for a bit and he told me that the director wasnt in, that i should come back tomorrow morning.
so, yesterday morning, i returned to the school and introduced myself to the director. i told him that i work for the Peace Corps and i told him about the GEE program. he must have had stuff to do, because he directed me to talk to the woman standing next to him. she is the french teacher at the school. so i had the same conversation with her: name, Peace Corps, GEE, etc. She asked me if i wanted to talk to the girls, i said "sure" not fully understanding the question. so she told me to sit in this chair, and that she would be back. i waited in the room for about 10 or 15 minutes while the director and a few of the teachers had what looked like a daily meeting, going over paperwork and stuff. after a bit, the french teacher came back in and said "follow me". so i followed her across campus into another room empty, aside from 30 desks (i counted, 5 rows back, 6 columns across). i didnt really know what was about to happen, but all of a sudden a bunch of girls started coming through the door.
They filed in and started sitting three to a desk, and after the desks filled (5 rows, 6 columns, 3 girls each...90), they started lining up against the back wall (i counted 2, 4, 6... 40-- that's 130, every girl in the school). after everyone was in the room, the teacher turned to me and said "ok, what do you have to tell them?" oh, geeze, i thought, i started to panic. but then i collected myself and started to introduce myself. i said my name, that i worked with the Peace Corps and i started to tell them about the GEE program. When i finished my little soliloquy, i was somewhat proud of myself. yeah, that's right, i just said all of that in French. i had just enough time to reflect before the room erupted in laughter.
i looked at the French teacher, somewhat confused. She had a "dont worry about it" expression on her face and turned to the class and started to say exactly what i had just said. it took me until about half way through listening to my own impromptu speach before i figured it out. The french teacher was translating from an American trying to speak bad African French, to an African speaking good African French. after she finished the class was much more receptive and she turned to me and asked if i had anyting else to say. I told them that if they had any problems, or if they wanted to start a club or activity, to come talk to me. i live over in the Medina section of town, just ask where the Anasara (white guy) lives, and someone will show you to my house. they liked that little joke, and this time they were laughing with me instead of at me.
So the teacher dismissed them all back to their respective classrooms, and walked with me back to the director. This is actually when i found out she taught french, and i promptly apologized for slaughtering the language. When we got back, we met with the director, and i told him if he wanted me to help out with anything at the school, just let me know. i left them with a phone number and a hand shake, and rode my bike home pretty proud of myself.
on a completely different note, because i've had very little to do, i have been reading a lot. i'm about 150 pages into Obama's "Dreams from my father" and so far i think that im well on my way to becoming the president of the United States of America. let's see, i will be 35 in 2020 and i think that's an election year. i guess i should start campaigning as soon as i get back :-)
Also, there are now two of us living in my house. i got a little kitty. he is so cute: mostly white with a brown patch on his head and back, and he has three black stripes at the end of his tail. i named him Milo, and i informed him that it is his duty to catch any and all mice that come into the house, also, if he feels like eating a spider or cricket along the way, i wont mind at all.
And here is a story from yesterday morning. So my homologue has been MIA for the last couple of weeks. so i went to his house and told him i was bored and needed something to do, could i go do something with him. he said that he was going into Sokodé tomorrow and he will not be back for a week. he said that he had meetings to attend with the NGO that he works for, PLAN. i asked if i could go to one of his meetings and he said that i wouldnt be interested and that it would be just a bunch of other NGOs talking about boring stuff.
So i decided, fine, i need something to do this week, i cant just sit around and do nothing. so the next morning i went to a school and asked to meet the director (think principal). I chatted with a math teacher for a bit and he told me that the director wasnt in, that i should come back tomorrow morning.
so, yesterday morning, i returned to the school and introduced myself to the director. i told him that i work for the Peace Corps and i told him about the GEE program. he must have had stuff to do, because he directed me to talk to the woman standing next to him. she is the french teacher at the school. so i had the same conversation with her: name, Peace Corps, GEE, etc. She asked me if i wanted to talk to the girls, i said "sure" not fully understanding the question. so she told me to sit in this chair, and that she would be back. i waited in the room for about 10 or 15 minutes while the director and a few of the teachers had what looked like a daily meeting, going over paperwork and stuff. after a bit, the french teacher came back in and said "follow me". so i followed her across campus into another room empty, aside from 30 desks (i counted, 5 rows back, 6 columns across). i didnt really know what was about to happen, but all of a sudden a bunch of girls started coming through the door.
They filed in and started sitting three to a desk, and after the desks filled (5 rows, 6 columns, 3 girls each...90), they started lining up against the back wall (i counted 2, 4, 6... 40-- that's 130, every girl in the school). after everyone was in the room, the teacher turned to me and said "ok, what do you have to tell them?" oh, geeze, i thought, i started to panic. but then i collected myself and started to introduce myself. i said my name, that i worked with the Peace Corps and i started to tell them about the GEE program. When i finished my little soliloquy, i was somewhat proud of myself. yeah, that's right, i just said all of that in French. i had just enough time to reflect before the room erupted in laughter.
i looked at the French teacher, somewhat confused. She had a "dont worry about it" expression on her face and turned to the class and started to say exactly what i had just said. it took me until about half way through listening to my own impromptu speach before i figured it out. The french teacher was translating from an American trying to speak bad African French, to an African speaking good African French. after she finished the class was much more receptive and she turned to me and asked if i had anyting else to say. I told them that if they had any problems, or if they wanted to start a club or activity, to come talk to me. i live over in the Medina section of town, just ask where the Anasara (white guy) lives, and someone will show you to my house. they liked that little joke, and this time they were laughing with me instead of at me.
So the teacher dismissed them all back to their respective classrooms, and walked with me back to the director. This is actually when i found out she taught french, and i promptly apologized for slaughtering the language. When we got back, we met with the director, and i told him if he wanted me to help out with anything at the school, just let me know. i left them with a phone number and a hand shake, and rode my bike home pretty proud of myself.
on a completely different note, because i've had very little to do, i have been reading a lot. i'm about 150 pages into Obama's "Dreams from my father" and so far i think that im well on my way to becoming the president of the United States of America. let's see, i will be 35 in 2020 and i think that's an election year. i guess i should start campaigning as soon as i get back :-)
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