about a week ago, Rosie's BFF, Brezil, aka Augustine's family's dog had it's throat slit in the middle of the night! poor little baby is still alive. but has a really ugly cut. i hope it doesn't get infected! poor thing.
i was starting to get comfortable letting Rosie out for a little while at a time, but i have gone back to being scared :( for the dogs in the neighborhood. mostly because there are several dozens of trucks that drive along my little (big-ish) dirt road to mine(?), quarry (?) little round, smooth rocks used for construction. and i am sure that dog dissappearances and throat slittings are because of these unfamiliar men. grrr.
it makes me appreciate that the fact that my neighbor essentially tortured Rosie by pouring some strong liquor/moonshine down her throat so that she growls and snaps at people who are of questionable character or try to nab her away.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
how yoooooooou doin'?
Ça fait trois jours. that is a Beninese expression used in greetings when you haven't seen or heard from someone in a long time...not literally 3 days.
so how are my peeps back home? i think about y'all all the time. you even show up in my dreams, haha.
i hope everyone is well and looking forward to happy times with the holiday season approaching.
PS
just watched "Meet the Robinsons," which is funny cause one of my BFF is a robinson =)
anyways, one thing i got from that was: keep moving forward :)
so how are my peeps back home? i think about y'all all the time. you even show up in my dreams, haha.
i hope everyone is well and looking forward to happy times with the holiday season approaching.
PS
just watched "Meet the Robinsons," which is funny cause one of my BFF is a robinson =)
anyways, one thing i got from that was: keep moving forward :)
an extra day
i had to come to Cotonou Sunday for a mid-service exam yesterday. and i was done too late to head back to post yesterday afternoon. and then today, i was in no rush to get out.
Kyle got rid of the viruses on my computer! had i returned to post earlier than in an hour, they would not have been gotten rid of!
And i got a chance to talk to our new CD (country director). her name is Brownie Lee. and she's pretty awesome. she was in the first group to go to Togo once upon a time. it was just nice talking to her cause she totally understands eveything and the frustrations and concerns i had, as well as the happier moments i have here.
it's also nice to have a nice connection to the internet where i can also use my own computer. i take the opportunity to download songs =)
i can't believe it's already the middle of october! halloween is right around the corner. and then it's gonna be thanksgiving. then it's christmas and my Mali vacay. followed by new years, and the deadline for a job application i am looking into and then...jeeze...it's going by too fast!
Kyle got rid of the viruses on my computer! had i returned to post earlier than in an hour, they would not have been gotten rid of!
And i got a chance to talk to our new CD (country director). her name is Brownie Lee. and she's pretty awesome. she was in the first group to go to Togo once upon a time. it was just nice talking to her cause she totally understands eveything and the frustrations and concerns i had, as well as the happier moments i have here.
it's also nice to have a nice connection to the internet where i can also use my own computer. i take the opportunity to download songs =)
i can't believe it's already the middle of october! halloween is right around the corner. and then it's gonna be thanksgiving. then it's christmas and my Mali vacay. followed by new years, and the deadline for a job application i am looking into and then...jeeze...it's going by too fast!
Friday, October 9, 2009
the first week back =)
This year is off to a great start! Especially in 6eme…I started out real firm and it’s awesome how well they are responding. I’ve got all 40 or so pairs of eyes on me and their ears listening to me as well. I made all the kids take out a sheet of paper and I went around to each kid and handwrote each of their names. It would have been easier and faster if I had eux meme fait ça, but it’s a whole lot easier on my eyes if I can read my own handwriting. Plus, I think it ensured my kids that I want to get to know each of them. It’s amazing how a little individual attention and a lot of French can do in the first days of school. Last year is going to look terrible in retrospect. But I also think that I wouldn’t be the teacher I am and will be, had it not been for all the suffering I went through last year as a teacher. =)
My 5eme kids on the other hand…I think 5eme kids will be 5eme kids and use the whole year to make trouble. I think that for the most part they treat the year to mess around and not be too studious. It’s a weird age. But it’s nice to walk into their classroom and know 85 percent of their names. And I also feel comfortable joking around with them right off the bat. Currently, as of today, I only have one of the two 6emes I had last year. The smaller and perhaps the better behaved class: 6m2 now 5m2. And about twice a day I have kids from my 6m4 class from last year come up to me and ask me why I don’t have them this year. I’ve buckled. I went to talk to the censeur (vice principal) to see if he can switch things around so that I can teach them again. They’re like my babies, and I feel horrible leaving them to another teacher. I wonder if teachers back home get that kind of attachment to their students. It’s early enough in the year to say that I am 75 percent sure that the censeur will make it happen. I’m just that special; though I wish I could claim a higher percentage.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
End of the first week!
Ahhh, I had such a blast this week. I have been reminded how cute and little the 6eme kids are at the beginning of the year! Oh how I wish they would stay that size! (It makes keeping them in line and the punishments that much easier!!)
And I’ve been lucky too. It sounds like most volunteers have barely picked up their employ du temps (aka schedules for the year). Not only did I pick up my schedule last week…but I have essentially been able to dive into my lessons. A lot of teachers at my school claim to not have started, déjà, because the kids don’t come to school. And then I talk to the students, and they say that their teachers don’t come to school…problematic, non? Well, I did not have that problem. I showed up to school this week, Monday morning at 7am and as a result, I had full classes by the end of the week. Word spreads fast.
In my 5eme class, there is a kid by the name of Sylvain. He is one of my top 5 favorites. He is however of the reasons why I sometimes hate teaching. Sure he’s hilarious and makes awesome jokes that make even me laugh. At times, I can hardly keep a strait face. For example, today I was teaching “adverbs of frequency” (ie always, sometimes never…) and then he said “ah, madame, ce n’est past huit heure…c’est “never?” (aka neuf heure). Haha, get it?
Anyways, he was strolling past my second class of the afternoon, and I walked out and called him by name. And he just took off running. It was quite hilarious and kinda cute. But I made him some back because I wanted to talk to him before class today, but he showed up a little late, on account of the rain. And then the kids were all busy copying down the hw assignment that I couldn’t talk to him after class. So anyways, I told him we need to talk before the next time we have class. (it’s delightful how—when hot-shot students, like Sylvain, get called out by teachers; they turn into humbled, cute, squishy little teddy bears.) I am going to tell Sylvain that I appreciate his sense of humor. It’s lively and he’s got some good jokes and it makes my job more fun. But he needs to know that there’s a time and place for his comedy routines. Sylvain is a really smart, bright, hard working kid, and I want to channel his actions/humor in a more positive direction…to see if I can work with him instead of just being another member of his audience.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
I think I am going to be really sad when I leave. Chances are that I won’t ever see my kids again. Not that I don’t want to, but with the way things work here…I just don’t think that it’s feasible. And that breaks my heart. Despite all the BS that I have to put up with sometimes, this place has captured my heart. And it’s going to suck to have to leave.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Maybe I should do little biographies for y’all of my kids. A little blurb and a picture too. I’ll see what I can do…
My 5eme kids on the other hand…I think 5eme kids will be 5eme kids and use the whole year to make trouble. I think that for the most part they treat the year to mess around and not be too studious. It’s a weird age. But it’s nice to walk into their classroom and know 85 percent of their names. And I also feel comfortable joking around with them right off the bat. Currently, as of today, I only have one of the two 6emes I had last year. The smaller and perhaps the better behaved class: 6m2 now 5m2. And about twice a day I have kids from my 6m4 class from last year come up to me and ask me why I don’t have them this year. I’ve buckled. I went to talk to the censeur (vice principal) to see if he can switch things around so that I can teach them again. They’re like my babies, and I feel horrible leaving them to another teacher. I wonder if teachers back home get that kind of attachment to their students. It’s early enough in the year to say that I am 75 percent sure that the censeur will make it happen. I’m just that special; though I wish I could claim a higher percentage.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
End of the first week!
Ahhh, I had such a blast this week. I have been reminded how cute and little the 6eme kids are at the beginning of the year! Oh how I wish they would stay that size! (It makes keeping them in line and the punishments that much easier!!)
And I’ve been lucky too. It sounds like most volunteers have barely picked up their employ du temps (aka schedules for the year). Not only did I pick up my schedule last week…but I have essentially been able to dive into my lessons. A lot of teachers at my school claim to not have started, déjà, because the kids don’t come to school. And then I talk to the students, and they say that their teachers don’t come to school…problematic, non? Well, I did not have that problem. I showed up to school this week, Monday morning at 7am and as a result, I had full classes by the end of the week. Word spreads fast.
In my 5eme class, there is a kid by the name of Sylvain. He is one of my top 5 favorites. He is however of the reasons why I sometimes hate teaching. Sure he’s hilarious and makes awesome jokes that make even me laugh. At times, I can hardly keep a strait face. For example, today I was teaching “adverbs of frequency” (ie always, sometimes never…) and then he said “ah, madame, ce n’est past huit heure…c’est “never?” (aka neuf heure). Haha, get it?
Anyways, he was strolling past my second class of the afternoon, and I walked out and called him by name. And he just took off running. It was quite hilarious and kinda cute. But I made him some back because I wanted to talk to him before class today, but he showed up a little late, on account of the rain. And then the kids were all busy copying down the hw assignment that I couldn’t talk to him after class. So anyways, I told him we need to talk before the next time we have class. (it’s delightful how—when hot-shot students, like Sylvain, get called out by teachers; they turn into humbled, cute, squishy little teddy bears.) I am going to tell Sylvain that I appreciate his sense of humor. It’s lively and he’s got some good jokes and it makes my job more fun. But he needs to know that there’s a time and place for his comedy routines. Sylvain is a really smart, bright, hard working kid, and I want to channel his actions/humor in a more positive direction…to see if I can work with him instead of just being another member of his audience.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
I think I am going to be really sad when I leave. Chances are that I won’t ever see my kids again. Not that I don’t want to, but with the way things work here…I just don’t think that it’s feasible. And that breaks my heart. Despite all the BS that I have to put up with sometimes, this place has captured my heart. And it’s going to suck to have to leave.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Maybe I should do little biographies for y’all of my kids. A little blurb and a picture too. I’ll see what I can do…
Saturday, October 3, 2009
sans titre
This past Thursday I went to my school to pick up my schedule for the year. For now it looks like I am going to teach only 3 classes, again. I was hoping to teach 4, but we had to remove one because it would be like me teaching 7th, 8th, and 9th grade, I just want to stick to grades 7 and 8. so hopefully, the vice principle will add one more class to my schedule and I will keep busy. I feel like nothing is new any more for me and I have fallen into a routine and this year I need to keep busy with classes and other projects.
I believe I have mentioned that there is an orphanage a stone’s throw away from my house. I brought one of their girl’s (my student) to Camp GLOW…. Well, they have a big wall where my friend, Catherine and I are going to paint a big, huge world map. And then we have to paint all the names of all the countries on it too. We are going to have the older kids from the orphanage help paint. I don’t know how long it is going to take, but I am thinking we are going to start sometime in November because we have to do certain paperwork to get a little grant. And then we have to draw a big huge grid…there’s an actual manual on how to do this, and I don’t think that it’ll be too difficult. It’s been a secondary project for volunteers all over the world and I am totally falling into the cliché of that volunteer who painted a world map. Once we get started I will post up pics.
Speaking of pictures, I apologize for not posting many recently. Last year I broke the screen on my camera and I feel all awkward taking pictures like they used to do. People here are either big on having their pictures taken or seriously don’t want them taken. It’s disappointing to them when they rush to see how their portrait turned out and there’s a big crack and darkness with a few lines of reddish, blueish, whiteish color. And I have to explain how it broke and they can’t see the picture. And then it’s hard to be discreet about taking pictures when I have to hold the flashy camera up to my left eyeball and squint the right one…take a few seconds to adjust the focus and another second to take the pic. And then I never know if it’s gonna be any good. I feel like regular old 35mm cameras were good at doing their job. But now that we have those neat digital screens to view them right after being taken…I feel like without seeing them, they just don’t turn out as good as they used to—once upon a time.
I believe I have mentioned that there is an orphanage a stone’s throw away from my house. I brought one of their girl’s (my student) to Camp GLOW…. Well, they have a big wall where my friend, Catherine and I are going to paint a big, huge world map. And then we have to paint all the names of all the countries on it too. We are going to have the older kids from the orphanage help paint. I don’t know how long it is going to take, but I am thinking we are going to start sometime in November because we have to do certain paperwork to get a little grant. And then we have to draw a big huge grid…there’s an actual manual on how to do this, and I don’t think that it’ll be too difficult. It’s been a secondary project for volunteers all over the world and I am totally falling into the cliché of that volunteer who painted a world map. Once we get started I will post up pics.
Speaking of pictures, I apologize for not posting many recently. Last year I broke the screen on my camera and I feel all awkward taking pictures like they used to do. People here are either big on having their pictures taken or seriously don’t want them taken. It’s disappointing to them when they rush to see how their portrait turned out and there’s a big crack and darkness with a few lines of reddish, blueish, whiteish color. And I have to explain how it broke and they can’t see the picture. And then it’s hard to be discreet about taking pictures when I have to hold the flashy camera up to my left eyeball and squint the right one…take a few seconds to adjust the focus and another second to take the pic. And then I never know if it’s gonna be any good. I feel like regular old 35mm cameras were good at doing their job. But now that we have those neat digital screens to view them right after being taken…I feel like without seeing them, they just don’t turn out as good as they used to—once upon a time.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
school starts
today, technically. but classes won't really start until monday the 5th. and guess who has a 7am class? me! and this morning i had 4 classes, but i was gonna teach 3 different grade levels...aka too much work. so my censeur enlever-ed my 4eme class (9th grade) but i am okay with that because they were my worst class last year. so i am again stuck teaching only 3 classes. i am going to try and get a fourth class.
the other day i was really upset because my neighbor once again asked me for money to build her a building on their land so they could make some money. and that was really frustrating, but i forgot to bring my flashdrive and i am not as angry as before; so i guess it's good that i didn't post that blog. but it makes me wonder: if someone who has been friends with 2 PCVs and has gone to 2 Camp GLOWs ...if someone like that still doesn't understand that i am not here to line peoples' pockets with money...what hope is there for everyone else? wow, that totally sounds Debbie Downer, but i don't know how to express it any other way =(
back to the topic of school. i am really looking forward to this year. already i kinda know how things work. and showing up at school isn't gonna be all awkward like it was last year cause i déjà know the admin and the teachers (sadly, i don't know their names) and i know my students! and i also have my lesson plans from last year, therefore i know what went well and what didn't; therefore i am hoping that the lessons will be at least 50 percent better. (i don't know why 50 percent, but 50 percent it is.)
This year’s birthday was one of the best I’ve had. Pizza, beer, bar-lounge, dancing, champagne, tequila and a car ride home.
Swear-in was good. Lots of speeches were given. Food and drinks at the end. And this year I just jumped right in there and attacked, otherwise I’d be left with nothing. And then I left for home around 4ish with lots of goodies, including cheese!
My birthday meme was awesome. I woke up and it took me several moments to realize that it was really my birthday. Initially, I thought it was the next day. Hahaha, I guess that happens when you’re old, ha. When I read a text from a PCV I thought she had gotten the date wrong, so I double checked the calendar, oops! I started the day by doing some laundry, followed by cleaning of my house. Then it was a shower et après ça I made myself lunch/dinner. I sliced up the cheese and made me some nachos. Not macho ones or deluxe with all the toppings. Just regular tortilla chips with cheese and some salsa to dip them in…just like my mom made when I was little. Before I started to eat, I opened up my birthday cards from the fam and shed a tear for each of those cards. (I am even more of a cry baby these days, especially when it comes to hearing from my family.) Moving on, I put in The Breakfast Club and for dessert I ate some gummy candy I bought in the city and some Greek chocolate from Christopher and Weihow. Around 21:30 my dad called and I got to talk to him and Melissa and Nathan. Mom wasn’t home, but we reserved some minutes so that she could call me later. I went to bed around 22:30 and was reading in bed, finishing up The Time Traveler’s Wife (a VERY good book, btw). And mom called around 22:45 and we got to chit chat. Overall, it was a very nice, low-key birthday and I could not have asked for anything more.
the other day i was really upset because my neighbor once again asked me for money to build her a building on their land so they could make some money. and that was really frustrating, but i forgot to bring my flashdrive and i am not as angry as before; so i guess it's good that i didn't post that blog. but it makes me wonder: if someone who has been friends with 2 PCVs and has gone to 2 Camp GLOWs ...if someone like that still doesn't understand that i am not here to line peoples' pockets with money...what hope is there for everyone else? wow, that totally sounds Debbie Downer, but i don't know how to express it any other way =(
back to the topic of school. i am really looking forward to this year. already i kinda know how things work. and showing up at school isn't gonna be all awkward like it was last year cause i déjà know the admin and the teachers (sadly, i don't know their names) and i know my students! and i also have my lesson plans from last year, therefore i know what went well and what didn't; therefore i am hoping that the lessons will be at least 50 percent better. (i don't know why 50 percent, but 50 percent it is.)
This year’s birthday was one of the best I’ve had. Pizza, beer, bar-lounge, dancing, champagne, tequila and a car ride home.
Swear-in was good. Lots of speeches were given. Food and drinks at the end. And this year I just jumped right in there and attacked, otherwise I’d be left with nothing. And then I left for home around 4ish with lots of goodies, including cheese!
My birthday meme was awesome. I woke up and it took me several moments to realize that it was really my birthday. Initially, I thought it was the next day. Hahaha, I guess that happens when you’re old, ha. When I read a text from a PCV I thought she had gotten the date wrong, so I double checked the calendar, oops! I started the day by doing some laundry, followed by cleaning of my house. Then it was a shower et après ça I made myself lunch/dinner. I sliced up the cheese and made me some nachos. Not macho ones or deluxe with all the toppings. Just regular tortilla chips with cheese and some salsa to dip them in…just like my mom made when I was little. Before I started to eat, I opened up my birthday cards from the fam and shed a tear for each of those cards. (I am even more of a cry baby these days, especially when it comes to hearing from my family.) Moving on, I put in The Breakfast Club and for dessert I ate some gummy candy I bought in the city and some Greek chocolate from Christopher and Weihow. Around 21:30 my dad called and I got to talk to him and Melissa and Nathan. Mom wasn’t home, but we reserved some minutes so that she could call me later. I went to bed around 22:30 and was reading in bed, finishing up The Time Traveler’s Wife (a VERY good book, btw). And mom called around 22:45 and we got to chit chat. Overall, it was a very nice, low-key birthday and I could not have asked for anything more.
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