this is from 1/22/10

Another week gone by.

This year I once again am only teaching 3 classes. Each class meets twice a week for “two hours” each time. I put two hours in quotes because it never adds up to two hours for multiple reasons: kids are late, the kids are disrupting class and I have to pause, someone comes in to give an announcement, the flag ceremony, it gets dark and we can’t see anymore, at the moment my in my 7am class we can’t really start till 7:15 cause it’s still somewhat dark out at 7am…etc.

I don’t know if I ever explained how the College General d’Enseigment (CEG) system works…well here goes, kinda. There are seven grade levels. They go by the French system here:


Beninese grade level=American equivalent
Sixieme (6eme)=7th grade
Cinquieme (5eme)=8th grade
Quatrieme (4eme) =9th grade
Troisieme (3eme)=10th grade
Seconde (2nde)=11th grade
Premier (1ere)=12th grade
Terminale (tle)=1st year of college

Last year I had two 6emes, M2 + M4 and one 5eme, M1. The M stands for nothing that I know of, but is put there after the grade level to distinguish which class it is. For example, last year there was five 6eme and I had M2 and M4. Of the three classes, I decided that M2 was my favorite class; so I followed them into their second year and have them again as 5emeM2.

I hate to admit that as a teacher I definitely have a favorite class and favorite students. And it makes me wonder if I was ever a favorite student of any of my teachers. And I wonder if I would like me as a student?

This year I strongly dislike this year’s 6emeM2. (Side note: I have taken to calling 6emeM2à 6eme-“impoli”. Haha, they are horrified every time I say it because calling someone “impolite” in this society is one of the worst insults there is. Perhaps it is because everyone is so chill and essentially polite, lighthearted, etc.) Anyways, these 6emeM2 kids are little shits. There are nearly 60 of them and about half the class is a mixture of bad behavior. I always leave their class and am in a miserable mood. So this past Thursday we were in the middle of revision because next week the students have devoirs, aka exams. And at the beginning of class I had somewhat of a little heart-to-heart with the trouble makers. I thought we had an understanding that they would begin to behave. I was wrong.

So I stopped what I was doing and quickly packed my bag, said “GOOODBYE!” and grabbed my bag and helmet. However, I didn’t even get halfway to the door when half the class surrounded me, begged and pleaded me not to go and grabbed at me and my things. <> So I let go of the stuff and they proceeded to go back to their seats. But then I once again grabbed my things and once again I was surrounded. I also looked at the doorway where there was a wall of the bigger/taller kids who were blocking my way. There was not a snowflake’s chance in hell that I was getting out of there, unless I threw some punches and elbowed kids! (Which I did not.) All the while, the other half of the class erupted in screams and laughter. It was quite a sight. And I couldn’t help but laugh. It probably didn’t help my cause. On top of it all, I was mortified at the fact that I had lost control of them. I don’t know how we got back to business, but we did and they were a little bit better behaved…but I may lose my mind with this class by the end of the year!!

I cannot believe that January is nearly complete. I feel that time is moving faster than ever. Does it ever slow down again? Here are some things that I am looking forward to in the coming months:
February
camp GLOW meeting, important breakfast at the ambassador's
March
Gender And Development weekend up north
April
find out if I got the job in France
May
COS (close of service) conference, Gender And Development dinner in Cotonou
June
end of the school year, Camp GLOW! (PLEASE donate =)
July
hmmm…the new group arrives on the 9th
August
hopefully coming home mid- to late in the month
September
home! (hopefully) leave for France, my birthday
Look at that…something for every month! That seems to make things go by quicker.

this is from 1/24/10

Once upon a time I remember feeling cold. Now, I don’t. Harmattan, once again lasted 3 days. And it was really only “chilly” on day two. And now, we enter the “chaleur.” This means I will be sweating gallons of sweat until…May. Cute, huh. On the flip side, my face has never been clearer, perhaps due to the Doxycycline (anti-malarial medication) or perhaps it’s due to the fact that my sweat glands are constantly excerised and don’t have the opportunity to be clogged.

I heard about the Haitian earthquake a couple weekends ago. I really don’t know any details whatsoever. I can only imagine that it is chaos over there. I hear that Haiti is poorer than Benin. Did you know that the people of Haiti descend from the Beninese? The Haitians are the children of slaves brought over from the kingdom of Dahomey…aka Benin.

This April I am going to the ancient capital of the Dahomey Kingdom, Abomey. The Dahomey kings were horrible, tyrants. They would have like 50 wives. And when they died they had their wives killed or buried alive…with them. Or maybe it was their slaves that that happened to. I forget what I heard. I guess I will find out in April. Also, the castle or whatever, is a mud-type structure that was mixed with blood and body parts. And the king’s throne is made of human skulls. I feel like I am going to be creeped out when I see this.

Apparently 8, 9 o’clock PM on a Sunday is a great time to have a birthday party. Nevermind that I (or they) have to wake up early tomorrow to start the work day.

This week is devoirs, once again. This means that the first semester is essentially over. That means I have almost less than half my school year left. This is exciting yet sad at the same time.

Today, I my little buddy, Janvier came over with his machete to chop away at the overgrown foliage in my terrace. I was hoping to have it trimmed so that a little light and a slight breeze could waft in, however, my neighbor chatted with Janvier too, and told him to chop away everything. I was a little hesitant, but I let him at it; only because I know that the flowers will grow back. It’s probably a good thing that this old flower tree/bush thing was thinned out. it might give it a little life back.

Initially I asked Janvier to come to do some trimming because yesterday we were sitting around and all of a sudden we catch a whiff of a horrible scent: a rotting little mouse corpse. I check all around my terrace for a possible hiding place for a little mouse carcass, but to no avail. I thought that maybe the little guy kicked the bucket up in the flowers. Janvier hacked away to find the smelly body. But again, no luck. The little stinker is still out there somewhere.

On that note, I don’t know how to put this, but I love that children in this society actually WORK for adults. I only briefly mentioned to Janvier to come chop the flowers away and the next day he shows up and does A LOT of work. Not only did he chop, he hauled away the brush and swept up afterward. And I didn’t even have to pay him. I did however, give him a couple of pens and a pencil for his devoirs. I didn’t want him getting the idea I would pay him.

It’s just amazing that kids almost enjoy working for adults, more so probably ones they respect.

Last Sunday, this kid rings the doorbell and when I answer the door I don’t recognize him. He’s obviously a student. But I have a moment of panic where I think, “oh gawd…who is this kid? Is he a student of mine from last year? This year? …and I don’t even recognize his face? I’m such a horrible teacher!” But it turns out he is not nor ever has been a student of mine. He tells me with a heavy heart about how he lost 3500cfa, aka a little less than ten dollars, to pay for his school contribution (school fee). He worked all summer to pay for his school fee and his “big brother” (probably a family friend) paid for the small remainder (3500cfa). But the week before, during the 10am break where the kids go get breakfast, he lost or was robbed of the 3500fca. And his “big brother” had him searching all day since 8am to replace the money. He got to my house around 7, 7:30. I was on the phone with my sister. To make a long story short, I gave him some money and told him he had to work it off by coming to do laundry for me four times. So far he has been really honest; he is tardy, but he arrives. Which leads me to believe that he was telling the truth. And it makes me feel good that I trusted my gut and decided to help him out. Normally, I would NEVER just hand out some money to any kid that knocked on my door. Tha’

BESA, round 1

BESA stands for Best English Students' Awards. It is an English competition for all grade levels in the Colleges (aka high schools). there are 3 rounds.

Round 1 takes the top three students from each grade level and eliminates students so that the top 3 from each commune are left. i think a commune is essentially like a district...or county...i'm not quite sure which, lol.

Round 2 is to eleminate students so that the top 3 students of each department are left. deparment is possibly the equivalent of a state.

Round 3 takes round 2's students and places them in ranking order. it is the oral competition round, where students answer a series of questions, read a text outloud, and then answer some more questions. pronunciation is heavily counted.

So today was round 1. there was an announcement posted at school giving the names for the qualifiying students and the date, time and place where students were to meet. it read something along the lines of names: blah; blah; blah. date/time: Saturday February 13th at 8am. place: CEG1.

so i get up early, get dressed, get pretty, make coffee and go to CEG3 (my school). i am a few minutes early and am annoyed to find out the guardian and the sign tell me to go to CEG 1, :/. so i get to CEG1 and see my favorite kid, Sylvain. he asks me where they are to take the test. i tell him i will ask. i then find out that everyone is to take their tests at their proper schools. BACK >:/ to CEG3 i go!! Fortunately, i see 3 students of our schools' at CEG3 (including Sylvain and my other girl and another student) and bring them back to CEG3 with me. i sorta felt like a momma chicken gathering all her little chickies, bringing them to another place.

we are minutes late, but all is well. yet, i see that one student of mine is missing and find myself upset at him because if he wasn't going to show up, then someone else could have taken his place! brat!

so the hour passes and the first cycle students are all done, time is up and out they go. i make them stand for a picture for me. -------i will post this later------------

then, like 5-10 minutes later the missing student arrives. the other proctor tells him it is too late! =( go home. since he is one of my boys; i go out to see him to find out why he was missing. it turns out he made the same mistake me and my other kids made, but didn't make it back to our school on time. i felt very, very sad for him and was extremely upset at the whole situation!!

so then everyone finishes and we go BACK, again to CEG1 to grade all 18 schools' papers. there are 3 students for every one of the 7 grade levels that composed! so there were a lot of tests to grade. it was very, very hectic at first. everyone had questions on how to hash out the points. there were a lot of questions and clarifications. but everyone soon fell into a groove and the grading got done. then the top three from each commune was chosen!

i stuck around till nearly 2 o'clock to find out the results. i was and still am on cloud 9 when i found out that 2 of my 3 babies made it to round 2 of BESA!

Volonté and Sylvain (placing 1st and 3rd, respectively) are my top 2 students in 5eme this year. and they were in my class last year too. i am sooooo, so, SO proud of them!

yay for my babies!

i have realised that that i regard my 5eme students are very much kids. i have 50-something kids and they are all 100 percent special to me.

breakfast at the ambassador's

this morning i had breakfast with our new ambassador, Mr. Ambassador Knight and the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Africa Affairs. he was on tour of some countries and was passing through Benin, where he had an extra few hours. His Excellency, Mr. Johnnie Carson is friends with our Ambassador and had us over for breakfast so that Ambassador Carson could have the opportunity to chat with Benin PCVs.

It was awesome. there was bacon, eggs, waffles, maple syrup, (good) honey, (good) yogurt, fruit salad, coffee and tea. it was buffet style and we then ate out in the garden. it was all very lovely. and i am glad that i was chosen to go. two people from each sector were chosen to attend.

then in the afternoon, i went back to the ambassador's to go for a swim!

what a delightful day!



in other news, students took their devoirs the week before last. the teachers at my school conveniently went on strike and i was called upon to proctor tests for the other classes. and every time that i must proctor for other classes i realize that much more how much i love my own students. and last week i told my students in 5eme how much i like being their teacher and how they are my favorite students. they then applauded at this =)

next weekend is the first round of BESA. BESA stands for Best English Students Awards. this is a three round competition in which students take 2 written and an oral test. i am not sure how many students are involved overall, but i had to choose the top three kids in each of my classes. they will then take the test. then as a commune, we will grade the tests together and the top three go onto compete at the department level. i have 3 very, very bright kids in my 5eme class and really, really hope that they will make it to the next round. i will update on this later.

hmmm, what else...we are now in the chaleur. this means that it gets really frickin' hot every day. it feels like the "sun is punching [you] in the back of the neck" according to Anglina.

ok. that's really it for now.

christmas season pictures

when it rains it pours! it rains cats and dogs. seriously...how do you think i got Rosie?
















fluffballs! i love watching mama chickens with the babies. too cute.















this is the route i take home. pretty.













my favorite pumpkin :) i am jealous of kids cause they can run around naked and i can't.
















Rosie and Nathaniel's dog, Nancy













Rosie taking a nap with her lion













can you find the toad?














Mayo being silly














encore. he's just too cute!



















Mayo and my helmet


















Mayo took a pic of me with my helmet. i think he has a future as a photographer...what do you think?












can you find the mouse? i like to think of him as my "Goodnight Moon" mouse :)


















all i got for Christmas was a cankle! haha, after nearly 20 hours of travel.
















dirty bird. this is me on the cleaner side of that trip. PS this is at the Burkina Faso-Mali border.













this was the van that took us to Mali. we climbed in and out of the damn thing at least 10 times. what a pain!


















fyi. there ARE mosquitoes in the middle of the desert, aka in Ouagadougou. and i was their new year's eve meal.
















world map, essentially done...the tape hasn't been pulled off yet.














clothes drying on the lawn













a view from the orphanage looking out over Lokossa

:-D

feelin' good!!

1) the kids and i are nearly finished with our world map!! wow...it seriously took WAAAAAAy longer than i thought it would take. all that is left to do is label and outline a few countries, smear on a layer of varnish...bought today--a wonderful experience altogether...and we'll be done! then we can peel off the masking tape =) i feel like there should be some kind of celebration ceremony for this. i am super happy to be done with the map; but also kind of sad. i have built up quite a relationship with the kids and mamans; plus they feed me good food. but i guess now that i feel a part of the family i will make the effort to stop by and do stuff with the kids.

2) i bought a double SIM phone yesterday! and it is awesome. you must understand i have been using a clunky, old, green/grey screen Nokia for the past year! now my phone holds 2 SIM cards, has a colour screen, takes pictures/video/sound, plays music and videos, there are some games but they suck; nothing will ever replace snake! i feel special now...but also guilty for spending so much on it. not that it was really expensive, 77 dollars, but that is enough money to buy A LOT of things here. but...whatever, it makes me happy.

3) i am nearly done with my application for a job in France! and i gotta say that i have done all i can do; and am waiting on a couple of things to come through :) France, here i come...in 9 months!

4) i bought a total of 55 hours at the cyber. it cost me an arm and a few fingers from the other arm, but it will be a reeeal long time till i have to buy more. that and the patron upgraded me for free, to the VIP room, where i am currently sitting under a powerful ceiling fan!

5) OMG, i almost forgot...Rosie is definitely preggo!! i'm gonna be a g-ma! i feel like this is a real live version of that hideous dog toy from the 90's: Puppy Surprise. "Surprise, surprise, puppy surprise...how many puppies are there inside?" not only how many...but what will they look like? who knocked her up?!

i think that's about all. but these days it's amazing to me how the little things really make my day! i hope that everyone is off to an excellent start this year and that things are all around good.

it's about 7-7.5 months or so till i come home.

PS
pretty, pretty please donate to our Camp GLOW. instructions to do so are in the previous post...just below here:

ALSO...

Donate to our girls' camp! It's an amazing opportunity for girls of southern Benin who would never otherwise participate in something like this. I have posted up pics from last year's camp. It was just an amazing experience to see how this camp truly changes the lives of so many girls. I would love if anyone could help us out. Even $5 helps =)

These are the instructions on how to do so...
1. go to www.peacecorps.gov and click on "Donations"
2. at this point, you can search by volunteer's last name, "Hurst", OR click on "view all volunteer projects" on the right side of the page
3. you can then search under "Benin" or "Michigan" (home state)
4. click on the Camp GLOW PCPP. They can then read a short description of the project, see how much of the total has been raised, and make a donation.

Remember, all donations are tax deductible!