Bouncing back from shit is resiliency...

Yesterday was our beloved and incredibly useful "Resiliency Training" where we learned all the healthy ways to cope with stress, disappointments, and really all negative emotions that I learned in 8th grade Quest class. Our group has decided that the best way to cope with these things is to open a big, stinky box of Deal With It! There is Deal With It Body Spray and Deal With It Smoothie- all very useful indeed!

I realized a few days ago that I have not yet given a real account of what my life is like here on a daily basis so today is a good day for that! So, to begin, I typically set my alarm for 6:30 to 6:15 but I don't believe I have ever once actually slept until it went off. With the little ones in the house, roosters crowing outside, and almost always someone washing, sweeping, or cooking something it is difficult to sleep later. In fact, the whole culture here begins in the morning. People frequently call or visit each other before I am even out of bed! What a contrast to the typical roll into work at 1 pm schedule I was living in LaLa Land!

After my bucket bath the time it takes me to get ready is shortened significantly by the fact that I didn't bring a hairdryer (something that will probably cause me to freeze at post). I then sit down for my breakfast of usually an 'omelette' with green beans, tomatoes, and sometimes spaghetti, or occasionally crepes but always with a cup of Nescafe. Mmm... (I am always trying to figure out why people in the countries where coffee is grown always drink Nescafe).

I usually leave around 7:30, walking down the dirt road from my house or through the cornfield trail, depending on where the day's activities begin. On the way I undoubtedly greet a half dozen people or more, unless it happens to be raining in which case it is only the overly ambitious Americans who are going anywhere at all.

Now that there is Model School we teach until noon when we have lunch. Sometimes we eat what some of the host mothers have prepared but it's a pretty hearty lunch so I have been trying to avoid it. Lately I swing into my friend Desiree's bar, where you can find Americans at pretty much any moment of the day that we are not in a session or past curfew (which unfortunately is 7pm). Desiree has become a good friend but initially he wanted me to be his second wife. He could hardly believe it when I explained to him that unfortunately in America women can have as many husbands as they wanted but a man could only have one wife. It took him about 3 weeks before he apparently asked some of the other trainees and told me I had lied to him. So, he now gets where I stand and is just a buddy. In fact, I feel safe around him because he doesn't let anyone bother me and seems to always keep a special look out for that sort of thing.

After our sessions on safety, cross-culture, technical training, language, and medical issues have completed for the day we usually have a beer at Desiree's and then it's already time to rush through the cornfield to get home before 7. At home I usually socialize with the family, play with the kids, and when Terrence was here I played a lot of cards and soccer. I normally fall onto my foam mattress under my mosquito net before 10 and if I'm lucky not every dog in the neighborhood is howling at the same time and I can fall right to sleep, but that's a rarity.

This week we began teaching at Model School and "BE QUIET!" falls under 'most commonly shouted phrase'. You are easily driven to this when you have 40 pre-adolescents in a classroom without windows and with very thin walls. I taught my first 8 hours and I'm very pleased with how it went. We are also required to lead one club and my friends Claire, Liz & I are managing the Girls' Club. We had a good turn out and I'm excited to see what we can get accomplished.

I spent most of the week with the dreaded quatrieme class, equivalent to about 7th graders though the range of ages is very diverse. All the other teachers want to kick this class out of the school but I grew quite fond of them. By Wednesday students were helping me to gather my things and carrying them all the way to the Teachers' lounge for me after class.

I tried to avoid punishing anyone too severely. There are very strict guidelines in the school for tardiness and most of the time when kids are late by even just a couple of minutes they winding up missing the whole first bell and doing manual labor on the school grounds. Something we've all had to adjust to here is the sight of students being given machetes at school. It's difficult to tell so far how effective the manual labor punishment is but it is good to know at least that officially corporal punishment is forbidden by law. From what I've heard it is still pretty common and there's a strong possibility I will see it once I get to my village but at least the mentality and law has shifted away from it a bit.

It was fun seeing how a real classroom environment will feel but it is definitely a lot of work. One of the technical trainers wrote after observing me, "Avoid shouting; by the end of the day you may lose your voice!". So, if anyone wants to send me a gavel or dunce cap, or maybe has some wonderful memories of how your teacher used to control the noise level in your classes, feel free to pass along that wisdom!

It was nice to observe my class with another teacher on Thursday after having them Monday through Wednesday and to see them actually using vocabulary I'd taught them. Yesterday I had the Premiere class who were a treat after having the younger kids. Here the French system makes it so that the lower class numbers are actually older kids so Premieres are like Juniors in high school.

I try to keep in mind how it felt to be a student myself and that makes me want to have as little boring blackboard copying as possible. Yesterday after I introduced prefixes and suffixes, we did some group work and played some games. They seemed to be really enjoying it and so was I. After class a boy came up and said (in his most planned English), "Madame, I really loved your class, it was very interesting; I want you to be the teacher all the time." When I said thank-you, I will be back next Friday he countered, "No, you must come Monday!" It made my day! Hopefully I can live up to their expectations next week!

Today has been very busy. I received the biggest box of all the Trainees the other day because my mom is the greatest mom ever! Among its contents were my running shoes and clothes which I put to use for the first time this morning. It felt good to start running again and I was impressed it was easier than expected. Apparently I have stayed in decent shape in spite of eating potatoes, plantains, and rice nearly everyday and not being able to hike yet!

I came home to help my host mother peel potatoes and clean my room, including a thorough t-shirt floor mopping! I am going to see the seamstress in a little while to have a dress made exactly how I ask and exactly my size for $4! Maybe I will never come home! This evening we are going on a little bike ride and I'm helping my friend Claude with English.

The weeks fly by here and before I know it I will be at post. I am nervous and excited for having some independence and my own home for the very first time! Judging by how things are going so far, I think life will be just fine in Bahouan!