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Published: March 28th 2009
And here we are again. I've been here for a month. Can you believe it? i couldn't. so what's happened this past week? hmm...
well, last time i updated, i was at a new internet cafe. it was all great and dandy and cheaper than the previous one. but it was WAY slow. and then one of the workers started hitting on me and asking me if he could help and i kept saying no (what could he have possibly helped me with?). then he asked for my name and e-mail and phone number and where i was staying and how long i was going to be here (didn't give him anything). then he tried to give me his phone number and e-mail address. i tried to ignore him and acted pretty coldly to him, but he was super persistant. finally i left and as i was leaving he asked if he could walk me home. i was like "umm...no." and i haven't been back there since. did i mention he was in his mid-thirties? SUPER AWKWARD.
saturday and sunday i relaxed. i read a lot and listened to my ipod a lot. not much happened. on sunday Auntie Ngoneh moved to a new house so we went to visit her. it was a really pretty house. small and cute for her and Fatou Ngoneh. fun stuff.
monday i was with grade 1. they were doing revisions because exams started tuesday. in the morning i took Papa Tala upstairs and taught him to read. poor kid has no idea. when he wasn't doing anything i decided to start talking to him so he could be more comfortable with me. we talked for about half an hour and then he was much more willing to read. my favorite part of monday was after lunch. the kids just read by themselves, and i finished Ishmael. EVERYONE SHOULD READ "ISHMAEL" BY DANIEL QUINN. Papa Tala and Paul were reading "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." and Papa Tala was so excited whenever he got a word. when he was stuck he would come to me and we'd work through it. it was amazing to see.
Tuesday i was at ABC 2 with grade 5. they had exams...math and verbal. math in the morning.so i sat and translated harry potter. i got a lot done. after lunch they had verbal, and when they were done i corrected them. easy enough. after school i did studies with grade 6. there were 6 of them. i'd forgotten how funny/obnoxious sixth grade boys are. it was hilarious. i had a blast. i reviewed english with them and quantitative. oh man, they were great. and of course, the girls kept fighting and tattling on each other. oh middle school. on tuesday i went home by myself. I'm a big girl now! i took the taxis home with no issue. one picked me up at the junction and dropped me off before my stop. he told me i could walk from there and didn't have to pay him. it was pretty sweet. now i don't have to walk over to abc 1 anymore!
Wednesday i woke up and Jarry told me to go to ABC 2. so i went by myself. it's a lot easier to ignore the cat-calling when i have earphones in, so i always carry my ipod with me, especially when i'm walking alone. i got to the school with no problems and was told to go to grade 4. mr jobe gave me the english exam to take and it took me all of five minutes. then i was able to go around and help kids. when they were done i corrected every exam. woohoo! during lunch i started talking to mr jobe about my free travel and he told me that he has relatives in senegal. he offered to take me to senegal for a few days during the easter break! so i'll be going with him. good thing, because he blends in and speaks the language. he's also super cool. after lunch the kids had quantitative. i took the exam (another 5 minutes) and then helped and corrected. while i was correcting the exams, i heard something outside. i looked out and watched the entire school holding hands in a circle and skipping around singing "zingamama," a song i had only taught to the drama club. it was so cool and i took a video of it. i left ABC 2 at 2:30 to walk over to ABC 1 with Mr. Gaye. on the way over to ABC 1 we had a really good talk about development in africa and i told him about "Ishmael" (WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD READ. GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW!) so i'm going to lend it to him when auntie ola is done with it. i taught grade 7. the last one showed up at 5 and i yelled at her for being late. i taught them math for an hour and then english for an hour. they were fine during math, but then during their english classwork they started picking on the smallest girl. it was all in Wolof but i could tell by their body movements and what they were telling me. and they were all talking and laughing and she sat quietly in the corner not even doing work. finally she came up to me and said "i'm going home." so i let her. after she left i talked to the remaining girls. i said "if i see you do that next week, you're out of my classroom. no first chances." god, it was awful. it brought back bad memories of seventh grade. that's one grade i don't want to teach.
Thursday i was with grade 6. there were only 4 of them, but they kept fighting. i just sat quietly while they took their science exams and then journal in the afternoon. not very exciting. after school i got to talk to my parents! something i needed. then Jarry took me to pick up my clothes. i have a shirt and knee-length skirt, a shirt and wrap skirt, a shirt and long skirt, and a dress. i went home and tried them all on. they got the measurement for my chest wrong, so none of the shirts fit me. two of them won't even zip up! so i'll have to go back and get those adjusted.
Friday i wore my green shirt and wrap skirt to school. it was very african. i was with grade three and they took their art exams and something else that i don't remember. then i went home and relaxed. that's about it for the week!
much love
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Ishmael
I believe your Mom recommended this to me about 20 years ago and I didn't read it. Maybe you will finally push me over the edge.