First Week of School

Alright, so posting last week here was a bust, I paid for an hour of internet, and spent an hour trying to upload the previous entry (which I’m assuming I’ve been able to post by now, if you are reading this – the next intended entry) and failing due to stupid computer errors (the date on the machine was set to Jan 1, 1990, so all the websites kept having security license errors (because they weren’t valid for 1990, they were valid for 2008) and I couldn’t edit the date and time because this “client” workspace doesn’t give me administrative clearance….of course not that I could explain this to the people who were running the internet café, since they don’t seem to really get computers as much as they should.

Anyway, end of rant. Hopefully when I use my 30 minutes that I paid for I will be able to publish both these entries and check my e-mail. I will be going to Conakry in the not to distant future so I can use the internet at the bureau which is just about guaranteed to be working. Hopefully I can post some pictures then too.

So, another week, another set of adventures. This week was the start of school. I taught two 2 hour sections of 9th grade chemistry on Monday (8-10, 10-12). Tuesday was two 2 hour sections of 10th grade chemistry followed by two 1 hour sections of 9th grade English (8-10, 10-12, 12-1, 1-2, with only a 15 minute break in the middle of the 10-12 class). Wednesday was two 1 hour sections of 10th grade English (12-1, 1-2). I had a really good time. Despite it being the first week and the fact that my English classes were combined into one large class (about 60 students), I really enjoyed teaching. I reviewed balancing chemical equations in both my chemistry classes – 10th grade got much farther than 9th – but that’s fine because I need to review more material with them before starting on actual 10th grade stuff. I also taught the same English lesson to both 9th and 10th grade, which is something I will continue to do since this is all of their first exposure to English (This week was “Introductions- Getting to know each other” – Hello, how are you?, I’m fine, what is your name?, my name is Federico, What is her/his name?, etc). Next week is the alphabet A-M.

Teaching chemistry is fun, because I like chemistry and generally – so far, my students have seemed at least semi-interested. But teaching English is a blast because the students actually have a strong desire to learn it. To them, learning English is getting them one step closer to going to the states and/or getting a good paying job in Guinea. It’s also a way for them to understand some of their favorite music (Akon, Sean Paul, R. Kelly, Lil Wayne, um….that’s all that comes to mind now). So in class they’re very attentive, they get rowdy but quiet down when I ask (yell) at them to (they didn’t take me that seriously in English class until I kicked someone out for talking while I was teaching…while I’m glad they enjoy the class and find it fun, I can’t let them forget that it’s still a class and they still need to follow the rules). Anyway, the best part was seeing that my students are teaching their siblings and parents some of my classes (I had a few little kids and one older woman come up to me and say “good afternoon” and then walk away laughing). This will be a nice way for the knowledge to get out to the community even if the class is only for the 9th and 10th grade kids.

Otherwise, life has been pretty much the same. I made curtains for my doors and windows so that I can keep them open without kids peeking in while I’m changing/sleeping/eating/breathing. It also makes a more firm barrier at the door. Usually people wouldn’t walk into your house without asking, but when I had my door open with no curtain people would pause, then walk right in. Now they get to the curtain and call out & I meet them outside.

I also finally made it out to my village’s closest market, Coliah (sp?). It’s on the main road – so it’s about 11km away, but it’s very large – maybe about the size of the Forecariah market. I was able to get some eggplants (I was desperately craving vegetables, it’d been 3 weeks since I could remember eating anything besides red-oil fish-head sauce with rice). Unfortunately, eggplants and onions was all that market seemed to have in terms of vegetables. I got some cucumbers today from Kamsar’s market (along with bananas, guavas, & potatoes). Hopefully I can make a tuna cucumber lime salad later when I’m feeling vitamin deprived (not that cucumbers are a shining example of nutrient rich foods, but still).

Anyway, hopefully all of you are doing well. I’ve been trying to write letters to as many of you as possible. I have a US mailbox that I can use here in Kamsar – the address is on my Facebook, or you can post a comment and I will try to e-mail it to you. This means you can send a letter to a Pittsburg address and it will find its way to a mailbox here in Guinea that I can check about once a week or so. I can also send letters out, so if you want one, let me know. Paulina, recibi tu carta la semana pasada, pero aun no he podido mandar una respuesta – voy a pedirle a mi mama que me mande timbres internacionales gringos para poder escribirte a ti y a mi tia lupita.
Alright, I’m gonna try posting this now, and then try checking e-mail.

p.s. – Student notebooks here have paper covers with various famous people on the cover (99% of the time it’s a soccer player – my lesson planning book has David Beckham playing for Real Madrid on the cover). This week I saw (and bought) a Barack Obama notebook. I sought it out after seeing a couple of my students with notebooks with his face on them (There are at least 3 different styles). I also saw an umbrella with his face all over it in Conakry, but alas I already owned an umbrella. Don’t forget to vote, even I managed to send a federal absentee write in ballot (not that it will ever make it there or get counted…but I tried).