When the Sun Goes Down

Last journal entry, I wrote that I had much to tell about model school, and now I can’t remember what I was so excited to tell. I guess that’s what happens when you try to put things off for a bit. I’ll just start with what would seem important. Did I already write about model school a little bit? I can’t remember at all. Well, whatever. Repetition is good. Which is actually the first lesson that I learned in model school. The more repetition the better. I started the first two weeks of model school with the 6eme kids. In the U.S., these are like our 5th-7th grade kids. They have never had any English at all. So we are literally building from the ground up with these guys. My lessons have included teaching “good morning, good afternoon, and good evening,” “greetings in general (Hello. My name is…),” “this/that,” “these/those,” and several songs (naturally, because I have such a good singing voice). Several of the stagiares haven’t been enjoying teaching these guys, but I really had a good time with them. They really need a lot of stimulation, and it’s hard because they don’t have any books or supplies or anything really, but it’s like playing “Gestures” for an hour or two. It matches my energy level well. But, after two weeks, we all switched classes, and now I am teaching 4eme, which is like our high school kids, so they have had a couple years of English. I have taught thus far “passive voice,” “health vocabulary,” “If statements,” and “must/must not/have to/don’t have to.” All really, really exciting. So, yeah, while the 4eme kids are a little more serious, the material is just not that fun at all. The classroom sizes are a little over 50 kids in each class, so classroom management is crucial. And as an added bonus, classroom management is more difficult here, typically, because the students are used to getting beat if they miss behave, so they sometimes don’t take Peace Corps volunteers seriously as we are not beating them for falling asleep. In general, though, if you can be proactive and plan stimulating enough lessons that the students don’t get bored, this eliminates half of your behavior problems. As I have observed, it seems that the kids who have given me the most trouble are the smart kids, because they catch on quicker and then get bored and start goofing off. I’ve, thus, mastered several techniques to snap them back in line--I have the token “teacher stare of death,” the embarrassment strategy, the stand right next to him strategy, the just stand in front of the class until they quiet down strategy, and so forth. Mostly, though, I haven’t really had any discipline problems. I think that the kids respect me enough to know that I mean business when I’m up in front of the class. It’s that whole “worst nightmare” or “best friend” presence. I don’t really know where it comes from, but it’s working well for me, so I’m just going to stick with it. Not to mention, that it’s really me just being myself up there; I don’t have to pretend to be a hard-ass when I’m not. *ok and I just swore which reminds me that I have been swearing a lot more here, and I don’t know why except for the fat that I can get away with saying anything and I know that no one around me except the other stagaires will know what I’m even saying; but that‘s a really random side note*

Most of my fun in model school as come through interactions with the other stagaires. We love to joke about all the horrible stuff you could potential teach these kids who know nothing. I am currently teaching with a guy who is going by Mr. Norris as in Chuck Norris. He was teaching negations one day, and his example was. My name is Chuck Norris. I am not Steven Segal. Another girl, Sandy, has been drawing me mini cartoon strips about my teaching lessons which are hilarious. I’m definitely saving them in my journal for future sharing. Pretty much, we are just a bunch of immature people who find the slightest things funny and are sure to tell each other--aka there is usually at least one immature and accidental sexual innuendo during everyone’s lesson. The students don’t understand, but whoever is observing is in the back giggling while frantically drawing a picture. Overall, model school is this super overwhelming stressful ordeal, so it helps to be surrounded by people who are able to knock a lot of that stress off--we have more fun than we should.

*pause for bedtime*

Yahoo. Had a really good nights sleep last night (the first in a long, long time). It rained all night and even into the morning, so that cools everything off and delays the call of the roosters a little bit. It was nice…I got to sleep in until 8:00! Last night marked the second party that us TEFL stagaires have put on at the volunteer house. These little get-togethers are indescribably fun despite the simplicity. For me, and for many of the other girls, it’s one of the few times that we can just be ourselves and not worry about doing something culturally inappropriate (e.g. touching a guy on the shoulder her means that you want to take him to bed with you). Men and women don’t really interact of date here at all; it’s pretty strange to see. This is also why any contact with man on the part of a woman is considered a huge sign. The interesting part is that men hold hands with other men all the time vice versa with women. You would think that the whole country is gay, but that’s not the case as homosexuality “doesn’t exist” in Benin. It is only a European and American “problem.” OH! Which makes me think of a story that just happened the other night. Myself, Sandy, and Alex were all walking home from a buvette, and as we were getting ready to split ways (Alex goes home a different way than Sandy and I), Alex kept asking are you sure you two are okay to go alone; I’ll walk with you if you need me. Sandy and I reassure him that we’re fine, we’re fine (But this is Sandy and me you are talking about, and our luck isn’t the best when we are together). So as we turn the corner, not 5 feet down, we run into some local that wants to practice his English on us. Sandy is nicer than me and starts engaging in conversation--he does seem nice enough. Anyway, he says at one point that he wants to practice his English because he lived in San Francisco for 3 months for his job. I ask him what he does, and he responds, “He sells the cocaine and the…what do you call it…heroin.” I say, without skipping a bit, or without any real emotion, “Wow. Really. That’s a pretty dangerous business.” He agrees and says, “Yah, but it’s work.” True dat, crazy drug man. So THEN, at this point, Alex has come up behind the crazy man, who has proceeded to ask Sandy and me, where our husbands are at, and why we left them behind in the United States. Of course, both of us at the same time reply that we didn’t leave our husbands and that we are both married to Alex, and that he is right there (pointing). Thank goodness polygamy isn’t a huge oddity here, and so our answer seemed acceptable, and he back off--I said that we were late anyway and had to get going. Just another mini-adventure in Africa. Dealing with drug dealers…haha.

Alright. Cooking. Yesterday as part of our cross-cultural integration, we had a “Iron Chef” style cooking competition in teams of 5 or so. So all of us split up and cooked and cooked and cooked. The secret ingredient was pineapple, so our team made Pineapple salad with a homemade vinaigrette, beef and pineapple kabobs, and a ginger pineapple cobbler. One team made a pineapple pizza. It was a good time. Our team was the only team outside in the direct sun, so we were aptly named “Team Sunburn.” Right now, I’m sitting in the volunteers’ house as we are all sitting around eating “fiesta” food to celebrate the birthday of one of our fellow stagaires. I made guacamole, but there was no bleach, so I couldn’t bleach the tomatoes, and now I’m worried that everyone is going to get sick off of my food. That would be no good. But the guacamole did taste really good. Good going down. Bad coming up. Fingers crossed everyone will be fine.

Okay. I’ve reached my journal length limit, so I’m going to take a pause. Miss everyone. To you Fighting Scots, hope the start of school is going well and that open gyms are as lively as ever. I can’t wait to be filled in on the gossip that is Wooster Basketball. Love and Hugs.