More tomorrow, if I feel up to it before going back to post.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Pictures
Snapfish is acting weird, so I'm slowly uploading pictures here. My house definitely looks more lived in...most of these were taken weeks ago. And here's a picture of my new kaba with my hair braided. I can't figure out how to rotate it though, so just imagine.
More tomorrow, if I feel up to it before going back to post.
More tomorrow, if I feel up to it before going back to post.
More house pictures
The kitchen.
The dining room, another leak.
The other spare bedroom, with a serious leak.
Two Long Weeks at Post
9/27/06
I can't activate the Microsoft Office Pack on my new laptop without the internet, so there's no telling when I get to use that. So I'm using that old fashioned program, Notepad, to write my blog. I love technology. There's also a webcam on my laptop, though I doubt I'll ever get to webchat.
I have probably tripled my electricity use in the last few days after I added a few modern inventions: a fan, a refigerator, and a laptop. I ended up giving my electric hotplate to my colleague who needs it more than I do. Of course, Sonel (the Cameroonian electicity company) has yet to install the meter I paid for 2 weeks ago, so all of this is free of charge. I giggle every time I think about leaving all the lights on. Hehe.
I have also been doing some home repairs. Or rather, I paid for the supplies and watched as friends and neighbors did the work. A friend of a former PCV in Bokito (hello Sarah!) came to visit me last week. He helped with several things around the house, most importantly the mosquito screens! I am no protected from bugs in my living room and bedroom. The kitchen and bathroom are still problems because window panes are missing, but once they get replaced it will no longer be a problem. I can finally stay cool and bug-free at the same time! I also have a porch light, so people can't sneak around in my yard without me seeing. It's amazing how much work went into these simple tasks, but I am grateful!
I have been asked a few questions on religion in Cameroon, so I will share the few observations I have made in the 3 months I've been here (definitely not an expert). There are quite a few Muslims, but most people claim to be Christians. It's quite interesting, but most people who are educated and devout still believe in witchcraft. Take my Anglophone colleague, who has traveled to the West and has a university degree, yet told me a story about her aunt's reincarnated ghost baby and her village's cursed lake. It's weird what people believe in. As far as I can tell, traditional beliefs aren't considered a religion like Christianity--you can believe in both. Most people in villages still bury their relatives in elaborate tombs in the front yard and have traditional ceremonies, but they go to church. Most people are afraid of witches. I am protected from their spells because white people have more powerful magic (this is how technology like cell phones and computers are explained) but outsiders are safe in a town because their powers are unknown. You never know who could be a powerful witch. It's easy to laugh at some of the stories, but people here really believe them. Who's to say they couldn't heal you by leaving chicken feathers under your bed for three weeks?
I handed back an in-class exercise one of my classes had done the previous week. Much to my surprise, the chef de classe (a student in charge of some organizational and disciplinary tasks in his/her class) used a length of rubber to whack his classmates! Of course, they were crowding around like wild animals but is that necessary?! And yesterday afternoon none of the students paid attention to me as I explained a listening activity because they were busy watching an assistant discpline master (and math teacher) hit several classmates who had arrived late after the lunchbreak. And people have the gall to tell me that it's actually forbidden by law to hit students, but there he was, right outside my classroom! They all trailed in rubbing their butts. I teach the youngest grade and some of the children are so tiny!!! I felt terrible, but it's better that someone else disciplines them. I can act as progressive and moral as I want, but students won't respect such Western touchy-feely teaching methods. In any case, I send them out of class or have the chef turn in their names for manual labor. This past Friday, 2/3 of my students spent the class period outside in the rain because they didn't do the homework. We'll see if they don't start doing my assignments.
10/01/06
On a side note, it is possible to make Nutella crepes and watch Sex and the City in your pajamas. Just like Paris!
I have spent the weekend copying class lists into my grading notebook (supplied by the school) and correcting informatique homework. A surprising number of students couldn't label the parts of a computer after I had written the answers on the board (or are they just lazy?). Then I wrote an English lesson and test for the following week, as well as informatique lessons and a test. I have created 4 IT lessons in a foreign language without a textbook or a syllabus. I'm proud of myself, even if I did spend a few hours with the French-English dictionary. :-)
A friend brought her 2 year old twins over to meet me today, and one of them peed on my porch. I also learned the French verb for "have a bowel movement" though I imagine it translates more closely to "poop."
10/09/06
I think a combination of my poor teaching and my students' laziness (ils sont un peu betes) has led to massive failure after the first English test. I had a passing rate of 30% in one class and a little better than 50% in the other. And in the Francophone system, 10/20 is passing. Yikes. And my colleague thought our test was easy. It remains to be seen how the informatique students perform on their first test.
I also have a cat now! Two, in fact, when my friend brings the other one (he ran away before they were brought to my house, then her son had malaria, so his arrival was delayed a week). I'm taking suggestions for names. Although I really want to name one Bodo and the other Foumban because Bodo is a character in the English textbook and he's from Foumban, a city in the Western province famous for the chief's palace. "I'm Bodo. I'm from Foumban. Who are you?" When they are old enough, we will make the trip to Yaounde or Bafia if possible to get the vaccination contre la rage (against rabies).
Last week, in case you didn't know, was UNESCO's World Teacher's Day. Thank goodness for UNESCO! I got the day off, and we were all honored with speeches and marches and a sad little reception. Students from Journalism Club provided running commentary during the proceedings, like the color announcer at a sporting event: "And here comes the Sous-Prefet in his car, to be met by Monsieur le Proviseur and Monsieur le Maire de la Commune de Bokito. Welcome, Monsieur le Sous-Prefet. ... And now, a speech from one of our quality teachers at the Lycee de Bokito, to be followed by a word from Monsieur le Sous-Prefet." Their rapid fire description of every minute detail at the ceremony was far more entertaining than actually watching. :-) Next time English Club should provide simultaneous translation, since this is supposed to be a billingual country.
10/12/06
I will head to Yaounde this weekend and what a welcome vacation! Tests and report cards have been taking up all my time lately. I'm so disappointed by my students poor performance on the English & the Informatique tests. Actually, the students in 3eme (the 4th year at lycee, about a HS freshman) cheated like mad, so they did fairly well. Except the ones whose answers were so wild that they ended up with 4/20! HAHA! At least I got to laugh a little bit. Still, it's disheartening. I thought I wrote a fairly easy test--the students were only required to memorize the information. Maybe it was too overwhelming for kids who don't have TVs, much less computers (I got a lot of answers about cell phones and remote controls).
After a particularly terrible day at school this Tuesday, I got a surprise. A friend came over to braid my hair and gave me a kaba. After 3 days without electricty and 1 day without water, the return of both and my runaway kitten, a group of women gabbing and doing hair was just what I needed. I'll post pictures on Snapfish. Although all the Cameroonians like my hair I'm not very comfortable with it yet.
And tonight I discovered a great thing--the kitten is an incredible roach-killing machine. It caught and devoured a huge roach in about 30 seconds. I'm so impressed. All that remained were the wings. Bon appetit!
I can't activate the Microsoft Office Pack on my new laptop without the internet, so there's no telling when I get to use that. So I'm using that old fashioned program, Notepad, to write my blog. I love technology. There's also a webcam on my laptop, though I doubt I'll ever get to webchat.
I have probably tripled my electricity use in the last few days after I added a few modern inventions: a fan, a refigerator, and a laptop. I ended up giving my electric hotplate to my colleague who needs it more than I do. Of course, Sonel (the Cameroonian electicity company) has yet to install the meter I paid for 2 weeks ago, so all of this is free of charge. I giggle every time I think about leaving all the lights on. Hehe.
I have also been doing some home repairs. Or rather, I paid for the supplies and watched as friends and neighbors did the work. A friend of a former PCV in Bokito (hello Sarah!) came to visit me last week. He helped with several things around the house, most importantly the mosquito screens! I am no protected from bugs in my living room and bedroom. The kitchen and bathroom are still problems because window panes are missing, but once they get replaced it will no longer be a problem. I can finally stay cool and bug-free at the same time! I also have a porch light, so people can't sneak around in my yard without me seeing. It's amazing how much work went into these simple tasks, but I am grateful!
I have been asked a few questions on religion in Cameroon, so I will share the few observations I have made in the 3 months I've been here (definitely not an expert). There are quite a few Muslims, but most people claim to be Christians. It's quite interesting, but most people who are educated and devout still believe in witchcraft. Take my Anglophone colleague, who has traveled to the West and has a university degree, yet told me a story about her aunt's reincarnated ghost baby and her village's cursed lake. It's weird what people believe in. As far as I can tell, traditional beliefs aren't considered a religion like Christianity--you can believe in both. Most people in villages still bury their relatives in elaborate tombs in the front yard and have traditional ceremonies, but they go to church. Most people are afraid of witches. I am protected from their spells because white people have more powerful magic (this is how technology like cell phones and computers are explained) but outsiders are safe in a town because their powers are unknown. You never know who could be a powerful witch. It's easy to laugh at some of the stories, but people here really believe them. Who's to say they couldn't heal you by leaving chicken feathers under your bed for three weeks?
I handed back an in-class exercise one of my classes had done the previous week. Much to my surprise, the chef de classe (a student in charge of some organizational and disciplinary tasks in his/her class) used a length of rubber to whack his classmates! Of course, they were crowding around like wild animals but is that necessary?! And yesterday afternoon none of the students paid attention to me as I explained a listening activity because they were busy watching an assistant discpline master (and math teacher) hit several classmates who had arrived late after the lunchbreak. And people have the gall to tell me that it's actually forbidden by law to hit students, but there he was, right outside my classroom! They all trailed in rubbing their butts. I teach the youngest grade and some of the children are so tiny!!! I felt terrible, but it's better that someone else disciplines them. I can act as progressive and moral as I want, but students won't respect such Western touchy-feely teaching methods. In any case, I send them out of class or have the chef turn in their names for manual labor. This past Friday, 2/3 of my students spent the class period outside in the rain because they didn't do the homework. We'll see if they don't start doing my assignments.
10/01/06
On a side note, it is possible to make Nutella crepes and watch Sex and the City in your pajamas. Just like Paris!
I have spent the weekend copying class lists into my grading notebook (supplied by the school) and correcting informatique homework. A surprising number of students couldn't label the parts of a computer after I had written the answers on the board (or are they just lazy?). Then I wrote an English lesson and test for the following week, as well as informatique lessons and a test. I have created 4 IT lessons in a foreign language without a textbook or a syllabus. I'm proud of myself, even if I did spend a few hours with the French-English dictionary. :-)
A friend brought her 2 year old twins over to meet me today, and one of them peed on my porch. I also learned the French verb for "have a bowel movement" though I imagine it translates more closely to "poop."
10/09/06
I think a combination of my poor teaching and my students' laziness (ils sont un peu betes) has led to massive failure after the first English test. I had a passing rate of 30% in one class and a little better than 50% in the other. And in the Francophone system, 10/20 is passing. Yikes. And my colleague thought our test was easy. It remains to be seen how the informatique students perform on their first test.
I also have a cat now! Two, in fact, when my friend brings the other one (he ran away before they were brought to my house, then her son had malaria, so his arrival was delayed a week). I'm taking suggestions for names. Although I really want to name one Bodo and the other Foumban because Bodo is a character in the English textbook and he's from Foumban, a city in the Western province famous for the chief's palace. "I'm Bodo. I'm from Foumban. Who are you?" When they are old enough, we will make the trip to Yaounde or Bafia if possible to get the vaccination contre la rage (against rabies).
Last week, in case you didn't know, was UNESCO's World Teacher's Day. Thank goodness for UNESCO! I got the day off, and we were all honored with speeches and marches and a sad little reception. Students from Journalism Club provided running commentary during the proceedings, like the color announcer at a sporting event: "And here comes the Sous-Prefet in his car, to be met by Monsieur le Proviseur and Monsieur le Maire de la Commune de Bokito. Welcome, Monsieur le Sous-Prefet. ... And now, a speech from one of our quality teachers at the Lycee de Bokito, to be followed by a word from Monsieur le Sous-Prefet." Their rapid fire description of every minute detail at the ceremony was far more entertaining than actually watching. :-) Next time English Club should provide simultaneous translation, since this is supposed to be a billingual country.
10/12/06
I will head to Yaounde this weekend and what a welcome vacation! Tests and report cards have been taking up all my time lately. I'm so disappointed by my students poor performance on the English & the Informatique tests. Actually, the students in 3eme (the 4th year at lycee, about a HS freshman) cheated like mad, so they did fairly well. Except the ones whose answers were so wild that they ended up with 4/20! HAHA! At least I got to laugh a little bit. Still, it's disheartening. I thought I wrote a fairly easy test--the students were only required to memorize the information. Maybe it was too overwhelming for kids who don't have TVs, much less computers (I got a lot of answers about cell phones and remote controls).
After a particularly terrible day at school this Tuesday, I got a surprise. A friend came over to braid my hair and gave me a kaba. After 3 days without electricty and 1 day without water, the return of both and my runaway kitten, a group of women gabbing and doing hair was just what I needed. I'll post pictures on Snapfish. Although all the Cameroonians like my hair I'm not very comfortable with it yet.
And tonight I discovered a great thing--the kitten is an incredible roach-killing machine. It caught and devoured a huge roach in about 30 seconds. I'm so impressed. All that remained were the wings. Bon appetit!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Update
I am in Yaounde, enjoying the benefits of running water and electricity (both of wish have been spotty in the last 2 weeks at post).
I left my real blog update on my laptop, so I'll post a real entry in a day or two. So excited, I want pizza!
I left my real blog update on my laptop, so I'll post a real entry in a day or two. So excited, I want pizza!
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