Thursday, March 20, 2008
Happy Anniversary of We Got Married Date
Just wanted to say, this is our official "marriage date" and yeah for us. 2 years... (plus the other 6 before hand being official on paper)
And it all disappears... almost
Well, yesterday, when I set out to the the rant and rave on the blog, I set out with the intention of mentioning one thing at then end, but of course, forgot it, once I got started on the downhill slope.
After all the venting, I meant to write that all of the below situations will happen on your way home, and you will turn in to your street, and run into a family member, and boom! All of those annoying things will somewhat dissapate for the time being, because they knnnooowww your name is not "toubab" and they can ask you where your going, what you did, with genuine interest. You can have a genuine exchange. After these "breath of fresh air encounters", you sometimes walk a few steps and immediately get toubabed again, but hey, it gives you a little breather.
Another thing that the family redeems is if I'm sitting out on the street with my host mom, and someone tries to be like, " hey, who is this toubab here?" in Mandinka, she will tell them what's up, she'll say things like, she's not a toubab her name is Borry, and why don't you ask her? Which is great. :)
After all the venting, I meant to write that all of the below situations will happen on your way home, and you will turn in to your street, and run into a family member, and boom! All of those annoying things will somewhat dissapate for the time being, because they knnnooowww your name is not "toubab" and they can ask you where your going, what you did, with genuine interest. You can have a genuine exchange. After these "breath of fresh air encounters", you sometimes walk a few steps and immediately get toubabed again, but hey, it gives you a little breather.
Another thing that the family redeems is if I'm sitting out on the street with my host mom, and someone tries to be like, " hey, who is this toubab here?" in Mandinka, she will tell them what's up, she'll say things like, she's not a toubab her name is Borry, and why don't you ask her? Which is great. :)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Complaint of the day
Well, yesterday, was one of those days here in the Gambia, where I often felt like I was going to strangle someone, or yell English expletives at them even though they wouldn't understand what they meant [though they hear them from our proud exports of rap music and r rated movies] Let's be honest here, many volunteers have days like this, where people here in this other culture do things to seriously offend your American cultural attitude. Even though you are here in their country, you can't help but feel like they are purposefully offending you. Like hiss at you every time you walk by, make kissing noises, yell, "Hey, hey, hey!", over and over again across the street, even when you ignore them, say, "Hey boss lady, boss lady hey!" say things they probably don't even know what they mean like, "I like your structure lady!", and all of the ones listed so far are generally from men in the 18-28 age range, but then you have to add on to that the majority of the population of 2-18 years olds that seriously populate the country, yelling over and over again, "toubab" toubab!", "Give me minty, spare me pen, give me money" like they expect you to answer .. honestly, on these days, I always think, um,... if this is a word in your language, and I am a "foreigner or tourist", why the heck do you think I would know what that means? This is also a reason why, if I ever see a tourist personally handing out giant gifts of minties to the local children, I will have a coniption, tackle them to the ground, of which I'm sure would be in super slow motion, Lydia, flying threw the air, "NOOOoooooo" landing on top of specified tourist which I'm sure would be clad in cut off jean shorts, and no shirt with hair chest blazing for all the ladies to see. And maybe instead of yelling out "foreigner!" to get said persons attention you could say the traditional greeting of someone you don't know, like "hello" [they do know this word], or, salamallekum.
As I'm walking around ignoring these happenings on the outside, on the inside I'm thinking about all these thoughts and on these days, I walk around, with what I call a "quiet annoyance". I just keep walking, and am calmly annoyed, because what else can you do?
I know some of this probably doesn't even make sense to most of the people that are reading this, but this is my outlet, and there it is.
As I'm walking around ignoring these happenings on the outside, on the inside I'm thinking about all these thoughts and on these days, I walk around, with what I call a "quiet annoyance". I just keep walking, and am calmly annoyed, because what else can you do?
I know some of this probably doesn't even make sense to most of the people that are reading this, but this is my outlet, and there it is.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Hip Hip Hooray!
It's Saturday!
Well, I have officially finished my grades, printed them out to turn in (even though the few zeros in each class mar the finished product). Andy and I are here at the peace corps office for my end of term "celebration". (A beer and something we call pizza, but believe me it's no papa johns or dominoes, it's some lebenaese person making a good effort!--small aside--one time I got it, and was surprised they offered "sausage" and it turns out what was presented to us was pizza with hot dogs cut up on it.. not exactly gourmet... hehe One we ordered in Senegal had a big fried egg in the middle of it... strange variations, I wonder if that will be the next papa johns gimmick!?)
Some of the new pictures Andy put recently are of my observation trek the other week. Not too many, because I didn't want to get mobbed by a ton of school kids. But there is one of a little girl pointing with a pointer to a blackboard set on the ground. This was just a sad/funny situation, because there were about forty little tiny kids (about 5/6 years old) crammed in this little low ceiling concrete building, and they were chanting what the little girl was pointing at after her,.. with no teacher around.... and I just thought.... ya know, she is doing just as good, or better of a job as any grown up teacher with training does here a lot of the times.... point to crap on a board and having the kids chant in a sing song manner. At the same school, I went around to look at this library, (noticed it, because it was a nicely painted) thinking it looked pretty nice from the outside, and when I went in, I had that emotional pull again to cry/laugh at the same time, because there were a ton of great books, some of which were on the dusty shelves, but there were a ton of these good new books sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the library, with inches of dirt on them, like they had been there for a long time. Sometimes you just want to yell at people to stop sending money and crap, because they don't know how to take care of it, or use it here... but then again how will they learn.... but also they won't respect it as much unless they've earned it! sorry, these are an example of the back and forth thoughts that go through my mind all the time here.
Another thing that I noticed by visiting a lot of schools last week, was that at any given school, in the headmasters office there must be: 1. a blow up globe, or ball of some sort [not being used by children it was meant for, but for decorating the headmasters office] 2. a giant map of some either obscure or random place [heavely favored is a map of the place that has given money, like the UK, or the netherlands] 3. Random health/social posters made here in the Gambia For example, that show a picture of an older man with devils horns giving a little girl candy,.. and saying, "He is not your daddy, and what he has is not sweet!" (the message is clearly, no sugar-daddies please!).
Well, I think we are going to get a move on, Hope you are having a good Saturday.
Talk to you all soon. I hope!
Well, I have officially finished my grades, printed them out to turn in (even though the few zeros in each class mar the finished product). Andy and I are here at the peace corps office for my end of term "celebration". (A beer and something we call pizza, but believe me it's no papa johns or dominoes, it's some lebenaese person making a good effort!--small aside--one time I got it, and was surprised they offered "sausage" and it turns out what was presented to us was pizza with hot dogs cut up on it.. not exactly gourmet... hehe One we ordered in Senegal had a big fried egg in the middle of it... strange variations, I wonder if that will be the next papa johns gimmick!?)
Some of the new pictures Andy put recently are of my observation trek the other week. Not too many, because I didn't want to get mobbed by a ton of school kids. But there is one of a little girl pointing with a pointer to a blackboard set on the ground. This was just a sad/funny situation, because there were about forty little tiny kids (about 5/6 years old) crammed in this little low ceiling concrete building, and they were chanting what the little girl was pointing at after her,.. with no teacher around.... and I just thought.... ya know, she is doing just as good, or better of a job as any grown up teacher with training does here a lot of the times.... point to crap on a board and having the kids chant in a sing song manner. At the same school, I went around to look at this library, (noticed it, because it was a nicely painted) thinking it looked pretty nice from the outside, and when I went in, I had that emotional pull again to cry/laugh at the same time, because there were a ton of great books, some of which were on the dusty shelves, but there were a ton of these good new books sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the library, with inches of dirt on them, like they had been there for a long time. Sometimes you just want to yell at people to stop sending money and crap, because they don't know how to take care of it, or use it here... but then again how will they learn.... but also they won't respect it as much unless they've earned it! sorry, these are an example of the back and forth thoughts that go through my mind all the time here.
Another thing that I noticed by visiting a lot of schools last week, was that at any given school, in the headmasters office there must be: 1. a blow up globe, or ball of some sort [not being used by children it was meant for, but for decorating the headmasters office] 2. a giant map of some either obscure or random place [heavely favored is a map of the place that has given money, like the UK, or the netherlands] 3. Random health/social posters made here in the Gambia For example, that show a picture of an older man with devils horns giving a little girl candy,.. and saying, "He is not your daddy, and what he has is not sweet!" (the message is clearly, no sugar-daddies please!).
Well, I think we are going to get a move on, Hope you are having a good Saturday.
Talk to you all soon. I hope!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Wheew!
Well, on this past Friday evening I came back to the happy chant of our compound little ones saying, "Borry nata, Borry nata, Borry nata..." (translated means "Borry came", like, I came back) I was sooo happy to be back home!
short rundown of the observation trek...
Sunday, they told me between like...9 am and 12 they would pick me up... (big window), so we were kinda waiting around the house, and at about 12 the truck came to my compound. I ran last minute to the back to make the last pit stop for a good while.
After going around and collecting one more teacher from the college, we were off, and then I realized... oh no! We were headed out on the south bank road. Which is notoriously ridiculous for being more pot holes than actual road surface. So, it was a long hot bumpy road for about 5 hours (no air cond, sandwiched in the extended cab of a truck between two Gambian teachers). When we got to Brikamaba (a village in the central river region) we immediately went into a school compound, and sat for a little bit, while the guys prayed and drank attaya, before they led us to a place that we were staying. It was a guys house that was not there at the moment. I quickly realized the goal while on trek for the other lecturers was to find any means of not spending the per diem you get from the college to go on trek and pay for food and places to stay, so they can bring it home to their family instead) It was an ok place, it was just that the room I was staying in had absolutely no air flow, and I lay there are night trying to barely move, and at the same time move my hand fan a little bit, alllllll night long! I pretty much went the entire week without sleeping. The central river region is a lot hotter than down near the coast.
The next day we got up, and started doing our job, of observing teaching students. A lot of the times the observation was extremely painful to watch, but there were a few good ones in there too. Sometimes, it felt like the state of the schools, were so awful that I wanted to cry, but then of course you can't do that, so, you just have to laugh!
All five of the days went fairly the same, we would get breakfast from a school, or find it along the way, go bouncing off road to a remote village school, do the write ups on observations, end up back at our home base in Brikamaba in the evening, where I would usually go off by myself and find something to drink and some oranges to buy, before walking back to hang out with the people in the compound we were staying in.
I feel somewhat accomplished now that I have gone, and will go again later. Though I've been in many schools here before, it is still very insightful into the problems that the school system has here.
But after all the work, the flat tire, the bumpity, bump road, the sleeping in smoldering rooms, I made it, I can do it again!
Well, That's enough of that for now,
Thanks to all that commented on the new hair do... hehe, We plan to periodically (maybe monthly) take pictures to document the strange growth patterns I will surely encounter, and struggle with. I feel like I will need a lot of hair wraps, maybe I need to start wearing mascara to draw more attention to my eyes, though I don't' know where I would get that, hehe. I need to make more of an effort to be feminine somehow...must find more cheap earrings, because (like my track record has shown, ) I have successfully lost, or broken all the earrings I brought with me! ... But, Like I said, when else was I ever going to get a chance to have this haircut and start from scratch!?, and this way, by the time I get back, I will have a good length to get a nicely styled short haircut from a salon.
Work has been very busy, I don't really feel like lately I have the free time during the week especially, to sit and relax and read like I used to, because I'm always thinking of new things to do, and more things to do. This week at the college, I am giving the final exam, and then will have the daunting task of compiling lots and lots of grades. But afterwards, I like to treat myself to something in the city, so I will do that after I finish my grades, (ways to self-motivate!) At the nursery school we had a successful training on lesson planning preschool style the Friday before I went on trek, and they seemed pleased with it. We will have to plan another one soon.
Well, with no shortage of work, I may be in the position of co-writing the education sector's newsletter soon, so we'll see if that turns out!
Thanks for all the support from all you guys back home,
Later,
Lydia
short rundown of the observation trek...
Sunday, they told me between like...9 am and 12 they would pick me up... (big window), so we were kinda waiting around the house, and at about 12 the truck came to my compound. I ran last minute to the back to make the last pit stop for a good while.
After going around and collecting one more teacher from the college, we were off, and then I realized... oh no! We were headed out on the south bank road. Which is notoriously ridiculous for being more pot holes than actual road surface. So, it was a long hot bumpy road for about 5 hours (no air cond, sandwiched in the extended cab of a truck between two Gambian teachers). When we got to Brikamaba (a village in the central river region) we immediately went into a school compound, and sat for a little bit, while the guys prayed and drank attaya, before they led us to a place that we were staying. It was a guys house that was not there at the moment. I quickly realized the goal while on trek for the other lecturers was to find any means of not spending the per diem you get from the college to go on trek and pay for food and places to stay, so they can bring it home to their family instead) It was an ok place, it was just that the room I was staying in had absolutely no air flow, and I lay there are night trying to barely move, and at the same time move my hand fan a little bit, alllllll night long! I pretty much went the entire week without sleeping. The central river region is a lot hotter than down near the coast.
The next day we got up, and started doing our job, of observing teaching students. A lot of the times the observation was extremely painful to watch, but there were a few good ones in there too. Sometimes, it felt like the state of the schools, were so awful that I wanted to cry, but then of course you can't do that, so, you just have to laugh!
All five of the days went fairly the same, we would get breakfast from a school, or find it along the way, go bouncing off road to a remote village school, do the write ups on observations, end up back at our home base in Brikamaba in the evening, where I would usually go off by myself and find something to drink and some oranges to buy, before walking back to hang out with the people in the compound we were staying in.
I feel somewhat accomplished now that I have gone, and will go again later. Though I've been in many schools here before, it is still very insightful into the problems that the school system has here.
But after all the work, the flat tire, the bumpity, bump road, the sleeping in smoldering rooms, I made it, I can do it again!
Well, That's enough of that for now,
Thanks to all that commented on the new hair do... hehe, We plan to periodically (maybe monthly) take pictures to document the strange growth patterns I will surely encounter, and struggle with. I feel like I will need a lot of hair wraps, maybe I need to start wearing mascara to draw more attention to my eyes, though I don't' know where I would get that, hehe. I need to make more of an effort to be feminine somehow...must find more cheap earrings, because (like my track record has shown, ) I have successfully lost, or broken all the earrings I brought with me! ... But, Like I said, when else was I ever going to get a chance to have this haircut and start from scratch!?, and this way, by the time I get back, I will have a good length to get a nicely styled short haircut from a salon.
Work has been very busy, I don't really feel like lately I have the free time during the week especially, to sit and relax and read like I used to, because I'm always thinking of new things to do, and more things to do. This week at the college, I am giving the final exam, and then will have the daunting task of compiling lots and lots of grades. But afterwards, I like to treat myself to something in the city, so I will do that after I finish my grades, (ways to self-motivate!) At the nursery school we had a successful training on lesson planning preschool style the Friday before I went on trek, and they seemed pleased with it. We will have to plan another one soon.
Well, with no shortage of work, I may be in the position of co-writing the education sector's newsletter soon, so we'll see if that turns out!
Thanks for all the support from all you guys back home,
Later,
Lydia
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