Saturday, July 30, 2011

I Like Africa

Having your tin roof hammered by rain isn't a bad way to wake up. I guess it wasn't this bad an hour ago when I opened my eyes, but it's swelled to a downpour that's testing the capacity of the newly dug ditches lining the streets of Makeni. It'll never get old watching the race to get buckets under spouts of rainwater funneling out of the broken roof gutters. I talked to a resource volunteer from the SL-1 group, and she actually listed 'catching rain water' as a daily activity. I'm sure X-Box Kinnect will develop it into a game and I'll be able to dazzle whoever happens to be in the Best Buy lobby watching me play the demo when I get back.

Alright, can we just talk about chalk for a second. Really though- it's just some short, fragile, powder stick. A dime would laugh at its circumference, and, after an eraser has its way with it, it's about the shortest lived thing ever. But baby, I tell ya- it packs a dynamite punch. It's got the power to set 50 brains reeling in confused pain, has the capability to put a room full of people to sleep, or, ideally, can lift concepts out of a book and seemingly magic them into the minds of curious students. Alright, maybe I've been using my spare time to read too much Harry Potter these recent few days, but I've had to find fun anywhere I can manage to during summer school this last week. Not that it hasn't been enjoyable- the kids have been good. My JSSI class valiantly rose to the occassion to learn about the differences between plant and animal cells (even if Musu still adamantly claims there's no difference between her and a mango tree). My JSSIII class, battling through several sleepy mornings, has even managed to show me on their tests that they know the definitions of 'ecology,' 'population,' 'community,' etc., and the smartest ones have every classification from Kingdom down to Species at their brain's fingertips. Really, I think I'm more nervous than they are while I'm writing the test questions up on the board, but I've been reassured that I'm actually connecting with the class after I pick up their exams.

So just one more short week teaching in summer school ahead of us then we visit Freetown for a night. The program here thought it worthy to have a portion of training devoted specifically to the country's capitol- which is appropriate considering its population alone comprises over a third of all Sierra Leoneans. I feel a shade conflicted when they're giving us safety and security briefings about the beautiful Freetown beaches though- do I wear a speedo or a bullet proof vest? It'll be hard to get a sexy beast image on the beach if I'm wearing around a flack jacket... I thought the bug bites, skin rashes, boils, and ragged face 'beard' were already significant enough hinderances. I think I'll split the difference and wear swim shorts and a smile (You can get away with so much if you're armed with a smile here). So after the visit to the capitol, we've got just one week till swearing in. I'll admit that a change from the training class schedule will be welcome. I hope I enjoy the change of scenery to a more serene Mambolo as much as I've been imagining I will.

Alright, well the rain has stopped now. The eves are just dripping and the temperature has started to climb back up. I could keep myself locked inside reading all day, but I gave Ibrahim a toy car last night and he keeps driving it around on the veranda backwards... I feel that if he gets behind the wheel of a car, I'll be responsible for his confusion if i don't go set him right.

Make sure everyone around you is doing well, and while you're at it, make sure you're taking care of yourselves too.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Mambolo

Do I call this guy Phillip? Mr. Turray? Principal Turray? Phill? I suppose if I'm going to be working for him for the next several years I should start big... Looks friendly enough. I'm sure he'll be forgiving regardless. "Mr. Principal Turray, my name is Jared Hooley." "Jerly O'day! Nice to meet you!" Close enough. Let the site visit begin.

I was unfortunate enough to have to experience paradise by myself this last weekend. The smells, sounds and colors of the sunsets over fields of technicolor green rice-- the palm trees scattered throughout looking like fireworks in sillhouette, the cool breeze that is constantly filtering across the salty Great Scarcies river, and the slow but contented pace of small-village life in Mambolo shot me through with a feeling of selfishness. Did I really deserve to spend the next two years living in a postcard? The fact that my school has unparalleled laboratory facilities by Sierra Leonean standards, and honestly even surpassing highschools in the United States, only aded to my glee-ridden guilt. Most of the visit consisted of my mind staggering around my (future) green village trying to reconcile any hardships I had been imagining with the reality of the Eden I've been assigned to. Transportation issues? Not a problem. A quick boat ride to the nearest volunteer should only be an hour, and Freetown an expedited four hours by ocean in the open air- rather than in a more costly, time consuming poda. School facilities? Fully equiped and seperate Chemistry, Biology, and Physics laboratories should be sufficient. School integrity? As Mr. Turray was giving me a tour of the school, a courier drove on campus to present him with an award certifying that his school had performed better than any of the multitude of other schools in the district on the WASCE exam. So you see, my village and school are just too good to keep to myself. Fortunately, the house the community is providing exclusivly for me has SEVEN BEDROOMS. (I don't know what I would've done if I didn't have a different bedroom to sleep in every night of the week.) I suppose they thought if my friends had any sense that they'd be visiting often.

I don't get to go back to Mambolo till August, which really is a shame, but Makeni has dished out only good times lately (pretending that day with a 103 fever never happened). We had a staff/trainee wide talent show today accompanied by food and pop as a celebration for completing our first week of teaching at summer school. Honestly I can say I've only been having fun while teaching these kids. They're so used to note copying and pure lecture classes that anything deviating from that absolutely melts their brain's faces off (and if there's one thing I enjoy, it's a good brain face melting). I suppose my class has all the stereotypes that would be found in an American classroom though-- the cluster of girls that would rather sit and chat than listen to whatever the definition of 'respiration' is, the troublemakers that mean well but were just given two, three, or eight times as many shares of energy as they need, and the 'smart' ones in class whose fingers are drained of blood after being constantly held in the air to answer my questions. I know I'm supposed to appreciate the last category most, but really it's the troublemakers that make class an enjoyable battlefield for me. After all, they're the ones that write ridiculous things on their first exams I collected this morning, like- "May God Bless Mr. Hooley. May God make him president and very healthy." or "GOOD LUCK TO MR. BANGURA. HE IS VERY SMART AFTER ALL." And honestly, after glancing at a few of the answers on young mr. Bangura's test.....
Question: Name the first step of the Scientific Process.
Answer: Liquid, Solid, Gas
Question: Name two of the eight characteristics that all living things share in common.
Answer: 1. Goat. 2. Cow.
He's going to need some luck. Anyway, teaching is a blast.

In an unrelated note, I attempted to turn myself back into a respectable homo sapien today. I bought q-tips. It was the closest I've ever come to doing surgery on myself. I let out a tittering giggle when I pictured a midevil battering ram trying to break through the castle walls made of wax in my ear. Without going into too much detail about texture, amount, or color properties, I'll just say I could've made a new candle to light the Salone nights with. My hearing is in HD now.

Take care of each other, and take care of yourselves!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The 4th Abroad

Today, I turned Africa into America 2.0... in my mind. To be frank, the 4th of July is, past all others, my favorite holiday. And given I wasn't actually IN my country to celebrate its birthday, I think I still did well honoring it. Salone celebrated their nation's 50th anniversary just this last April, so it was exceedingly easy to get people excited about my own independence day. Instead of langauage classes and cross-cultural lessons, we put ourselves to work for hours and hours eating hotdogs (I was forgetting they existed), watching traditional Sierra Leonean dances, and to finish off the day, we played a game of football against the staff here.
Let me rephrase that- us PCT's played a game against our African training staff on one of the fields that FIFA installed in Sierra Leone in front of 450 natives that turned out spontaneously to watch our game. The final score? Unbelieveably, it was USA- 5, Salone-3. Earlier in the day one of our fastest, fittest looking trainers came up to me and said, "Jayreed! I think... in the game today... you will lose." Victory was sweet. I was happy to punch one of the goals in, but happier still to get the kids chanting YOO-ESS-AYE before the game. This country is too much fun. Overall, one of the best, strangest holidays I could imagine.
Completely unrelated- I've observed something. Some (most) of the citizens of Sierra Leone look like The David. Genetics? Lack of calories? A hidden gym in Makeni that is mandatory to spend sixty hours a week in? I remember thinking the other day that my science students will learn the muscular system easily... my teaching aid will be a mirror for them instead of a textbook. A trip to the carpenter the other day solved the 'mystery' for me though. Some of these people just work extremely hard all the live long day. And at the end of that day, they're lean and mean (looking).
Through the help of some sign language a friend in Oklahoma City taught me, I introduced myself to Dennis, a deaf and dumb carpenter that works on Teko road that junctions with Upper Bannana. He let me know I could watch, but after five minutes I was using a tool- something that started with a 'k'- to plow grooves in the lenght of a stack of roughcut boards. Or at least I was trying to in short bursts. He slapped his arms and pointed at me, intimating I am, like this old woman told me last week, Jumbo Size. After a deluge of sweat and much needed micro-coaching, I looked, like a proud parent, at a board with a half inch groove cut down its six-ish foot length. My bliss was rudely josteld when I saw the stack of boards lying in wait behind me. After a few blisters and a few more boards, I politely made my exit. I wasn't gone for long though. 15 minutes later I went back to give Dennis a Guinness I bought down the road. It was supposed to be a thank you for teaching me, but really anyone that works that hard on a Sunday afternoon could use a drink.
I hope all of you had a safe and fun holiday. I had one of these vivid dreams that our malaria medication gives us last night, and I dreampt I had quit the peace corps and was in America again. Don't take this the wrong way, but I felt so depressed. It was the happiest I've been to be sleeping in a sweat-soaked bed when I woke up and was still in Makeni. It'll be so great returning home in a few years, but I'm loving the work I'm about to start doing here. Wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. Take care and be safe.