14 February 2010
Happy Valentine’s Day! While most of you back home are freezing after all the snow that hit much of the U.S., things over here in Burkina are getting close to boiling. It’s 98oF in my house, and that’s in the shade at 5pm. I can’t help but ask myself why I chose to come to Africa where it’s 100 degrees in February during a year that 49 out of the 50 states got snow (I’ll let you guess which one didn’t get snow). I know that I probably shouldn’t be talking about the heat yet, because I know it’s going to get hotter (“Just wait til April” say the Burkinabe). But for now my sweat glands are having to work again and I find myself drinking more water. My Papa told me today during our weekly phone call that I should try and think about the 2 feet of snow that is covering the East Coast, but that just makes me jealous. I don’t think I’ve seen that much snow at one time since 9th grade and of course Mother Nature waits until I leave for Africa to dump a bunch of snow on my old stomping grounds. It’s even snowing in Alabama!
Speaking of Alabama, my family told me today of the several shootings that have occurred recently in Huntsville. It’s very sad and scary to hear about children shooting their classmates and colleagues shooting their peers. However, hearing about the shootings makes me think about how unlikely something like that is to happen here in Tougouri. Yes, I am in Africa, which can be a dangerous place, don’t get me wrong, and yes the police do carry machine guns, and bandits do stop cars with gunshots, but as a whole, I feel very safe here in my village in Burkina. I know things can change very fast and I do my best to be safe, but since I am the token “nasara” in town, everyone seems to protect me. A story relating to that: last week I ripped off hald my big toenail while biking (don’t ask how, only I seem to be able to do something like that). It happened right before I stopped to buy porridge for breakfast the next morning. Everyone there of course asked if I was ok, needed to wash, etc. I said I was fine and would clean up at home. Before I went home, though, I decided to go buy salad for dinner, about a kilometer away. By the time I arrived at my salad man, word had already gotten there that I had injured myself. My salad man, Madi, already had water for me to wash with, which was helpful as a lot of my foot was covered with blood by that point. So moral of the story, people here do watch out for me and try to keep me safe…and I’m also not sure I could even have a secret here!
The highlight of my past week was probably making (and eating) my mom’s bruschetta made with fresh tomatoes and basil yummm. The highlight of my student’s week was probably me doing the “Hokey Pokey” for them. Every so often my students will ask me to sing an American song for them. A few weeks ago I taught them “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.” A few days after that I saw one of my students doing it outside class with a crowd of students around him- that put a smile on my face. Wednesday my 4eme class asked for a song and since we’d finished the lesson early, I oblided, but the only song I could think of was the “Hokey Pokey.” So being the fearless (and maybe crazy) teacher I am, I did it and got a standing ovation when I “put my whole body in and shook it all about.” I could still hear the cheers as I walked away from school.
Something I was very surprised to learn came out while I was tutoring one of my 6eme (equivalent of 7th grade) students. We are currently learning the skeleton, so first I had her name the different parts of the body. By the time we got to the bottom half of the body, it was clear that she did not know the names of the parts of her own body! I wonder how many of my students don’t know the names of their own body parts in French. It’s just astounding to me that kids can get to 7th grade and not know the names for the parts of the body. But this is where I come in and get to teach them…with fun games like the “Hokey Pokey!”
