It's Watermelon Season

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yay for good old fashioned chalkboards

Madame Rachelle came to visit with Doug

Thursday October 15, 2009

School has officially started! The first day for the administration (Proviseur=Principal, Censeur= Vice Principal, Intendant=School bursar, and Surveillant General (goes by ‘le general’=discipline) was September 15^th. The Provisuer showed up in Tougouri on the 14^th and I was basically sitting on his doorstep waiting for him, as I was desperate to get my teaching schedule to begin lesson planning. So I met Mr. Proviseur September 14^th and we had an initial meeting about classes- I requesting 20 hours of less/week and Fridays off so I can travel easily/save students from my end of the week wrath. He didn’t sound all that happy about my requests, but said he would let me know. I then asked about the rentree d’administration (initial school meeting) and Mr. Provi said it was following day at 8am, which I took to mean that I should come. So, still being used to American timing, I was at the school before 8am and nobody was there. The Provi strolls in at almost 10 (although he lives on the premises) and tells me that I don’t need to be there and can go home. Ok…at least I got some sitting done. But I did find out that the conseil d’rentree (school staff meeting) was the 28^th, at which I would get my teaching schedule. So much for lesson planning during September!

So I basically killed time until September 28^th, went to Ouaga, visited people, read A LOT. My homologue arrived the week of the 28^th so I had someone else to talk to! The 28^th rolled around and I was at school again before 8am, only to find that the meeting had been moved to the next day to give teachers more time to arrive in Tougouri. Thanks for letting me know…not that I really had anywhere to be/anything to do, but still it would have been nice, especially because I live right next door to the Censeur and he could have said a quick word to me. However, this is Burkina and I have to get used to this sort of thing.

I again show up at 8am on the 29^th for the conseil, as I was told it starts at 8, however not everyone shows up until 10 and even then many teachers are not there, despite the conseil de rentree being a compulsory meeting for all teachers. The teachers here take their vacations to the very last second. However, I was very very fortunate because my conseil only lasted about an hour, while other volunteers’ conseils spanned 2-6.5 hours! During the meeting, the head teachers, or Professor Principals, who are responsible for a given class, calculates ranks and averages, and supervises students’ progess, were chosen. I am not one of them, which I am glad of, because it is a lot of work and I frankly do not know enough yet to be one. Also, we were given out schedules and I was only given 9hours/week! I was a little shocked and worried about it being so few- I didn’t want to spend a whole year in boredom! At the meeting, everyone also discussed school rules, of which 20 minutes was spent talking about students having cell phones are a problem, but never really coming to a decision about disciplinary action to be taken if a cell phone goes off. So I guess it’s to my discretion…

So I was finally able to begin lesson planning, but was then told that there was already a change in the schedule and to come by the school the following Saturday for my new schedule. Saturday comes and I show up at 8:30, but the Censeur is in a meeting. Two other teachers show up and I asked why they were there too, and it turns out that there is a meeting for us. Good thing I came/waited around! This meeting was the conseil d’enseignment (teacher meeting, organized by subject) where we went over by class books teachers are using. I also find out that I’m still only teaching 9 hours (with Fridays off-yay!), but I’m teaching 3 levels of SVT: 6eme (flowering plants and vertebrates), 5eme (non-flowering plants and invertebrates), and 4eme (geology-rocks and formations). So that means that although I only have three classes, I still have to lesson plan for three different classes. It really wouldn’t be much more work to take on a few more classes of the same levels, or even less work to teach only two levels, but have more classes of each level. However I guess the schedule did not work out that way. I also learned at this meeting that since I have only one of several of the classes for each level, I have to do the same progression (program) and give the same tests as the other teachers. This is good and bad at the same time, good because I get to collaborate with other teachers and get help writing tests, but bad because I feel as if my classes are not mine anymore because I have to stick to someone else’s plan. I’m sure it will turn out fine though.

The first official day of school was Thursday October 1^st. I arrive early for my one class that day, introduce myself and give rules, taking all of 20 minutes as I was told to not begin teaching yet and not even all the teachers were even in Tougouri yet. Not teaching worked out well though, because due to a schedule change, I am not even teaching that class anymore. That weekend Kait, David, Mike, and Evan, my closest volunteer neighbors visited me and we went to the marche and ate really good chicken and beer for dinner. Who knew Tougouri could make such good chicken- nothing like in the U.S.-too gamey to even be sold there, but really good for here). After my visitors left I almost felt lonelier than before they came, but now I have school the next week to look forward to/plan for!

School schedules are very interesting here, as students have each class for different numbers of hours per week. For example, 6eme and 5eme students have 3hrs SVT, 5hrs math, 3hrs English, 2hrs EPS (PE- Tougouri is fortunate to have an actual gym teacher, although no gymnasium or other resources so students go running in the dirt around the soccer field), 5hrs French, and 3hrs hist/geography. In 4eme, students have an additional 4hrs of physics/chemistry. Since these hours are so odd and teachers are teaching multiple levels and subjects, scheduling is a nightmare! However, since it’s not my job, I’m not worried and just refer to my own schedule. So I have 2hour and 1hour blocks of teaching at different times on different days. I wonder if they could set up a system of rotating days (A,B,C,etc) similar to what I had in middle school, but maybe that’s just as difficult to set up. I don’t know.

I’ve been teaching for 2 full weeks and am already ahead of the program I set up with other teachers. Maybe I am just going way too fast, but students have been able to correctly answer my revision questions and if I go any slower, I would just be stalling and killing time. I’m going to observe a Burkinabe teacher tomorrow, so hopefully I will gain some insight. Despite only teaching 9hrs/week, I have been very busy with lesson planning- it takes A LOT of time! It gets frustrating translating to English, then not being happy with the translation, so changing what I actually give to students, and then translating back to French. Also, since I know students don’t always understand my accent, I have to plan out what exactly I am going to write on the blackboard-sometimes I feel as if I am writing a textbook-which I kind of am as students do not have them (or at least don’t have them yet). I was under the impression that students do get books, so I’m guessing that they have not been distributed yet. However, the students’ textbooks are not good; they are very wordy and almost 20 years old, and are even worse than the documents I use to teach out of. I do have a copy of the textbook, which I have brought to class to show pictures. The document that I teach out of (having never studied the material I’m teaching in depth) is satisfactory for the most part, but sometimes baffling in its explanations (eg. “the nucleus of a cell is a brightly colored sphere swimming in the cytoplasm”- no mention whatsoever of the nucleus being the control center for the cell). So, needless to say, I often supplement with my own examples and definitions if I can think of something. Also, the textbook and my teaching document were written in Burkina by Burkinabe teachers for Burkinabe students yet they both contain many examples and demonstrations that would never be feasible in a classroom with 100+ students and definitely no laboratory. Yet these demonstrations and experiments are part of the ‘official program’! I just don’t understand why they were ever included if they would very very rarely (except in private schools in Ouaga) be performed. It doesn’t make any sense to me and almost makes me a little angry because they are good ideas, but cannot be done here. Are the writers and publishers of these books so clueless to the conditions in the majority of Burkina schools that they didn’t think not to include these things? Burkina just makes me wonder sometimes…

I’ve also been having problems, or I wouldn’t even say problems, maybe difficulties, with being a ‘mean’ teacher. Ok, ‘mean’ is not quite the right word to use, maybe I should say ‘strict.’ Anyway, classroom management here is very different than in the U.S (then again hardly any middle school classroom in the U.S. has over 100 students crammed in a tiny room). There is absolutely no talking while the teacher is tealking and teachers mainly lecture while students take notes. I try to engage my students in class by asking questions and generally have to prod them to get a response. Also, students are not taught to think critically, so it’s a struggle to get students to think ‘outside the box’ or even in the box really. When I ask “what do you think” questions, I am met with blank stares. It’s definitely something to work on. Also, I am comfortable with more chatter than the Burkinabe teachers and I caught one teacher starring at my class through a window when the students were talking and he did not look happy, but I heard nothing about it, so I’m not worried!

Slaying the September Sorrows

I have not really been doing all that much, other than relaxing, reading, napping, and getting to know people and Tougouri. Although there are no English speakers here, I believe that my French has deteriorated a little bit in the past few weeks. Because almost none of the functionaries are here yet and most of the village people only speak local languages, I have not been able to use my French all that much. However, my Moore has definitely improved! So, I have begun doing exercises out of a French workbook to continue learning French. Also, JZ, the Burkina PC language coordinator visited me yesterday and he said I was on the right track with French, I just have to go out and talk to people.

September 15^th was the first school administrative meeting of the year. So my Proviseur (principal), Censeur (Vice Principal), Interdit (Bursar), and Surveillant (in charge of discipline) all arrived in Tougouri on the 14^th. Not quite understanding that the meeting was only for the administration and not the teachers, I showed up at 8am on the 15^th ready for a meeting, only to find out more than an hour later (after waiting for the Proviseur to arrive) that I could go home. However, I did talk to the Proviseur about my teaching schedule and it sounds like I will be teaching SVT (biology/geology) and possibly mathematics. However, nothing can be finalized until the other teachers arrive, which may not be until very close to October 1^st, which is the first day of school. So I cannot lesson plan yet, which I had planned on doing during September, but I guess I should be valuing my time off. Because I know that once school starts, I will be very busy lesson planning and working on my French. However, I am ready for school to start, or at least have a planned schedule. I am glad that I am an education volunteer with a regular schedule, because it would be very hard for me to construct my own schedule, such as volunteers in other sectors in Burkina do. I say this now, before school actually starts though, I might have a change of heart…But at the moment, I am ready for a schedule again, perhaps not the grueling schedule of stage, but something more moderate to fill my days.

Thanks to my parents, I recently received a shortwave radio in the mail for my birthday. So now I am no longer disconnected from the rest of the world. Being in village feels a little bit like my short stint at sea, when I sailed from Massachusetts to Trinidad in 6 weeks, with no form of direct communication to the outside world. (We still did hear that the Red Sox won the world series). Many things could happen and I would not know about it. Of course now that everyone has cell phones, word does spread a lot faster than it did only 5 years ago, and the Peace Corps does keep its volunteers well informed of any sort of security issue (such as flooding a few weeks ago). So I am not completely cut off. But sometimes it does feel like it. And that is when I text a friend. Oh the joys of cell phones…Now all I need is electricity and running water and I could be in America!

And now a few pictures

My "toilet"

Bedroom, with newly painted yellow walls. What you cannot see is that only 2 of the walls got painted, because I ran out of paint. Also there is a nice white strip at the top of the walls because I could not reach the top.

Cooking corner

Living/dining room

My humble abode

My courtyard, with my house on the right

Eloise and her kittens

New (Same) Address

Because I have been getting questions about my mailing address here in Burkina and whether it is going to change now that I am a volunteer, I wanted to let you know that it is the same, but with "PCV" after my name instead of "PCT."

So it is:
Emma Prasher, PCV
s/c Corps de la Paix
01 B.P. 6031
Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso
West Africa

So I will be looking forward to a bunch of letters at my new/old address! hahaha.

One Week In

I have been at site exactly one week from today. It has been different that I expected but it definitely started off well because I did not run after the PC vehicle to come get me right after it dropped me off. Affectation was pretty low-key and I was very ready to be on my own. I spent the first few days completely cleaning my house, which involved moving everything inside outside, sweeping, and mopping the house, before replacing everything to get rid of bugs and dirt. I have also bug bombed my house two times already, as I do not like insects, especially large crawling ones, inside my house. And I have already killed my fair share of cockroackes (be proud Papa, I didn’t even scream when one crawled across my foot). After getting myself situated in my house, I went out and greeted my neighbors and some of the important people in town. It was pretty awkward, as I didn’t know what to say other than hello, my name, and what I am doing here. As I am the 3rd SE volunteer in Tougouri, most people understand what I am doing here and have been expecting me, which is actually very comforting.

Now, about my house; I live in a courtyard with 6 other houses, called a celebratarium. My house, only a year old, is made of concrete (better than mud- fewer bugs) with a tin roof (I wear ear plugs when it rains because it is so loud) with 2 rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/dining room, with an outdoor latrine and shower area. My house is small, but it is all mine (which I share with my cat Eloise-more on her later) and I really do not need much space at all. Already, I have found that I spend the majority of my time outside on the porch anyway. Currently, there is only one other inhabited house in the courtyard- a new family moved in the day after I did, but they are in Ouaga at the moment. The people who live in the other houses will move in closer to October, as it is still vacation and Tougouri is not their home village.

So I must admit that it is a bit lonely at the moment. However, I have been making an effort to leave my courtyard at least once a day to go to the marche, buy bread, or go greet people. Yesterday I had lunch with the nuns in Tougs and I like them already. Still, I am awkward at chatting with people, one because of language barriers, and two because I am not good at small talk, even in English. So after saying hello to people, I usually sit there I silence, because I do not have anything to say. I am sure (or I hope) that in time I will feel more comfortable, but it takes just that, time. And time is what I seem to have a lot of at the moment. My school’s director is not here yet, so I have not set up my teaching schedule and therefore cannot lesson plan yet. Instead, I have been reading a lot and taking lots of naps. Also, because the sun sets before 7pm and I have no electricity and nothing really urgent to do, I have been going to bed around 7/730pm every night. This means that I have been waking up around 5am with the roosters and donkeys. Nevertheless, I am definitely getting my beauty sleep. It has been raining a lot, thankfully keeping the temperature down, so I have been sleeping inside more nights than not. I’m sure that will change when the rains stop and the temperature heats up again, but I am enjoying it while it lasts! However, the storms 3 days ago caused a lot of flooding in the area, and all over Burkina, washing out many roads and leaving thousands homeless. It is hard to remember that when I am enjoying my cool night’s sleep, others are watching their homes get washed away. I am definitely thankful for what I have!
Speaking of having things, I also now have 2 kittens! The pregnant cat, Eloise, who I inherited from Becca, the volunteer I replaced, is no longer pregnant and is instead the proud mother of two. The kittens are too young to play with at moment, but I am hoping they will emerge from under my bed soon (Eloise’s ‘den’). Right now I just hear lots of little “mewing” noises.

So that is about it for my first week at site. Admittedly, I did not think I would be going to the internet already, but another volunteer, Mike, suggested that we meet up in Kaya (our regional capital) for the day. So here I am! And I am glad I took him up on the suggestion, as I am going a little stir crazy in my empty courtyard. So until next time, take care!

September 4, 2009
I have been at site exactly one week from today. It has been different that I expected but it definitely started off well because I did not run after the PC vehicle to come get me right after it dropped me off. Affectation was pretty low-key and I was very ready to be on my own. I spent the first few days completely cleaning my house, which involved moving everything inside outside, sweeping, and mopping the house, before replacing everything to get rid of bugs and dirt. I have also bug bombed my house two times already, as I do not like insects, especially large crawling ones, inside my house. And I have already killed my fair share of cockroackes (be proud Papa, I didn’t even scream when one crawled across my foot). After getting myself situated in my house, I went out and greeted my neighbors and some of the important people in town. It was pretty awkward, as I didn’t know what to say other than hello, my name, and what I am doing here. As I am the 3rd SE volunteer in Tougouri, most people understand what I am doing here and have been expecting me, which is actually very comforting.
Now, about my house; I live in a courtyard with 6 other houses, called a celebratarium. My house, only a year old, is made of concrete (better than mud- fewer bugs) with a tin roof (I wear ear plugs when it rains because it is so loud) with 2 rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/dining room, with an outdoor latrine and shower area. My house is small, but it is all mine (which I share with my cat Eloise-more on her later) and I really do not need much space at all. Already, I have found that I spend the majority of my time outside on the porch anyway. Currently, there is only one other inhabited house in the courtyard- a new family moved in the day after I did, but they are in Ouaga at the moment. The people who live in the other houses will move in closer to October, as it is still vacation and Tougouri is not their home village.
So I must admit that it is a bit lonely at the moment. However, I have been making an effort to leave my courtyard at least once a day to go to the marche, buy bread, or go greet people. Yesterday I had lunch with the nuns in Tougs and I like them already. Still, I am awkward at chatting with people, one because of language barriers, and two because I am not good at small talk, even in English. So after saying hello to people, I usually sit there I silence, because I do not have anything to say. I am sure (or I hope) that in time I will feel more comfortable, but it takes just that, time. And time is what I seem to have a lot of at the moment. My school’s director is not here yet, so I have not set up my teaching schedule and therefore cannot lesson plan yet. Instead, I have been reading a lot and taking lots of naps. Also, because the sun sets before 7pm and I have no electricity and nothing really urgent to do, I have been going to bed around 7/730pm every night. This means that I have been waking up around 5am with the roosters and donkeys. Nevertheless, I am definitely getting my beauty sleep. It has been raining a lot, thankfully keeping the temperature down, so I have been sleeping inside more nights than not. I’m sure that will change when the rains stop and the temperature heats up again, but I am enjoying it while it lasts! However, the storms 3 days ago caused a lot of flooding in the area, and all over Burkina, washing out many roads and leaving thousands homeless. It is hard to remember that when I am enjoying my cool night’s sleep, others are watching their homes get washed away. I am definitely thankful for what I have!
Speaking of having things, I also now have 2 kittens! The pregnant cat, Eloise, who I inherited from Becca, the volunteer I replaced, is no longer pregnant and is instead the proud mother of two. The kittens are too young to play with at moment, but I am hoping they will emerge from under my bed soon (Eloise’s ‘den’). Right now I just hear lots of little “mewing” noises.

So that is about it for my first week at site. Admittedly, I did not think I would be going to the internet already, but another volunteer, Mike, suggested that we meet up in Kaya (our regional capital) for the day. So here I am! And I am glad I took him up on the suggestion, as I am going a little stir crazy in my empty courtyard. So until next time, take care!

Swear-In Ceremony

I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer, as of last night, August 25, 2009. I am also a year older, as of August 24, 2009 (thanks for all the birthday wishes!). The swear-in ceremony was last night at the ambassador’s residence, at which 32 of the initial 32 people who started training in June got sworn-in as official PCVs. So all of us have made it through training! The past few days in Ouaga have been glorious, mostly due to the feasting of wonderful food that has been occurring. I chose a great time to be born, because in Ouaga I have been able to eat pizza, ice cream, and hamburgers. Other than eating a lot, I have been spending my time shopping for site. Because I am a replacement site, I get life pretty easy because I will inherit many things from previous volunteers at my site, such as a stove, bed, furniture, and mattress. Because I am inheriting a basically furnished house, I do not have to buy many items for moving to site, unlike volunteers who are at new sites, who have to furnish their houses from scratch. Therefore, I have spent a majority of my move-in allowance on food for site, such as olive oil and oatmeal, purchased at one of the two grocery stores in Burkina. I also bought a thin mattress for a cot, which apparently a lot of volunteers prefer over a bed for sleeping, due to the heat. Right now, I am very glad that I am a replacement site, because things are very easy for me this week, while other volunteers have been stressing out about getting everything for site. However, once at site, I might wish I was at a new site, because I very easily might be compared to the previous volunteers for months. So we will see….

The swear-in ceremony was last night and many people got affectated to their sites this morning. It was very sad to leave the people who have become my best friends in the last few months. It is especially difficult because these people have become my family and due to living in completely different parts of the country, I may not see some of them for months. Although most people left for site this morning, I am staying in Ouaga with several other volunteers until Friday, when Peace Corps transport will take me to my site.

I must admit that now that swear-in is over, I am getting more nervous about getting to site and being all alone. I contacted my counterpart (my advisor at site who is a teacher at my school) this morning and found out that she will not be at site when I arrive on Friday. So I am a little anxious about getting to site and not knowing anybody and having to go around and greet all of the people in town by myself. However, many people (functionaries) will not be in village until at least half-way through September because it is still vacances, during which functionaries travel to their home villages or to Ouaga. So I am hoping that my counterpart arrives in Tougouri before too long. I also hope that my school director comes to site soon, because I would like to get my teaching schedule straight and begin lesson planning, which I know is going to take some time. However, I have been told not to expect my director before September 15^th which means no lesson planning for at least two weeks, therefore I am going to have TONS of free time. To keep myself busy and not go crazy while not speaking to any Americans for a whole month, I plan on giving my house a thorough cleaning and of course bug bombing my house, painting my bedroom yellow (I bought paint and paintbrushes today), reading a bunch of books (I borrowed 10 books from the transit house library today), getting back onto a running schedule, and of course getting to know my village and community I will be living in for the next two years. So I know it seems as if I will be busy for the next month, I have a feeling that there will be a lot of down time and I will be taking many naps, which I am not complaining about. Also, because I am leaving for site, I will not have internet access at site, so I am not sure when I will be updating next. In order to use the internet, I have to come into a larger city, either my regional capital or Ouaga. I do not see myself wanting to go that long without internet and contact with the rest of the world, but volunteers are discouraged from leaving site for the first three months, because those months are very important for integration. However, that being said, I do not plan on leaving site all that often, but I have a feeling I will be going stir-crazy before too long. So we will see how long it is before I need to get away. Therefore, do not be alarmed if I do not update until next month, I am fine, but am just busy integrating!

The whole group

Those of us in the Northeast of Burkina

One Week Until Swear-In!

I have only one week until swear-in! Yay! I have been doing pretty much the same thing this past week: model school in the mornings and language and cross-cultural classes in the afternoons. Today I gave my second test, which was a little silly after only having a week of classes. However, we need to learn how to calculate grades, which is difficult to do with only one test. So everyone had to administer another test this week. For the rest of the week I have a pretty light workload, as tomorrow is test corrections and Friday is a party for the last day of model school. Then we leave for Ouaga this weekend to become real volunteers!

The highlight of last week was the cooking session, where we learned about cooking Burkina style. Each person was given 1000 CFA (the equivalent of 2 US dollars) and we had to prepare a full meal. My group decided to make banana bread, creamy garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and crepes for dessert. I was full and actually satisfied after that meal for the first time in weeks!

Bovard is very happy with our creations

Trying the banana bread batter that we put in our crepes with honey

Gwen and I finally meet!

Our very large and delicious salad!

The Salle de Profs at model school, as you can see everyone is working hard aka playing cards

I am ready for stage to be done, but as the days to swear-in get closer, I get a little more scared day by day to be all alone at site, but I think I can do it! I am ready!