Another Day In Paradise
November 19, 2005
Saturday at last! We only have two weeks left and I am starting to feel the short timer’s disease hitting me. There has been a lot of activity on the mine this week. There have been visiting dignitaries, students leaving, and of course more ESL teaching at the local schools.
There was a workshop this week involving people from all over the world. There were Malian officials, French officials, American officials, and NGO’s like Doctors Without Borders. They were here to discuss the shutting down of the mine and the aftermath of that. There were busses and army guys and more activity then we are used to out here. It was a bummer because we avoided the club all week and volleyball was cancelled.
I had two of my three second graders take off this week as well. My fourth graders spent most of the week with Carrie for testing and I had several students sick. There were at least two days when it was just me and one student in the room. One day, Jules and I did a field trip to the store (it’s right across the street from the school). We made a shopping list and tried to purchase all our items for less then 5,000 cfa (~$10). We both had a good time and Jules got bragging rights on taking a field trip.
We learned the metric system this week. I just gotta say, that system rocks! Did you know that 1,000 ml of water weighs 1,000 g? How cool is that? There is actually logic to it. How long have I spent trying to learn cups and pints and quarts and ohmygod!
I had a Malian student walk past the school this week. He yelled, “Hello Mr Mark, how are you?” It was great! Amy was sick on Thursday so Carrie and I filled in for her. It was awesome. We work pretty well together. We were spontaneous and enthusiastic and we had a really good time. One of the students stopped me on the way out and asked me for a book. I immediately said yes, but I am not sure yet where I will get a book for him. I’ll come up with something. On Friday I worked with Nicole. She is the parent of one of my students. She volunteers her time one day a week for HEY. We worked pretty well together as well.
Last week we met Mohammed’s brother, Abdul. He is a very nice guy. He was staying at the hotel in Sadiola. We invited Mohammed to have him stay here in the guest house. He is very fluent in English and extremely nice. He has asked me to help him find a sponsor in the US. Everyone seems to believe that all they have to do is get to the states and they will be successful. We have been very cordial to him, even inviting them over for dinner one night. We were extremely surprised, however, when we came home from work one day and found him sprawled on the couch, watching TV. It was very odd.
The good news is that I have been allowed to access the blogging site. I can now post my own entries again! I think that is very cool as my sister is busy and has other things to do. It only took four emails and a detailed explanation of why I needed access.
Saturday at last! We only have two weeks left and I am starting to feel the short timer’s disease hitting me. There has been a lot of activity on the mine this week. There have been visiting dignitaries, students leaving, and of course more ESL teaching at the local schools.
There was a workshop this week involving people from all over the world. There were Malian officials, French officials, American officials, and NGO’s like Doctors Without Borders. They were here to discuss the shutting down of the mine and the aftermath of that. There were busses and army guys and more activity then we are used to out here. It was a bummer because we avoided the club all week and volleyball was cancelled.
I had two of my three second graders take off this week as well. My fourth graders spent most of the week with Carrie for testing and I had several students sick. There were at least two days when it was just me and one student in the room. One day, Jules and I did a field trip to the store (it’s right across the street from the school). We made a shopping list and tried to purchase all our items for less then 5,000 cfa (~$10). We both had a good time and Jules got bragging rights on taking a field trip.
We learned the metric system this week. I just gotta say, that system rocks! Did you know that 1,000 ml of water weighs 1,000 g? How cool is that? There is actually logic to it. How long have I spent trying to learn cups and pints and quarts and ohmygod!
I had a Malian student walk past the school this week. He yelled, “Hello Mr Mark, how are you?” It was great! Amy was sick on Thursday so Carrie and I filled in for her. It was awesome. We work pretty well together. We were spontaneous and enthusiastic and we had a really good time. One of the students stopped me on the way out and asked me for a book. I immediately said yes, but I am not sure yet where I will get a book for him. I’ll come up with something. On Friday I worked with Nicole. She is the parent of one of my students. She volunteers her time one day a week for HEY. We worked pretty well together as well.
Last week we met Mohammed’s brother, Abdul. He is a very nice guy. He was staying at the hotel in Sadiola. We invited Mohammed to have him stay here in the guest house. He is very fluent in English and extremely nice. He has asked me to help him find a sponsor in the US. Everyone seems to believe that all they have to do is get to the states and they will be successful. We have been very cordial to him, even inviting them over for dinner one night. We were extremely surprised, however, when we came home from work one day and found him sprawled on the couch, watching TV. It was very odd.
The good news is that I have been allowed to access the blogging site. I can now post my own entries again! I think that is very cool as my sister is busy and has other things to do. It only took four emails and a detailed explanation of why I needed access.
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 8:38 AM
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