Finals are next week?

Perhaps I should retract my last post. I saw my breath on the way to school this morning a couple times. So it got down to whatever that temperature is. Maybe in the 50’s. It’s definitely still plenty warm during the day. Anyways, I found out today that the final exams are next week. I’m not sure if any of the other teachers knew that either until this week. My classes have also grown out of control anticipating the approaching break. My grade 11 students are extremely hard to control sometimes. After all, this is the first year they have ever been able to use computers, so it’s like a new toy each time they come in. I really don’t like yelling and punishing them when they get out of control because sometimes that fuels the fire, so the other day I just quit teaching and started putting grades in the computer instead and told them if they didn’t want to learn that was fine; then I don’t have to teach, but “we’ll see how well you do on the exam next week.” I told them I only wanted to teach students that wanted to learn. Luckily, they took the bait and begged that I return to teach.

Unfortunately, there’s no music education in The Gambia, or in most African countries. Since I believe music is one the best forms of expression and communication, I’ve started a music club at the school and we’re going to be putting on a concert when we come back from break. The students will be playing/singing 3 traditional songs (one Fula, one Mandinka, and one Wolof), 4 original songs written by the students, 3 modern songs, and a couple different dances. I’m going to do a traditional/instrumental song with a student kora (West African guitar) player also hopefully. I didn’t anticipate that many students would join, but over 70 students have joined so far. I think some of the teachers are questioning my intentions with it. I think a couple teachers are afraid it’s going to turn into a reggae or hip-hop club and that it will flop. Just more motivation to prove them wrong! So I right now I feel like I’m somewhere in between Dangerous Minds and Sister Act Part 2. I’m totally out of my element, and I’m trying to teach/organize music with nay-sayers doubting me.

I’ve also helped the students and teachers make a blog that they can post on. I got the idea from a blog I saw from a Guyana PCV. Please take time to look at their blog every now and then. Keep in mind that English is some of these students’ 3^rd or 4^th language even though English is the “official” language here. They want the world to hear them very much:

http://gambiangab.blogspot.com

The students here are very open with their thoughts, emotions, and feelings and are always writing songs and poems, and every other Saturday they have a drama competition; almost every student comes. I was a judge for one last week. They are extremely creative with the resources they have to work with. A girl fainted right at the beginning of the competition and caused a big commotion. One teacher asked in a joking tone “Was that the first skit?” Girls faint a lot here and the villagers claim it’s because of bad spirits. Sometimes there are outbreaks when girls just start fainting often. Most non-Gambian teachers here think it’s for attention. Who knows?

Initially, I wasn’t too big a fan of the 3-month Peace Corps training we went through with the seemingly endless number of sessions. It recently struck me how much I’ve learned through those, and how much of an advantage it gives me in trying to integrate here. Ughh disgusting, I can’t believe I just said that. That sounds like something they would pay me to say. Another volunteer and I showed some Spanish field nurses around and took them into a couple of the villages, to a naming ceremony, and on a hike. They are here for a month, and their month expires on Friday. I think I learned more in one day of sessions, or definitely in one day of living in a training village than they learned the entire month they were here in regards to the culture and people. They were oblivious and clueless most of the time they were here because of lack of preparation. But some of that probably had to do with their lack of ability to speak much English in a pseudo-English country.

Here’s a picture of us coming back from a hike in the bush to look for bush pigs and monkeys. We didn’t find any because we left too late and it got too hot, or so they say. Supposedly the morning is the best time. We found some shotgun shells and a self-made camouflage hunting fort near a watering hole. Lots of hunters go for the bush pigs, which is very tasty. We stopped here for a break to roast some peanuts that were just picked. They set twigs under the crop, and light it on fire, then smother the flames out and let the shells roast in the smolder in the sand.

Here’s a couple pictures of the river I took tonight a few minutes from where I live:

Updated Photo Album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/