Happy New Years!!!

After returning home from the camping trip, myself and the other volunteers decided to go on another day trip to a waterfall closer to the regional capital.  We got a taxi which had 4 seats and we filled it with an 5 persons including the driver.  We headed to the waterfall where we were stopped by the military personnel whom were guarding the dam.  We didn’t know it at the time, but the Chinese had come in previously and built a hydroelectric dam next to the waterfall, which supplies the regional capital and a few other bigger cities with electricity.  We were told we had to pay 10,000 francs each person, so we asked to see the ticket book were the price was written which was only 5,000 for all the other tickets.  We were quite annoyed.  We told him we were volunteers, teachers for various subjects, and he told us he didn’t care and that he had not heard or seen the affects of us here in the country.  That made me even more made so we finally ended up paying the 10,000 francs for each person in the car, our taxi driver even offered to pay it for us, and explained that he was uneducated and didn’t understand.  So once again, for every negative experience you see the positive side of things. 

Waterfall

We finally made it to the entrance of the waterfall and meet some of the Chinese engineers who were back working to fix the dam, they said the water had been stopped and that the waterfall was dry.  That sent me even more over the edge because the guards had not said anything about it.  But we continued on anyway and heard some running water, then stumbled upon this beautiful waterfall.  We were able to walk right to the edge of the waterfall and take pictures.  It was beautiful even with the dam closing off a bunch of the water.

Us sitting on the edge of the waterfall

Looking down from the top of the waterfall

We continued on and saw the plant were the water was actually running through the generators and transferred into electricity, entered the control room, got to see which cities the plant supplied electricity for.  It was really interesting to see such a developed system and structure and compare this to what is available in my village.  We then walked up to the dam which had a large bridge, and 4 different stair cases leading to the water.  We were able to walk right onto the bridge, down to the bottom of the dam, and up on top of the dam too.  It’s feels so wrong to walk into all these areas; the control room, the bridge, out to the edge of the waterfall, because in the States normally all of these areas would be blocked off or someone would be guarding each area.

The hydroelectric plant

The Dam

Then on the way home, we stopped and had tea with the Chinese men, who could not speak, French, English, or Pular, therefore we were communicating via hand movements and pointing to the maps to show where we were from.  Tomorrow I will be heading to the missionaries with Matt, the other volunteer, to celebrate the New Years, therefore I will chat with you all next month.  Happy New Years!!!

At the bottom of the Waterfall

At the top of the Dam

At the top of the waterfall.

Le Noel (Christmas)

Our ride into the regional capital went well this time, surprisingly.  We, the other volunteer and I, finally had determined the best route, but I started off and could not understand why I was so tired, and why the students on their way to school were passing me.  We finally stopped at Matt’s village and I checked that my tired was flat.  So we tried checking for a leak and could not find anything.  We pumped my tired back up, then 5 minutes later it was flat again.  So on my bike in, we had to stop every so many miles to pump my tired up, then had to walk our bikes up the last 5 k where there are 5 hills.  At the top of the hill, I am sweating like a pig, sweat dripping down my face, and I am an reddish brown color everywhere from the dust blown up when car or motorcycles were passing us, and there were 3 military men checking identity cards.  One of the guards told me I should not continue into the city that I should wait till his shift ended and go to his village with him.  Then he asked Matt if he was okay with this, because he thought Matt was my husband.  Thankfully Matt said he was not and we were able to continue into the city and get to the Peace Corps house.  I took the longest shower with cold water, but it felt so good to get my hair completely rinsed, and wash and scrub all the dirt off of me.  I think you all got snow, hope it was a white Christmas!

I enjoyed a wonderful christmas eve dinner with the other volunteers in my region of the country, watched the new Harry Potter movie someone's parents had sent to them for christmas and then took off to another volunteers village to do some hiking and camping.  We started off with a local hike in his village and realized half way up the boys who offered to take us did not have a trail they were following, which led to them creating a new trail, via machetes and knifes.  We finally made it to the top and the view was amazing!  Beautiful to look around and a lot of laughs on the way up and back down, sliding, falling, tripping, etc. Then we did a big camp out at his compound where his host family was excited to meet us and feed us a delicious meal.  

At the top of the mountain!

The next morning we woke up early packed our bags for our camping trip, found a taxi driver to take us to the different sites we wanted to go to.  We took off, 10 of us packed into this car, our baggage on top, and the poor car barely making it on some of the crazy roads.  We arrived at our first site which had these amazing rock formations; you could try to see how high you could get to look out.  We then piled back into the car for our next destination.  

A beautiful multi-level waterfall which we all jumped in and swam in.  It was not warm water either, but felt nice and refreshing to submerge my whole body in water.  We hung out there for a while, enjoying the sun shine, the refreshing water and climbing around to places we were able to walk.  

First waterfall where we swam

Rock Formations

Then finally we made our way to the final destination.  We parked the taxi and grabbed our bags and began to hike down the path.  We arrived at the viewing spot and it was incredible.  Breath taking!  Afterwards we ate lunch down on the rocks above the waterfall, walked across a suspension bridge which looked to say the least, a little sketchy.  It brought us up above the waterfall but over the running stream.

At sunset a friend and I walked down and were able to walk to the edge of the waterfall and look down over large decent.  It was quite frightening but amazing to be able to get so close.  Then later that night we made a camp fire, set up the tent and slept on the rocks beside the waterfall.  I know you wont believe me but, it was freezing.  The girls slept in the tent, boys outside, and I have never snuggled so close in my life.  IT WAS FREEZING!  We were so close but slept with out the top of the tent and were able to fall asleep under a star lit sky.  

Crossed this bridge very carefully!

Some other tourists and our friend from the village.  If you look
at the large waterfall, we are standing at the top of the two
levels of the waterfall!  AMAZING!!!!

Next morning we got of, had to jump around to try and warm up, started a fire and heading for home.  View the photos below.

Some funny stories:

I gave a test the last week and I added an additional question, “Que voulez-vous devinir après les etudes?”  First of all the students raised their hands and asked I don’t understand, do you mean after school today or next year?  I said no, what do you want to be when you grow up.  They were so cute, said oh okay, and wrote down their answers.  I forgot to bring the responses with me, but many said, military, doctors, and mathematicians.  But three of the answers I truly enjoyed!  The first one I loved was, the president of the country because I would like to change they lives of the people struggling in the country and make a better life for all.  The second one I really liked was “A teacher because they are the future of the country and my life”; the third “I would like to work in agro-forestry to help my family, village, and country from starvation.”  Some were just so thoughtful and so selfless I was astonished and proud of them.

I was teaching an English class, teaching the days of the week and asked a student to translate in English, “Hier c’est Dimanche” and a girl went up to the board and wrote, “Yesterday, was Sunday Fun-day” I forgot I had explained Sunday as the saying Sunday Fun-day for football Sundays and because there is no schools for students on Sunday.  I just died laughing because she was so innocent in writing that, trying so hard to understand the English language.  Often they ask me questions about song lyrics, and often I have to say its over their head, because the lyrics are so inappropriate and I don’t know how to explain it in a way they would understand.

Some Pictures

Waterfall 30 K from my Site

Awesome African Tree

My market on a non-market day

The School Yard

The boys at their soccer game explaining the strategy to beat their opponents

December Fun!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that it’s a white Christmas for you.  It is so strange right now for me, because since it’s a Muslim country, Christmas doesn’t exist, therefore there is not a trace of Christmas here.  No stores with Christmas decorations, no Christmas lights, etc.  Quite depressing.  Also in the morning when I wake up, its around 45 degrees then at around 1 to 2ish PM it’s about 90 degrees, so it feels like Christmas here in the morning with all the people walking around in big winter coats, scarves, mittens, and I am in my pants and a light sweater.  But I am not complaining, I would rather be a little chilly then sweating all the time. 

School has been going alright, we had a visit from the inspector of education who was checking in on the various junior highs to see if the students were coming to class and if the teachers were giving two exams per month.  I showed up to school at 8:00am ready to teach my class, as well as the other students, and found out that the director would not be arriving till later in the day and that the students needed to come back for class at 11:00am.  For the kids that live over 5 or 10 kilometers away I felt terrible that they had to make it all the way to school only to find out they would be sitting around for the rest of the day.  I returned at 11:00AM with no students to be found and the ones that did come, did not bring there notebooks to take notes.  Therefore the class was pointless.  The students finally showed up around 11:30ish and I was the only professor to start my class on time.  Then at 1:00PM I switched and started teaching my 10^th graders, who again had no notebooks and were starving because they had not had any lunch. 

At 3:00PM, the kids were getting rowdy because they were so hungry and the Principal was making them wait for the inspector to arrive.  I also had all the other teachers from the elementary school standing outside my door and windows watching me teach to the kids.  Just a little bit of pressure! and I was playing a game with the kids to try and keep their attention so I think that intrigued them as well.  The Peace corps director arrived, to check and see how school was going, living arrangement, community, etc and to bring me a small present, (a wheel of laughing cow cheese) which was so thoughtful and a gift I truly enjoy, as well as a package, which I opened latter and saw was from Mrs. McKenzie.  Had some food bars, but more importantly teaching resources, which I am so thankful for.  Thank you Patty and family!  I returned to school and the inspector had arrived, I was summoned to the classroom where the teachers were being evaluated, and asked to look at my grading notebook.  I was the last one, and they went on and on about how well organized my notebook was and stated could the other teachers mimic my work, then about how amazing the United States was, how important the English language was, etc.  I was quite embarrassed, because here I am learning to be a teacher and then all my colleges were around me, and they wouldn’t stop talking about my organization and America.  As all my friends know, I am very organized if not too organized, so I had not thought much of it.  Then the inspector made a speech and said a special thank you to me for being there and making the sacrifice to come to Africa, etc.  Again it was so nice to hear, but I would have preferred the conversation said general to all the teachers.   

That weekend I had a friend visit me at site, so I made dinner and a peanut sauce (Maffe tiga) and millet which I gave some to my neighbors as well, who politely took the dish, but in the morning when they gave it back to me explained that I needed to learn how to prepare it.  (aka, they did not like it)  I laughed and took them up on this task the following week.  The way I had prepared it, was wash the millet, then put it on the fire and cook it like rice.  It ends up turning out like cream of wheat, pretty good in my opinion.  The way you are actually suppose to cook it is; grill it in a pan, pound the millet after with the mortar and pestle, wash it, then lay it out in the sun to dry for the day on a piece of cloth, then the following day, cook it in a pan, but with a tiny bit of water, so it turns out like cous cous.  Quite different then what I had done and probably will not make that for a long time after, haha.  I also cooked pancakes with maple syrup my parents had sent in a care package for breakfast the next day and a strong cup of instant coffee.  Thank you mom and dad.

Then I asked my neighbors for their hoe, because I wanted to clear the path to my house as well as start doing some planting in my yard.  They said I could not have the hoe until I had learned how to prepare food, and do the womanly chores.  So I prepared something to eat and asked again.  They gave the hoe to me with a great deal of reluctance only finally when I said it would be for my friends who was visiting me.  They agreed finally, but said I couldn’t tell anyone in the states if I got blisters.  Then I was able to clear my path where I had people walking by, and standing at my entrance to watch me, then yelling to their friends to come and “check this out”.  Surprisingly they learned that a white girl can do yard work, haha.  I joked with them and they were impressed with my work.  After that, I decided that I needed to get some better soil, because right now it’s the dry season so the soil is of no use.  So I went out the next morning early, with my hoe and a plastic bag, and starting picking up piles of cow poop.  The whole time I was doing it, I was dying laughing inside thinking about what my life has come to.  After I took my poop baggie home and mixed in with the soil, which I took my first aid medical latex gloves and used for the mixing and planting.  Pretty good gardening gloves if you ask me!  I planted two orange trees, two grapefruit trees, and 4 avocado plants.  My neighbors keep telling me, nothing will grow and I should wait till the dry season.  I’m hoping it will all grow, if not for me the next volunteer who is at my house.  Next, I’m going to try next for a banana and papaya tree, then get some okra and bean plants going! 

Then the weekend came around and I decided to stay at my site and work in the garden.  I went to the market chatted with the ladies at the market, my students, and continued on home to cook some lunch.  Then went back to the market a little later with some friends to get my phone, and started heading home, stopped to talk to friends on the road.  Finally I looked behind me and saw a man who looked a little but off.  They call them “feus” here, in English a crazy person.  I stopped to pretend to be texting on my phone and he passed me, so I thought I was in the clear, then he turned around and started staring at me.  I decided not to go home, and I walked to my neighbor’s house, but I had to pass him, and my head went crazy with ideas of when I had been attacked in the capital.  I had to do everything in my power to stay composed and not scream.  He followed me in their yard, and they told him to leave, he told them he loved me, and finally they got a stick and made him leave.  I spent the rest of the night helping them cook and trying to keep myself calm.  Pretty nervous and uncomfortable.

Since my last chat, I had mentioned my intention was going to be to start a girls soccer team.  That did not plan out this month, but what was exciting was, the Director of Education made a competition between the larger villages.  Unfortunately it is only for boys, because as I was explained they are stronger… but the last week or so they had soccer games between the 8^th and 10^th grades, 7^th and 9^th grades, then the final between the winners, 9^th grade.  I was excited because those are my students and they truly played a great game and deserved to win.  At one of the games the “feu” found me at the game, tried to give me his trash then grabbed at my leg, I again got nervous and startled, my Director of Education told me not to be scarred and that he would do nothing, but that if he was bothering me to get a stick and he would leave me alone, but that I was safe and not to be scarred.  I felt better after that and nice to know that people cared about how I was feeling.

Also this week I taught my ninth graders a Christmas carol as well about the holiday Christmas.  I taught them the “12 days of Christmas”, they were hysterical and tried really hard to get the song right.  Check out the video below.  Lastly, I walked home from school the other day and saw this BRIGHT green thing on the ground moving.  I realized it was a BRIGHT GREEN SNAKE.  He was heading under the fence into my yard, right near my outdoor latrine.  I paused then ran to my neighbors who said not to worry; “it was like that in Africa, he was just passing through yards, and to not provoke him”.  I call tell you I will not be going anywhere near him, and thankfully I only had two more days at sight before I heading to the regional capital for Christmas and refused to use my latrine.  I taught an English lesson to these other students and told them about the snake and what color it was; they said that was the most dangerous snake, and that medicine was really hard to find here.  I thought to myself great!

Lastly, I made the trip to the next village over (19k) to stay with the missionaries for the pre Christmas celebration with another volunteer.  I had tacos, with guacamole and freshly baked soft sell tortillas and brownies for dessert.  I am so fortunate to have them so close and it is so nice to exchange conversation with them about life in Africa; the difficulties, the struggles of teaching, the positive aspects, and speak English.  Thank you so much for all you do for me!

Happy Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years, I miss you all a ton and hope you all have a wonderful time-sharing the holidays with your families!  I know I will miss mine a ton!  Love you Mom, Dad, Luke, Nicole, and Brooke!