I started teaching at Model School last week. The whole idea behind it is that we get to practice teaching before we get to our post, so that we don't have to flounder in our real jobs. They also don't want people to have their first day be teaching a rowdy class of 100.
I'm teaching 5ieme, so the students are somewhere between 10 and 14. They seem to let some kids progress really rapidly and then others can get held back several times (One of my friends here teaches 1ere, which is about 11th grade. She has a student who is 13 and will be starting university before he turns 15).
My first day of class went pretty well. We went over classroom rules, which include (proposed by the students) no boxing, no smoking and no drinking beer. So far I have not had any problems with those rules, though I have had problems with students spinning their books, grabbing each other's butts, throwing things and hiding under desks.
My second day of class ended with me in the depths of despair. I walked out and thought, "What have I done? Why am I here? How did I commit myself to teaching for two whole years?!" When I went into the teachers' lounge and voiced all my woes, my fellow trainees said, "It can't possibly be as bad as all that! I'll come tomorrow and check things out! Sometimes my kids are bad too, but most of the time they're decently well behaved."
On the third day, the sun rose and burned through all the clouds. It was hot and dusty and still and I was sure that I was going to have an Old West-style showdown with my 46 students. I walked into class prepared with a story about Stevie, the most unhealthy person ever (He only eats beignets and chocolate. He smokes all the time. He has 5 beers at lunch and 5 more after school and is constantly constipated). Surprisingly enough, no one giggled, when constipation came up. I was like an Evangelical preacher - Should you smoke? (NOOOOOO!!!! says the Greek chorus) Should you drink beer? (NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!) They were honestly the best behaved they've ever been for me. I only had to put three students in the corner for talking and throwing things and didn't have to send anyone to the Surveillant General (the discipline master, who sends wayward students to cut down grass and trim banana trees with machetes. Yes, they do give weapons to the bad kids here...).
I walked out of class feeling pretty good about my class....until everyone came up to me saying that there was "a special place in heaven for people with classes like that."
Since then, my TEFL coordinator, the vice principal and the principal have all come to lecture my class on appropriate behavior and today I only had two kids in the corner and am only losing my voice a little bit.
I am really enjoying one part of model school, though. Sarah and I are doing a health and environment club and after getting permission from the school administration, we did some sex ed. It was wonderful! We were lucky enough that the HIV coordinator for Peace Corps was in Bafia, so we got free condoms, a female condom and a wooden "model." We started our class by talking about why you need to protect yourself, when you have sex. We asked questions like
"What happens if you get pregnant, when you're still a student?"
"You have to stop going to school."
"And then what?"
"No university."
"What happens if you can't do math, because you never learned?"
"People will cheat you at the market."
"What happens if you don't understand science, because you never learned?"
"You can't make things grow in your garden."
etc
Then we talked about what to do, if your significant other doesn't want to use a condom.
"But they're not comfortable!"
"They're more comfortable than having a baby!"
"But they're so expensive!"
"They're less expensive than a baby!"
"Don't you trust me?"
"I do, but I want to protect you. What if I'm sick?"
"I'm going to leave you."
(my personal favorite) "Then go away!"
And then we did some empowering talk - "It's my choice! It's my body! It's my health!"
When we finally got down to practicing putting on the condoms, we had everyone repeat how to do every step and when someone did it right, we all said, "No AIDS, no baby!" and then did the education clap (You do that whenever someone does a good job or to get kids attention).
It was honestly the most exciting thing that I have done, since I got to Cameroon. I felt like it's something that will actually make a difference. Even if one girl (or boy) doesn't get pregnant before they want to, then it's a success.
Where I'm going in the East, teen pregnancy is a really big problem and I'm looking forward to helping people learn to protect themselves and helping the girls realize that they have the power to say no or that they want to use a condom. It was just an amazing experience and it makes all the long hours of training totally worth it.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
And God called down a plague onto Egypt....
I have not been enslaving Israelites nor am I in Egypt, but the ant swarm that happened in my bedroom was Biblical.
Yesterday afternoon it was rainy and gross out, so instead of battling the weather to go to the bar, I stayed in and read my book, the Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. It was really really good! Read it today!
I spent a lovely, lazy afternoon in my bed reading and got up around 8:00 ready for some dinner. My little cousin and I set the table and put the food out and tucked in. About halfway through dinner, I was thirsty, so I went to my bedroom to get a bottle of water.
What I saw when I turned on the light was nightmare material. There were ants all over one of my bedroom walls. They were all over my hanging clothes, both of my hats, all of my books, my desk, my toiletries...and the list goes on. There were so many that I could actually hear them.
Has anyone else seen The Covenant? (It's a terrible supernatural teen movie about man-witches that I thoroughly enjoyed watching in high school, because those man-witches were cutie pies.) Anyway, there's this nightmare scene where the main lady wakes up because she feels something on her legs and when she flips up her covers, SHE IS COVERED IN SPIDERS. They are on the ceiling and the floor and all over her roommate.
It's pretty yucky. And exactly how I felt last night. I just stood there. I stood there so long that my host cousin came to see what was the matter.
We sprayed them with insecticide and I felt better, but like a bad hippie.
Cultural Note: Apparently the ants here are not as evil as fire ants and protect against snakes. Also, all insects were thought to be people's ancestors, so you were not allowed to kill them.
Yesterday afternoon it was rainy and gross out, so instead of battling the weather to go to the bar, I stayed in and read my book, the Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. It was really really good! Read it today!
I spent a lovely, lazy afternoon in my bed reading and got up around 8:00 ready for some dinner. My little cousin and I set the table and put the food out and tucked in. About halfway through dinner, I was thirsty, so I went to my bedroom to get a bottle of water.
What I saw when I turned on the light was nightmare material. There were ants all over one of my bedroom walls. They were all over my hanging clothes, both of my hats, all of my books, my desk, my toiletries...and the list goes on. There were so many that I could actually hear them.
Has anyone else seen The Covenant? (It's a terrible supernatural teen movie about man-witches that I thoroughly enjoyed watching in high school, because those man-witches were cutie pies.) Anyway, there's this nightmare scene where the main lady wakes up because she feels something on her legs and when she flips up her covers, SHE IS COVERED IN SPIDERS. They are on the ceiling and the floor and all over her roommate.
It's pretty yucky. And exactly how I felt last night. I just stood there. I stood there so long that my host cousin came to see what was the matter.
We sprayed them with insecticide and I felt better, but like a bad hippie.
Cultural Note: Apparently the ants here are not as evil as fire ants and protect against snakes. Also, all insects were thought to be people's ancestors, so you were not allowed to kill them.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Changing Standards of Beauty
In the good old US of A, I think we can agree that at the very minimum, people have to be clean and smell ok and have clean clothes on. And then, for those who hold potential paramours to a higher standard, they'd say that their potential partner should be well-groomed, including having shaved recently and wearing matching, pressed clothes with good accessories and shoes.
This doesn't really take into account things that just happen, because "this is Africa," as Shakira once so poignantly sang. Here only the most high maintenance of men shave their faces twice a week and only the most high maintenance of women shave their legs once a week. Here when your hair is washed, people exclaim over it and demand if you got a haircut or if you did something different. You answer with a smirk, "I washed it." And the exclaiming continues....
We call this phenomenon "Peace Corps goggles."
Here in Bafia my daily wardrobe consists of a dress or a skirt/shirt combo paired with the ever fashionable leggings/socks and sandals look beloved of all German tourists the world over. I then wear my classy sports watch, which beeps at every hour to let me know that I still have many hours to go before I can get out of training.
I have also learned a lot about what Cameroonians find attractive. My host mother is constantly deploring the fact that I've lost weight since I've been here. She says that people will think that she's not feeding me or worse - that she's a bad cook. The night before last she told me that she wanted to make me "bien graisse," which means well-fattened; you would use the phrase for an animal that you wanted to eat. I've also heard that Cameroonians like women "who are more substantial" or "qui a des poids" (have some weight).
Also, strangely enough I think Cameroon may be the only country where big feet are preferred. I was talking to my host aunt and she said that she was jealous of my big feet.
It takes all kinds.
This doesn't really take into account things that just happen, because "this is Africa," as Shakira once so poignantly sang. Here only the most high maintenance of men shave their faces twice a week and only the most high maintenance of women shave their legs once a week. Here when your hair is washed, people exclaim over it and demand if you got a haircut or if you did something different. You answer with a smirk, "I washed it." And the exclaiming continues....
We call this phenomenon "Peace Corps goggles."
Here in Bafia my daily wardrobe consists of a dress or a skirt/shirt combo paired with the ever fashionable leggings/socks and sandals look beloved of all German tourists the world over. I then wear my classy sports watch, which beeps at every hour to let me know that I still have many hours to go before I can get out of training.
I have also learned a lot about what Cameroonians find attractive. My host mother is constantly deploring the fact that I've lost weight since I've been here. She says that people will think that she's not feeding me or worse - that she's a bad cook. The night before last she told me that she wanted to make me "bien graisse," which means well-fattened; you would use the phrase for an animal that you wanted to eat. I've also heard that Cameroonians like women "who are more substantial" or "qui a des poids" (have some weight).
Also, strangely enough I think Cameroon may be the only country where big feet are preferred. I was talking to my host aunt and she said that she was jealous of my big feet.
It takes all kinds.
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