average day and other tidbits.

Well, I've been here for a little over a month, and it's incredible how much i've learned. These past two weeks, we have been teaching summer school to Sierra Leone kids, so i'll give you a few of the specific cultural differences.

1. Kids here are incredibly respectful. When a teacher walks in the room, they stand and say good morning, Miss ________. They also raise their hands to answer a question and stand up in class to answer.

2. Their notebooks are their textbooks so anything the teacher writes on the board is meticulously copied. If we draw circles or triangles on the board, they will not draw them in their notebook unless they have a compass or straight edge.

3. Tests are written on the board because of lack of paper, copiers, etc. I had a few students who messed up and had to scribble out on their tests and therefore recopied the test to turn in because of their precision.

4. African kids are not used to the idea of mixing fun AND learning so it's really a task to engage them in classroom activities and show that we can use games, competitions, races, etc. to learn the material that we need to.

Those are the high points of the differences in schools. Now, for a typical day in the life of a peace corp trainee in Sierra Leone. Living in the village will be much different than training, but i can update that later. For now, here is a typical day

Wake up in the morning about 6:30 am. Warm water or pour hot water from a thermos to mix with cold water for a warm bucket bath. Then, go back to my room for some precious Ipod time while getting dressed. Then, head to the parlor to eat breakfast while I talk to my sista and mama. Breakfast is usually bread, 2 boiled eggs, mayonnaise (of course) and plantain (either boiled or fried). African's are still convinced that we can eat a lot.
After breakfast, bid farewells to the family and walk about 15 min. to the nearest junction where the PC vehicles cram us, 12 at a time, into a land cruiser to drive us to the school. During this walk, I greet every single person that we pass in either Krio or Mende. They still get pretty tickled when we get a phrase right and acknowledge that we are trying. We have 3 teachers per class and each teacher teaches 40 min. lessons. So, we have class from 8:30-10:30, have a 20 minute break, and then have class from 10:50-11:50. At 11:50, we pile back into the vehicles to go back to the training center where we eat lunch. It is either typical African food or what we call Fun Food Day. At the center, they are still making American food (as well as they can) for us twice a week, but they mix it up so that we never know what day it will be on.
After lunch, we usually have Language class for an hour and a half and then the rest of the day (until 5) is reserved for lesson planning for our next day's class. Sometimes we have a planned session on cross-cultural, teaching techniques, or other useful topics. Yesterday, we had a lesson on sensitization topics. Tuesday, in summer school, they will allow us to teach on any topic that we want, whether it be AIDS, sanitation, waste management, resource management, etc. I picked to teach on Malaria since it is so common here. Most of us have family members that either have it or have it at some point during our stay.
After our classes, we walk either to Graceland (the bar/store across the street where we drink a couple of beers and listen to American music). We don't head here every day to wind down, though. My family asks me every day if i am coming home quick after school and what they should cook for me. When I do head straight home after training, I usually get home about 5:30. I change clothes and either sit on the veranda with the group of kids that waits my return every day. Sometimes this visit will turn into an intense game of Stoneball (dodge ball) or a game with rocks called Ge-Ge (pronounced Gay-gay). They also often make me do flips in the yard, or a dance party is started where we clap and sing while each kid dances individually. Agnes is the funniest. She is teeny tiny but she can really work it.
Lately, I've been going home to eat and start grading papers while i talk to my family in as much krio as i can remember. I sit at the table and grade papers while the kids in my family study at the same table, everyone huddled around the same table. The past few nights, i brought out the sharpie markers that my dear American family sent me and passed out paper for the kids to color. Their faces are priceless. They will sit for 1.5-2 hrs coloring. I think it's a precious thing for them to be able to have control of their own creativity since they are so often doing chores and don't have the time or resources to do any sort of artwork. The chores are insane. My 9-10 yr old family members carry buckets of water on their head that have about 3 gallons of water on their head from the well. They can't lift the buckets on their own and someone has to put it on their head and then they carry it from the well to the house and usually make multiple trips. They are fascinated by my camera though so yesterday they saw me with it and paused long enough for me to catch a couple of pics. I also usually pass out a little something American at study time. Like gum or skittles. I'm rationing slowly during my stay and they are always appreciative.
After either working on summer school plans or playing with the kids, I usually mix a slightly warm bath since it's somewhat cool here, i don't want to get sick cuz it's no fun! So i head out to the back porch, usually with my older sister kenyeh either washing beside me or sitting and waiting on me to finish. Yep. we wash on the back porch under the African stars if they are out, or even under the clouds since it's rainy season. Let me say though that nakedness here is nothing like in America. Lots of people, at their houses, go topless and kids run around naked quite a bit. It's no big deal to breast feed in front of family members or complete strangers for that matter.
So, supper usually brings rice, rice, rice, and more rice, with some sort of sauce. Sauce is usually some sort of leaf cooked down into some sort of past with fish in it. Everything here has fish and fish bones in it. Even things without fish in it somehow have fish bones in it. Last weekend, I cooked couscous and stew. The stew had cooking oil, chicken, thyme, tomato paste, onions, pepper, salt, and maggi in it. Maggi is MSG and everyone here puts it in everything to enhance the taste. Other foods include all types of fruit. Pineapple, bananas, plantain, avocado, coconut, mango, etc. Also potatoes, yams, pasta, pumpkin, and casava (google it) it's a lot like a potato.
The best sauce I've had was pumpkin sauce. It's cooked down into a sauce over rice, of course, and with fish (see above). The good thing is that I didn't have to give up sweet tea. Lots of people drink tea here. They drink it hot and it took a battle with my family and the language barrier to make them understand that I don't drink it hot, but after witnessing it, they've finally accepted it. I drink warm tea on occasion, though. Oh! I also learned to eat rice with my hands. Sauce and everything. But it's rude to eat with the left hand. It gets kinda messy and gross with the rice and the sauce, but it's kind of fun. Everyone eats from the same bowl with their hands.
So, to conclude my day, I go to my room/bed about 9-9:30 where i usually spend an hour making a phone call once in awhile, writing in my journal-EVERY DAY, and reading a book. And then I start all over again the next day.
Summer school will be over on Tuesday and Wednesday we will meet with our village supervisors. I just found out that we find out today where our site locations are. YIPPEE! We are all super nervous. This also determines which local language we will be learning. It's a pretty big deal. So next week we meet with our principals/cheifs and then we will go visit our sites for 4 days and see our houses and schools where we will be for the next 2 years.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Until next time.......peace out.