A New School Year

I know it's been forever and a day since I posted. I've been busy and occasionally sick and just not able to think about blogposts!

But I figure most of you are curious about what I'm up to at site, now that the school year started in October. We actually got off to a pretty fast start. Kids started showing up on the 8th, when it was supposed to start the 4th. And I gave my first real class the 15th and we've been rolling since then! All of the consistent teachers from last year are back, although the other English teacher has been mostly MIA as well as my counterpart (the economics teacher) until November. So I've had a lot of my students from last year and the new 11e kids asking for English classes, and I've had to refuse them.

I am teaching the two "senior" classes, also known as Terminale. I have a social sciences class and an experimental science class. I teach SS English, which is a subject they have to pass on the BAC, their national exam, at the end of the year. I teach SE (sciences experimentales) Physics and English. They have to pass the BAC in Physics, but not in English, so we just have fun in English class.

The two classes couldn't be more different. SE has sixteen kids signed up, and 14 of them show up on a regular basis. When I had review class in the evening on the first week of school, ten of them showed up. Can you imagine American kids doing that? They are curious and hardworking. They like learning English, even though they have so much work to do for their BAC preparation. And they have, well, WE have a LOT of work to do. These kids are supposed to be able to understand vector accelerations based on the derivatives of position and then velocity vectors. They don't even understand what we're drawing when we draw vectors. They still mess up multiplication by zero. They mix up plus signs and multiplication signs in the pythagorean theorem. They can quote me a beautiful definition of angular velocity, but they don't understand what a radian is or how to convert to it. It makes me so angry, because these are smart, interested kids, and they want to learn soooo much, but considering the atrocious mathematical education they've had and the lack of teachers over the years, it's unsurprising that they struggle. These kids are also going to have to take a test in Biology, when there hasn't been a Bio teacher at their school since they were in 11th grade, two years ago. Sometimes I get mad and I have to explain that I'm not mad that they don't know what tangent means, I'm mad at their education system, which fails them and then demands so much of them at the end of their schooling. Last year's physics BAC was mostly a question about interferences fringes created by the young's slit experience. If any of you know what that is and the formulas involved, you took physics in university. And they are just high schoolers! In a developing world country!

*deep breath*

The other class has over 50 registered students, and about 40 of them show up physically, and about 10 of them show up mentally. Passing the SS test is supposedly much easier, since it's essays and some history memorization, but no math or science. So this is where the people who aren't really sure why they are in high school go. Which is unfortunate for the people who really want to go into a social science field like journalism or business or politics. They get pulled down by all these slackers. The students don't listen to me, they don't seem to care about English, and they simply don't respect me. It's frustrating for all sorts of reasons that are different than my SE class. Nonetheless, I feel really bad for the motivated kids in my class, and I'm going to see what I can do to make sure that those kids pass their BAC.

I'm also officially teaching 11e SE in English, although I picked it up last week and then fell unfortunately ill. I'm now better and heading back to site! Apologies on the lack of picture in this post!

Guess who's back?

MEEEEE!

Back in Conakry, working on some physics resources for high school teachers before heading back to site tomorrow.

I do not, as yet, have any answers for you. I tried to get riz gras today and they had run out--so no rice and sauce yet!

I'm a terrible blogger

The truth is, all the time when I'm in Guinea I think of things to tell you guys about. A post on the role of women, or funny things kids say, or language learning, Guinean music, or cooking or... or... or....

But then I came back to the US, and I have all my pictures at my disposal and all my time to use to blog--and I couldn't think of anything good enough to talk about. I hope you guys enjoyed my house tour, which I filmed in February and have been trying to post. At least something good came from my being in America!

Tomorrow I head back, breaking what seems to be a bit of a curse. We've had 3 volunteers recently medically separated/decide not to return for medical reasons, and ALL of their names start with Ma--. I'm pretty excited to be heading back, especially now that I have a flight that gets in at a reasonable time. Peace Corps tried to book me a flight that got into Conakry at 2am. I mean, I love Guinea and I feel safe in my town, but we're talking about a city where a) I've been attacked by a crazy man b) the political situation is explosive and c) there are police checkpoints after midnight. Luckily, Peace Corps Guinea immediately rectified Peace Corps Washington's small oversight. Win.

My apologies on my failures to post. At least this time when I go back to Guinea, I'll have a working battery in my computer and can type up posts when I think of them!

Five big questions I need answered:
1) Have the mice taken over my house?
2) Has the dust taken over my belongings?
3) Will I have enough time to prepare for school starting in October?
4) What will my community say when I come back?
5) When can I get some rice and sauce?

You'll have to tune in later to find out! (predicting an update mid-September!) But for now I'll leave you with this:

A video for your viewing pleasure

After the Fou

My "being tackled by a crazy man" experience has sparked some interesting reactions:

For me:

• Anxiety around Guinean indigent men
• Anxiety in cars
• Started practicing yoga daily (until I came back to the US and felt lazy/ill)

For the US government (not an official statement, of course) :

• The Embassy did a security evaluation of our compounds. Conclusion: They are not very secure. The surrounding houses would enable similar crazy people and need to be fixed. (Hopefully will be done soon)
• The CD and her husband: we were all shell-shocked together, but they were great. They took me to get a pedicure to relax, they brought me with them to a dinner after I had my panic attack, and they still check up on me to see how my mental state is.

For other volunteers, mostly from a text alerting them to the situation which said "Mary got taken down by a fou":

• "Mary,  what the heck?" and other, more expletive filled versions of texts to me
• A lot of curiosity by G21, which meant I got to dramatically retell my story at their IST. And then they had no questions. Whatevs, I like retelling the story. It takes a step towards being funny every time it's just a story and not the most terrifying memory I have. 
• A beer-pong team named in my honor "Mary got taken down" (Beer pong, practiced in moderation by consenting adults, is not an evil activity.)

For the incoming trainees, possibly reading my blog while still in the US:

• What the hell did we get ourselves into??? (pure speculation)

But check it out! I can touch my toes now, thanks to the yoga!

An Extended Vacation

So I know that I promised I would update my blog alll the time since I'm in the US of A, and then I failed you! I am so, so sorry. I know it ruined your day.

So why? Why, Mary, did you leave us to face the world without blog posts? Well, dedicated reader, I have been ill. Alas. Again.

My trip in the US has been awesome, and for the scheduled time I was just too stubborn to let my stomach troubles bother me, although I did go to the doctor. After four days, the doctor said I had shigellosis. Aka bacterial dysentery. Fun, but didn't fit my symptoms. However, the culture grew, so I guess that was just the cherry on top.

So I'm in Atlanta and last week I saw an Infectious Disease doctor. Some of you may know this is my second infectious disease doc. I think they are my favorite species of doctor. This is only partly attributed to the fact that my first infectious disease doc, Dr. Alter, saved my life. With some help from my mom on the ice-packing extravaganza. But that's another story.

The real reason I like my ID doc is that he's friendly, knowledgeable, and immediately recognized what I had: giardia. Blech. So now I'm being treated for that too. I also had an ultrasound of my insides and blood tests, which will hopefully say that all is almost well so I can go back and do the rest of my service. However, this weekend has been up there in the sickest times of my life, and I have to wonder why my insides feel like someone took a food processor to them and occasionally jabs them with a steak knife.

I managed to have fun with these guys and my parents!

In the USA!

Hello, readers! ( I can say that because I know both my parents read my blog, so that's at least 2 people)

I am in the US for a short visit home, filled with rapid-fire travel between Pittsburgh, Erie, Dayton, and DC. I'm just enjoying the luxury that is so everyday here and trying to relax.

Over the next few days I'll give you updates on what's happened since...well, essentially since I was tackled by a fou. It's been a tough time, a happy time, a sad time, a relaxing time, a joyful time. Life in the Peace Corps is always quite the grab bag.

Please excuse me while I go drink another glass of milk and eat some more toast with butter. Refrigeration! It's amazing.

At my host sister Bilikhisa's wedding in June