So now I've been here for 106 days, not that I'm counting or anything. ;-)
I actually am. I write in my journal every day & title each entry with the day #. I can't believe how long it's been. Another PCV said it best: "The days seem long, but the weeks fly by." This is so true.
The day after we swore-in was moving day to site. I was feeling pretty good, despite the long night of celebrating before. All I'll say about the end-of-PST celebration here is there was so much dancing involved that my legs hurt the next day. And I lost my voice. Anyhoo, Doe Palace was full of chartered taxis, and all us PCVs hugged one another goodbye as the drivers piled their vehicles high with all our luggage and supplies for our new homes. I honestly don't know how our taxi made it to Gbarma. It was LOADED with 5 large suitcases, 2 backpacks, a 40 gallon rain barrel, a coal pot (think mini-BBQ pit), 2 water filters, 2 mosquito nets, 2 folded-up "bug-hut" tents, a broom, and a 25 lb. box of goodies my family sent from home, among other items. Yes, some items fell off the taxi during the ride, but we and all our things eventually made it to our new home in one piece, thankfully.
After our neighbors and driver helped us unload the car, it finally hit me: I'm really here in Africa. I'm living here. For 2 years. In a town where I'm one of the 2 token "white women". It was a bit startling and awkward. What do we do now? So I took the broom and swept our entire house so at least the "dirt" (dirt+dust+trash+etc.) would be out before we moved everything in. My roomie, Rachel, and I then proceeded to drag everything in from our porch and begin to unpack and get settled in. It was a very sweaty afternoon. That was Saturday, August 4th.
Now that we've been at site for 6 weeks, we're definitely all settled in and the "honeymoon phase" is over. While I still love this place, there are definitely things that are frustrating, challenging, and just plain bad. But there are many aspects of life that I don't like from back home, and I think the pros far outweigh the cons here. I now have a more realistic outlook about life here. I'm still very happy that I'm here, doing what I'm doing. I still can't imagine doing anything else at this point in my life. So that's gotta mean something, right?
Now that school has FINALLY begun (after a 2+ week delay from the Ministry of Education...long story), things are a lot better. Man, do Americans love our routines. I was so irritable the week before school started; I was just itchin' to have some structure to my schedule, as was Rachel. I yelled at a lot of kids that week. (Side note: major props to all the parents out there. I don't know how you do it. I for sure have decided parenting isn't for me. At least not for another 10 years. The children in Gbarma are excellent birth control.)
Back to the topic of school, it officially started Mon., Sept. 10th, but that first day was really just for show. No learning/teaching actually happened, and it didn't anywhere in the country. But that's normal here. Our students were working on the campus instead, brushing (cutting the tall grass with machetes), cleaning up construction materials, etc. The school has no janitorial staff. (Half of the teaching staff hasn't even arrived or if they have, they aren't on campus regularly.) Then Tuesday and Wednesday of that first week were just introductory lessons. We talked to our students about ourselves...our education, our families and homes, and about Peace Corps (history and mission). We also talked about our class rules and procedures, as well as our teaching philosophies and how we'll teach and assess our students. Thursday we started giving notes and have been doing so since, so that makes 7 days of actual teaching so far. I also gave all my students (8th grade general science and 10th & 11th grade biology) diagnostic tests based on material from the MOE curriculum from the previous year. Almost everyone failed, but that's to be expected. So I'm doing a lot of review before/while I give them some new information. While we've only had 2 weeks of school, I absolutely love it. My 8th graders can be real troublesome, but my 10th and 11th graders are fantastic little angels in comparison. AND, they ask questions because they are curious, not just because they are confused.
While some of my students are older than me, have children, are "self-supporting" (on their own, without parental support, monetarily or emotionally), or some combination of the three, they still seem eager to learn. They ask good questions, participate in class, and (I think) enjoy my demos/models/visuals/drawings/analogies/memory tricks. So school is going well. I think I can now add "science teacher" to my resume.
I could also add:
-seamstress (I sewed a skirt entirely by hand, including putting in the zipper. Can you tell how proud I am about that? :-) It's not perfect, but hey, it fits!)
-African chef/coal-pot master (I can light it with only 1 match!)
-football (soccer ball) repair-woman (duct tape really CAN fix everything)
-jewelry maker (I've literally made over 50 pairs of rock earrings for the women in Gbarma, along with countless rings and pendants. Thank you, Morgan, for the supplies!)
-accidental gardener (We've got cherry tomatoes a-growin' right outside out house! And thanks to Mindy for all the seeds! Hopefully the peppers come up soon!)
-exercise instructor (We "train" the kids with various stretches, sit-ups, and wall-sits. Thank you, Ian, for the inspiration.)
-math & physics tutor (2 of my least favorite subjects but somehow, the information stuck in my brain)
So that's what my life's been like the past few months. PST ended, we moved to site, I have many new hobbies, and I enjoy teaching. I still read and run a lot, too. I did an 18 miler a few weeks ago that was a killer (HILLY and HOT), but I got to see the Lofa River and cross into the the next county, Grand Cape Mount (I'm in Gbarpolu). Anyhoo, that's probably a long enough entry for now. Oh! But one last anedote, then I'll finish this post, I promise.
One evening, after we had been playing games with some children on our porch until past dark, we were asked to lead an end-of-the-night group prayer. Me, lead prayer? Ha. So I tried to weasel out of it. "I don't know of any prayers in English. I'm not Christian or Muslim [the only 2 religions here], remember?" The group replied,"It's alright, Auntie Bendu ["Benu"]. Say any one!" So we circled up, held hands, and bowed our heads. I then proceeded to say a simple prayer in Hebrew. It started off as most prayers, "Baruch ata Adonoi, ..." but when I got towards the end I hesitated. Then I added the first thing that came to my mind. "...borei pri hagafen." That's the prayer for the...wait for it...wine. Wine! WINE! What the heck? I guess my subconscious really missed some good vino rojo. Thankfully, no one here knows Hebrew. Then Rachel did the "Our Father" Catholic prayer. Then our neighbor, Zinnah (17), led a prayer in Arabic. Rachel and I had a good laugh about that experience after we sent the kiddos home. Ah, Liberia. You never know what funny thing is going to happen! :-D
