So, classes are going well enough. I figured out why my section of 5eme 3 was so problematic. I had probably around 170 kids in my class, and there wasn’t even close to enough space for all of the kids to have a place to sit. Turns out, at the same time that I teach 5eme 3, the 5eme 4 class has free time, so those students had been sneaking in. But, that issue is resolved now, and I’m down to 117 which is much, much more manageable.
It seems like every day I either leave the school convinced that I want to be a teacher for the rest of my life or I’m ready to never set foot in the lycee again. There isn’t a whole lot in between. I think for the most part though, I really do enjoy teaching. And even on the days when I never want to go back, I always do, and it is always better. I am constantly surprised by how things can go from completely normal to absolute chaos back to normal again.
Last Monday is a pretty decent example. During flag ceremony, everything was marching along just fine when this kid starts vomiting. He managed to vomit on like 30 of the other kids in a time span of about 15 seconds. So things were absolutely insane for about 45 seconds, then he was in the school car on the way to the hospital, and everyone was back in line singing the national anthem “au cameroun,” and everything was fine. Things like that happen. Where everything is wildly out of control, and then minutes later, everything is cool again. It’s pretty mind boggling.
Other aspects of life are going pretty well. I mean, I’m constantly doing something wrong or something embarrassing, but people still like me. My life is a constant barrage of: “Why are you eating couscous with a fork?” “Because when I eat it with my hands, I spill sauce on my shirt” or “Why is your leg bleeding?” “because I fell down.” There are a lot of jaggy rocks here, and I tend to fall. A lot. Or, “why are you going outside when it’s raining?” “Because I have an umbrella.” Evidently leaving the house in even the slightest drizzle is completely insane.
The weather is pretty nice. There have been a couple of hot days. (Hot by my standards. People here were still wearing scarves) and it has continued to rain a lot. It’s “harvest season” here so I can get all sorts of delicious vegetables for super cheap which is awesome. A few days ago my neighbor Antoinette gave me a chunk of “melon” and it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. It was like if a cantaloupe and a pumpkin had a baby. Seriously, the slice she gave me was longer than my forearm. I can only imagine what the melon looked like when it was whole.
My French is fluctuating. I speak a LOT of English here, because everyone wants to practice with me. I’ve been reading a lot of books in French lately though. Mostly, I’m about halfway through a book series in French about a little boy named Odilon and his magical adventures. The cover tells me that it’s at about a 6-10 year old reading level, but that’s about perfect for my French. Moses, my librarian friend, has a whole regime of books planned out for me, which is pretty exciting.
I feel like I’m starting to make friends here, and I am busy pretty much every evening which is great. There are a lot of great possibilities for work here, which I’m excited about. My principal really has it together, and it is always great to talk to him. He gets the problems that Cameroon has, and he works like a dog to make Lycee Classique de Mokolo the best Lycee in the Extreme North. He got a grant last year to start a reforestation project at the lycee. So he’s having all of the 6eme (the youngest) kids plant trees, so that way when the graduate they can see how big their trees have gotten. My principal loves to speak in metaphor and he’s a big sucker for ridiculous symbols. The other day he described himself as the old man, and I am the walking stick that he leans on, which made me feel pretty good, mostly because my French has gotten to the point where I can understand things like that, because I really haven’t done anything, yet. We also have pretty much the nicest library in any public Cameroonian school. Our computer lab isn’t anything super special, but the fact that we have one is shocking. What’s even cooler is the head of our ICT department has his Master’s in Computer Science. His name is Paul and he is a really with it guy (who speaks English fluently). He’s giving the other teachers at my school computer lessons so they can digitize how they record grades, etc, etc. I do really like my lycee, and I hope that I will be able to find my niche and really make a lasting impression on the school.
Next week (October 5th) is Teacher’s Day. I’m really not sure what that entails, other than all of us wearing matching outfits. (That is so cool here, I just do not understand.) But, it should be pretty exciting.
I think for now that is pretty much everything. Things are going well, and I feel way more competent in my teaching skills than I ever thought imaginable.
Love,
Emily
P.S. I meant to post this a lot sooner, but we had a power outage (which is really really rare in Mokolo) so just a quick update: the teacher’s day party was good and everything else is going well too.
