this week in the life of lalla

my first day of school outfit!

say "cheese!"

This week has been crazy. School started, I ended up subbing some English classes, I got sick, it stayed hot, I went to Bamako and got lost. Here’s a little recap:

Monday: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! I have had my first day of school outfit planned since like the first day of September, my dear old Malian complet. I was really excited to wear it and prepared to shock my coworkers because for the past two months I had been wearing the same pair of cargo pants. For some reason I stayed up too late the night before, but I was running on great energy despite the fact that I woke up with the beginnings of the cold (that I was blaming on the cosmos, wondering why I wasn’t sick the weeks I could have stayed home and taken care of myself, and not the first week of chaos until June).

I walk to school each morning with my 13 year-old host sister. Our relationship is kinda awkward, and deserves a whole other blog post about trying to bond cross culturally, but that is for another day. Anyway, we walk to school and separate, so she goes to class up a hill and I enter the main door to meet the teachers I’ve been working with all summer. I arrived at 7:30am. One of the teachers didn’t come at all, she was sick. The other one didn’t arrive until 7:55am. Those twenty-five minutes felt so long. I didn’t know where to go, or what to do, or where to stand. I just hung around; I could have just held a sign that said “WHITE PERSON HERE!” I didn’t know any of the kids or many of the teachers outside of my little circle.  I kept on praying someone I recognized would be there. Soon.

Finally, Aisha, the history and geography teacher for 7-9^th grade rode in on her moto and it was like a wave of anxiety left me. I became glued to her for the day. In the afternoon I had my art class so I watched 9^th grade for the morning. After lunch (we get a break for lunch and I go home for that) I was told I was going to take over 8^th grade English which came right before my scheduled art class in that grade. Well, they kind of ate me up for dinner. I just have to say that my 8^th graders are wild. They are loud and full of personality. And it was my first class. I just dug in. I almost surprised myself. I tried to win them over with my lesson plans and games. Trying to explain doodles and Pictionary across cultures is actually more difficult than I thought. But I got through it and it really was a short of high. I really liked it. I thought I was terrible. That juxtaposition made me feel exactly like a teacher.

Once 5pm came it was time to go home. I was so glad it was time to go home, and for the day to be over. I was really lucky that night because I got to talk to a dear friend and my Mom on skype, which made the day even better. I tried really hard to go to bed early, because sometimes day two is harder than the exciting day one.

Tuesday: I got ready again. Walked with Fanta (trying to make it less awkward). Show up to school. Well, on Tuesday the English teacher was sick again. And guess who became the English teacher for the day? Yours truly! So Tuesday was crazy.

I taught four hours.

I had one hour to prepare.

I went back to my 8^th graders and tried again with them. They are really great. I had them work in groups and that they really enjoyed. There are just amazing kids in there that really want to do well and want to go places and so it’s a tiny dose of heaven.  I had my first experience with 7^th grade. These kids are just learning English. At this point, English is their third language. In Mali, kids grow up speaking a local language; here in Kati it’s mostly Bambara. Then they get French in school around 2^nd/3^rd grade. And then—voila!—English in 7^th grade. I was really nervous because these kids intimate me and their language skills are just out of this world. We worked a little on greetings, and then started counting. And there was where we worked very hard. Who knew eleven and thirteen where so hard? So we worked on that. Once that was over I had lunch. And then, after lunch I had two and a half hours with 9^th grade. They are amazing people. I have a niche for high schoolers. I just love them. Americans, Malians, whatever. I love their spunk, the way they look at the world and their future. I was super excited to work with them. They were the most receptive to my style of teaching and what I wanted them to do. One of the things we did was write a letter to yourself. Did you ever do that in high school? My high school English teacher had us do that and I thought it would be cool to do. Well, that is another cultural thing that didn’t translate very well at first. But then they got it. And they really wanted to get into. We talked English. We talked about America. We talked about the American education system. And then we moved to art. We talked about art and culture and visual versus performing arts. It was awesome! I love talking about art and so I just felt these kids were puddy in my hands! It was one of those times where I was really hoping that they liked me as much as I liked them. Crossed my fingers!

I left school to the pleasant surprise of seeing a whole group waiting for me! Jamie and McCoy, two Goodfellas, were waiting for me. I knew that they were going to be in town, but seeing them was a great relief. They were just going to be there for the night, but the fun was starting right there at 5pm outside of school, and I was ready for it. We walked home and talked all the way. They are great people. They chat with everyone and make everything interesting. McCoy had never seen my crib so I wanted to show it off. He was very appreciative of my dwelling and I was happy to host him. We decided to make dinner. It was going to be potatoes, chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. We had to do a little grocery shopping and we were the cat’s meows at the market. Jamie was chatting it up with one lovely lady, and McCoy and I were at another. They had them all going and chatting up a storm. I was happy to just watch it all happen and smile at my life as it was in this one moment.

Dinner became a production because the gas went out in my kitchen and we had to relocate. We didn’t get to eat until 9pm and the electricity went on and off so it was all a trip. But man was it good. YUM-O!

We continued the evening eating and talking. We got to skype with a friend of ours and that was a hoot. My Mom came on skype and McCoy got to meet her. It was just a great night. But I of course, didn’t get to go to bed until 2am. PLD.

Wednesday: Getting up with four hours of sleep was not fun. And I was still fighting my little cold. Jamie and McCoy slept in and I went off to school as per usual.

Wednesday was a big deal because the program director of the education sector for Peace Corps was coming to visit me at site. I was hoping and praying that the English teacher would be back at school so I would be able to have this site visit and not have a conflict with an English class.  And she was! I was so happy and relieved.

Site visit went really well. It seems I am right where I am meant to be. Still awkward, still unsure, still sticking with it. I’m like a baby horse learning to walk, stumbling around wondering why I can’t sit down more often. But I guess that is to be expected. Or so I am told.

The day went on and I shadowed English classes with the right teacher. And then my last hour was spent with 7^th graders in art. It was my last class of the week and I was nervous because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to communicate with them in English. It ended up being French/English and bad French on my part. I was able to teach them some shapes and explain that the class was going to be in English. We did the same doodle exercise that other classes did and they got into that. The last five or so minutes I had them draw a house and a tree, which I’ve read in art therapy information that you can tell a lot about a person. It was so cute because one of the kids said as they were leaving “Madame Lalla! I’m taking this home and coloring my house and tree.” SWOON. Warms me heart and soul.

Jamie and McCoy had left at lunchtime for Jamie’s village. I had the evening and I was so ready. I was going to eat a good dinner, go to bed early, and hopefully skype with my Mom. All which happened and I did go to bed super early, which made my Nana roll her eyes and look at me like I had three heads.

Thursday: Same morning routine. Moved from oatmeal to nutella and bread for breakfast just to spice it up.

Thursday I didn’t have any art class and just shadowed English classes. It was a lot of fun and low key. It was nice to see how the routine would continue without teaching too much. I was able to catch up on some emails and other work stuff like planning and seeking out materials. I was still feeling crappy and went to bed even earlier than the night before which made Nana look at me like I was fibbing to her and was really going to my room to throw a party or something.

Friday: TGIF! So Fridays are very low key. I only shadow one class and it’s the last hour of the day. It’s almost like an early weekend. But I still go to school all day (8am-5pm). I am able to continue to bond with the teachers and sit in on the kindergarten and special education classes, and continue my own brain storming on what I can add to the school. I love just being at school and while sometimes I feel like I should be doing more than just checking email and keeping up with art planning and brainstorming more ideas, I still just like the environment. And by Friday the kids started knowing my name and would come say hi to me and greet me in the morning. That makes me feel so welcome and like the kids may like me, at least a little.

I was just happy to have made it to Friday. I was still not feeling well and looking forward to sleeping in and having the weekend off. It was a good day. I finished the day with the 7^th graders who I really like and helped one girl spell the word “answer” and that was like the highlight. Sad maybe, but true.

The evenings haven’t been filled with much and I spend most of them showering, preparing dinner, eating dinner, finalizing lesson plans, skyping, and getting ready to bed. I haven’t been able to sit much with the family due to figuring out the workload of school and not feeling well. Friday night was no different really. My neighbor, Dory, came by and wondered if I was interested in finding Chinese food in Bamako with her and her son Carter on Saturday. I agreed as long as I could still sleep in. She said that was fine. Hooray!

Saturday: Bamako and Chinese Food. Really need I say more? Sure it was a long day and consisted of me bugging the crap out of our new PCVL (a 3^rd year PCV) asking for directions and complaining about being ripped off my taxi drivers. It took an extra long time to find the restaurant because we got lost. But when we found it, OMG, so good. I had spicy chicken and vegetables. Chicken can be hard to come by, so it was such a treat. We, of course, had to have ice cream, and I got one of my favorite combinations: mint, double chocolate, and chocolate chip. Seriously. You can be impressed. It was a long day because we didn’t get started right away, but it was great food, great fun, and great company. Yum, yum, yum.

That kind of brings us today. I feel like it’s the super abridged version, so I’m going to try to reread in a bit and see if I can fill in the blanks. Today has been a productive day. I’ve worked on lesson plans, emails, signs to hang in classrooms, more emails, skyping with my dear friend Becks in London and my parents in San Diego. I’m waiting for the kitchen to clear out and have the munchies so I ate way too many shortbread cookies. (For some reason being sick doesn’t eliminate my appetite the way it does for some people.) I am planning on having tuna and mac and cheese, which totally grosses my mother out, so we will see how that goes. I’m not sure if I am ready to do the week all over again, but I am kind of excited. I am really just trying to take it all day by day and see what happens. Tomorrow marks the one-month before Marcy, my dear friend and Goodfella, comes to Kati to prepare for IST. Like I told my Mom, I think I can do one month.  

One week down. Too many to count to go. Let’s have it!

for 7th grade 

the map i made for aisha in geography