January 31, 2009 - The Rest of January

Along with the cold, there has been lots of other happenings here in the village since coming back from Paris. I arrived back on a Monday night and showed up back to school on Tuesday morning and was the only one there. I guess this is the way it happens, no one shows up the week after the official vacation, teachers included.

There was a Fete that Wednesday; from what I understand it was a New Year's Fete. I walked 5km with the ladies of my village to a neighboring village to dance to a band from Conakry (see the photos under my profile.) The band played and announced each village; when he announced your village you had to go to the center and dance, but ladies only. It was another one of those events where people were just waiting to see what I did. There was nothing to do but dance! And I must admit, I've earned some "street cred" or should I say "market cred" with the ladies. Show a few dance moves and you're part of the gang.

Once school finally resumed, we were back to business as usual. We had two weeks to continue lessons and then there were the midterm exams. Back at Trinity, midterm time was one of my favorite times of year - kids studying and reviewing in the days leading up to the exam, teachers trying to put together the ultimate test. I felt that midterm vibe in the days leading up to my exam as I prepared my exam in my house on flipchart paper. The Guinean teachers write their exam on the board while the students sit outside. I find this method takes away from test-taking time (and I was going to be in Mamou for a Peace Corps training session on the day of my exam.) My principal and the other math teacher stopped by to visit and it just felt like midterms were in the air. I am anxious to see how they did once I get back to the village.

For Inauguration Day, I was saving some care-package pasta and a mini bottle of French wine to eat while I was savoring speech and the talk of day on the BBC. I was in the market that day when one of the other teachers asked if I was coming to the house where they were going to SHOW the inauguration. As excited as I was, I knew not to get too excited. And I knew to come prepared in case it didn't work. Sure enough, I showed up and no one else was there, even after I explained multiple times about what time we had to be there. I had my radio and listened to the whole thing. When everyone else arrived about a half-hour later, we watched highlights on France24. It was still really exciting to be able to see some of it on TV. Every time they scanned the crowd on TV the Guineans would say "Hey Allah" which is like saying "oh my God!" They were really excited about it all and hearing the speech dubbed in French.

The last happening of January is one that I've avoided writing about (I think - sometimes I think about a blog I'd write and then I don't.) The first Tuesday I was back to school, the vice principal stood outside my classroom door waiting for late students. When they arrived he would whip them with a stick he had picked up along the way to school. It breaks my heart every single time. It is a Peace Corps interview question - corporal punishment - so I knew that it was bound to be a part of my school life. But there isn't a way to mentally prepare oneself for those first beatings. Hearing the kids squeal, hearing the stick crack against them - it is awful. It is a distraction for everyone; no one is listening to me and I don't even know what I'm saying. It starts with the primary school students; they hit their calves whereas with my older kids they hit them anywhere. It is a cultural norm I just can't wrap my mind around. I try to talk about what we do in the States when students are late or how we punish students. The other teachers listen but beatings and humiliation seem to be the only tactics they are willing to use. The worst beatings are ones I hear in the 6th grade classroom when students give wrong answers. Honest mistakes result in getting hit. The sixth grade teacher is a jerk in general but that is just awful. For me, one of the hardest things is that I just can't have the rational conversation with the other teachers because my French just doesn't get the point across. But I'm working on it. It is just a hard topic in general to try to bring up since it such a part of the culture and how school has been done for so many years.