I walked out of my class, Brit dumps Kevin and the Dems get their shit together

What a day. Nancy Pelosi to take over the House? Yay! Britney dumps Kevin? Double yay!

Yesterday I walked out of my class. The students were just being so talkative and rude and no one was listening. A couple kids had just walked out without permission, a bunch of cell phones had gone off, and I was just sick of it all. So with 30 minutes left I put up homework on the board and walked out. I went straight to the administration. It was actually kind of funny, cause about 10 kids followed, all saying "Madame, pardon. Pardon. Pardon." And I kept on saying, "Too late for that, kids. Sorry." So I explained to the Censeur and Director des Etudes that I wasn't willing to teach kids who weren't going to be respectful. And, oh, did those kids get yelled at! I almost felt bad for them, cause the ones who wanted me to come back to class are the ones who pay attention, but c'est la vie. Apparently another teacher has already complained about them, so they got hell from the 2 men! I couldn't understand it all, but the idea was "She left her country to teach you impolite adults who act like children and we don't even pay her and you need to be better behaved or you won't have English class this year at all and if we hear her say that you are anything other than perfect you are all expelled." Or something like that.

My other 2 classes are much more respectful. It's just so hard to teach over 100 kids! I taught a make-up class yesterday and it was so easy - only about 30 or 40 kids and they were so good and tried so hard to understand. Tomorrow I'm starting my review classes, I'm having one review session for each class plus one session that's just for girls. The boys were all mad about that but they can be such jerks to the girls. Today a girl was giving an answer to a question and she answered it perfectly, but no one could hear her cause the boys just start talking amongst themselves when the girls answer. Brats! I think it will be rewarding to teach just the girls and give them some confidence. They seemed really pleased with my idea about the review session. It does mean that I have something to do 6 days a week, which is unusual for a Peace Corps Volunteer. :) Hopefully I won't be totally worn out from my whopping 20 hours of work a week!

So here's what I do pretty much every day...

8-9 a.m. - wake up. Make 2 eggs with some Laughing Cow cheese for breakfast. Squeeze about 3 or 4 oranges and a couple mandarins for some juice. Total breakfast expense? About 25 cents. I'll never be able to afford fresh-squeezed juice every day in the US, so I better enjoy it now.

9 a.m. - 2 p.m. on school days - leave for school. Teach til it's all over or until I walk out of class, whichever comes first. :)

9 a.m. to noon on non-school days - Find a book and get comfy on my hammock or do my laundry. This means that I soak it all in a soapy bucket of water, then wash it by hand, transfer it to a clean bucket of water, wring it all out and hang it up outside to dry. It's exhausting. The other day I had washed all my floors and I really thought I was going to have to go back to bed immediately. Otherwise I hang out with my family or head to town to do some shopping and hang out with my friends.

By 2 p.m. I go to my friend Madame Diallo's boutique. It's good for her cause a white girl sitting outside drums up business. It's good for me cause I get to meet all her friends and she's just the nicest, most interesting woman. In December there is a Girls' Conference here in Mamou and the girls are going to go to her boutique so she can talk about her business and how she started it and everything. She's just wonderful and has been really successful, despite having her first child at 16 and never going to school.

I'm usually home by 4 or so, after 2 stops on the way home to buy yogurt and bissap juice, which is almost better than a popsicle when it's frozen. I make some food (guacamole with homemade tortillas, lentil soup, crepes with Nutella and bananas, or some pasta), have a salad (one of the perks of living in Mamou) and do some lesson planning or reading. Then I talk to other PCVs or my parents (who could call more often...). Sometimes I exercise in my spare bedroom - I brought a jump rope, exercise ball, some resistance bands and a Pilates book. It's so hot that I do it in a sports bra and underwear, it must be hilarious to watch. Then I take a lovely bucket bath, or, if I'm really lucky, there's water and it's almost like a real shower, just with terrible water pressure. Then I read until I'm ready for bed. I sleep a lot - not even so much out of lack of something better to do, but cause it's exhausting for me to teach and to talk in French all day.

Now that I'm reading my daily activities I think it sounds a little boring, but it's really not. I'm having fun making new friends and being in the "big city." Just last week a guy from my stage, Adam, showed up at my house around 5:30.

*Note to Adam's mom: He's doing well. He talked to me about site for well over an hour after arriving. He has friends and is making an effort to meet people and integrate and I'm sure everyone loves him! He didn't have a problem finding a car to site the next morning and is safely back there. You should hear from him at Thanksgiving, or Christmas at the latest.*

He hadn't really seen anyone from our group since late September and I was happy to have him at my house. I fed him some salad since he doesn't get any at site and we talked about the challenges of being all alone in some strange place in some strange country. I have a lot of respect for my friends way the hell in the middle of nowhere. I'm pretty happy to be where the "action" is! There's a Teacher's Conference here this weekend for the science and math people, so some other English teachers are coming to stay with me so we can see our friends from training. It should be fun, maybe I'll get to see Mamou at night! I know it's a fun place to go out, but it's just not safe for me to be outside after dark alone so I'm home every night by 6 or 7 at the absolute latest. Ha. It makes me feel so old sometimes!

OMG - they just announced on cnn.com that Rumsfeld is stepping down. Anyone who knows me will know how I feel about that.

Okay, this entry is not the most scintillating reading ever, but hopefully it will make you feel a little bad for me and you'll send me something yummy and American to snack on while I'm sitting all alone in Guinea at 7 p.m...