Well, it is. I guess I'm not giving away too much.
We had a faculty meeting this morning to discuss the joint opening of the school's first official extra-curricular activity! We have a volleyball game coming up against another school, but that's not a regular activity; we put together a volleyball intermural specifically for this game. My poor seventh graders were stoked for the match, but the only team the other school wanted was the high school team. Rats.
Anyway, this new extracurricular is called the Renaissance Program, and it's a hodge-podge of whatever each teacher feels they can contribute. I love to dance, so I'm going to be teaching dance after school once a week. Somebody's doing drama, somebody readings in French, somebody science experiments. We've really gone from NO extracurriculars, to about 10 - as many extracurriculars as there are teachers.
Also at the faculty meeting, the founder of our school (who is still very much in charge of its development) decided she wanted some classroom time, and had a drawing for one of the teachers to take a day off. Aicha won the drawing, so she gets a day off where Michelle will teach all her classes. Only here. I have to admit, I laughed when I heard the proposition, but I would've been happy to have my name drawn, too!
EQUATION OF THE DAY!
________________________________________________
It's a good day so far. The equation of the day was tough today. One of the seventh graders solved it, but none of the sixth. See if you can get it.
14102009.
Today is the 14th day of the 10th month, year 2009. Take the 8 digits, 14102009, and make a valid equation by placing one "=" and any other operations you want between any digits you want. Here's the kicker: you can't rearrange any of the digits, or insert or remove any.
So, you could say,
. -14+1^(0) = 12 - 0*9
(The "^" means raised to the power of). Except it doesn't. -13 doesn't equal 12. Make it work! It's a challenge! *throws down glove*
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Mid-terms
We are officially halfway through the first of the six terms that comprise this school year, so I'm working out grades to send home progress reports. It's more difficult without any form of technology. Even the report cards at the end of the year are handwritten - a printed spreadsheet that gets taken around to each of the teachers, who fill in the appropriate cell on each student's paper. I had a meeting with one of my student's mothers today, seeing as he is (like too many of them) failing both of my classes.
It began awkwardly, due to the extreme language barrier, and the fact that our translator was her son. I believe completely that he was translating what I told her about his progress, but I'm also sure that he was making excuses to her at the same time. Who wouldn't? It was a hard thing I was asking him to do, and eventually Najet came over and took over for him.
Our apartment was cleaned yesterday by Louisa's hadema, and most of the power-tool work has been done this week. I think we're on our own from here, which is fine with me! We're beginning at a higher standard than my apartment last year in the states, and the place here has great potential. We've killed 3 roaches so far. Tomorrow, a senior girl I'm friends with is coming over to teach me to make Chicken Tajine. I'm excited; I never cook anything. The khobz bread is so delicious I rarely eat anything non-sandwich-ed.
I'm nervous for my students. I want them to succeed. As their teacher, I should be able to make that happen. But I can't MAKE it happen. I struggle with wanting to negate this assignment, or delete that zero. The lack of work has consequences, and I need for my class to teach them that. Teachers at home, any suggestions?
It began awkwardly, due to the extreme language barrier, and the fact that our translator was her son. I believe completely that he was translating what I told her about his progress, but I'm also sure that he was making excuses to her at the same time. Who wouldn't? It was a hard thing I was asking him to do, and eventually Najet came over and took over for him.
Our apartment was cleaned yesterday by Louisa's hadema, and most of the power-tool work has been done this week. I think we're on our own from here, which is fine with me! We're beginning at a higher standard than my apartment last year in the states, and the place here has great potential. We've killed 3 roaches so far. Tomorrow, a senior girl I'm friends with is coming over to teach me to make Chicken Tajine. I'm excited; I never cook anything. The khobz bread is so delicious I rarely eat anything non-sandwich-ed.
I'm nervous for my students. I want them to succeed. As their teacher, I should be able to make that happen. But I can't MAKE it happen. I struggle with wanting to negate this assignment, or delete that zero. The lack of work has consequences, and I need for my class to teach them that. Teachers at home, any suggestions?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Light of the World... or in our apartment
Here's the greatest story of the week:
We have all been doing our best to set up our new place so that it's relatively homey. The first steps were things like shower heads (ok, we still haven't gotten those installed) and garbage cans. Dishes. Keys. LIGHTBULBS.
In this country, there are two kinds of lightbulbs for sale: plug in and screw in. Safi.
The problem was that our light fixtures are very tall and a bit broken, so we couldn't see which kinds to buy. No problem, asked the guardian of the building, and he pointed at the screw-ins. It wasn't the screw-ins. We were visiting the hanout at 10pm when we discovered we had no lights in our house.
We returned triumphantly to put them up in the dark, so I broke out the headlamp. I got laughed at, of course, wearing my headlamp around the house, but I could see! I love those things.
Well, then we had the problem of getting the bulbs into the sockets, being three reasonably petite women. Here's how it played out. Check the variety and creativity here!
In the entrance hall, the walls were too far apart to climb, but nothing would fit to stand on. We have an extra frosh stand (it's basically a base of planks with four short legs (6"?) and a few cross-beams of about 2x4 size. We propped the frosh stand against the wall, and climbed the cross-beams like a ladder while Candace and Suzanne held it up against the wall for dear life. Balanced precariously on an up-ended piece of furniture, I could just reach the socket.
In the living room, no walls were near the socket, so a new procedure was needed. There's a wobbly table, and we put an end table (these are the only two pieces of furniture in the house besides the froshes and beds) on top of the wobbly table. Standing on both tables on my tip-toes, the light went in.
The kitchen was easy. The counter got me to the right height, then it was just a matter of straddling the big room with one foot on the counter, and one on the fridge to plug in the bulb.
The hallway was a repeat of the frosh stand, except it didn't quite fit so we rebounded off of it to wedge myself between the walls. Then I could stay long enough to get the bulb in place.
In my bedroom, there was nothing to stand on (my bed is about a foot off the ground), no nearby walls, and no room to carry in the table. Eventually, Candace went up on my shoulders to plug in the light. Suzanne stood in front and braced our leaning tower, and we were SO CLOSE. Standing next to the bed, we scuffled the mattress off to one side and stepped up onto the frosh-stand. Quite a picture.
In Suzanne's bedroom, we stacked the taller girls instead, with Candace up on Suzanne's shoulders, but it still required us to drag the extra frosh stand into the room, since Suzanne's bed had fallen apart earlier that day.
Shwia b'shwia.
We have all been doing our best to set up our new place so that it's relatively homey. The first steps were things like shower heads (ok, we still haven't gotten those installed) and garbage cans. Dishes. Keys. LIGHTBULBS.
In this country, there are two kinds of lightbulbs for sale: plug in and screw in. Safi.
The problem was that our light fixtures are very tall and a bit broken, so we couldn't see which kinds to buy. No problem, asked the guardian of the building, and he pointed at the screw-ins. It wasn't the screw-ins. We were visiting the hanout at 10pm when we discovered we had no lights in our house.
We returned triumphantly to put them up in the dark, so I broke out the headlamp. I got laughed at, of course, wearing my headlamp around the house, but I could see! I love those things.
Well, then we had the problem of getting the bulbs into the sockets, being three reasonably petite women. Here's how it played out. Check the variety and creativity here!
In the entrance hall, the walls were too far apart to climb, but nothing would fit to stand on. We have an extra frosh stand (it's basically a base of planks with four short legs (6"?) and a few cross-beams of about 2x4 size. We propped the frosh stand against the wall, and climbed the cross-beams like a ladder while Candace and Suzanne held it up against the wall for dear life. Balanced precariously on an up-ended piece of furniture, I could just reach the socket.
In the living room, no walls were near the socket, so a new procedure was needed. There's a wobbly table, and we put an end table (these are the only two pieces of furniture in the house besides the froshes and beds) on top of the wobbly table. Standing on both tables on my tip-toes, the light went in.
The kitchen was easy. The counter got me to the right height, then it was just a matter of straddling the big room with one foot on the counter, and one on the fridge to plug in the bulb.
The hallway was a repeat of the frosh stand, except it didn't quite fit so we rebounded off of it to wedge myself between the walls. Then I could stay long enough to get the bulb in place.
In my bedroom, there was nothing to stand on (my bed is about a foot off the ground), no nearby walls, and no room to carry in the table. Eventually, Candace went up on my shoulders to plug in the light. Suzanne stood in front and braced our leaning tower, and we were SO CLOSE. Standing next to the bed, we scuffled the mattress off to one side and stepped up onto the frosh-stand. Quite a picture.
In Suzanne's bedroom, we stacked the taller girls instead, with Candace up on Suzanne's shoulders, but it still required us to drag the extra frosh stand into the room, since Suzanne's bed had fallen apart earlier that day.
Shwia b'shwia.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Moving Day
The new apartment is finally rented, and moving day was on Saturday. I'm struggling here to keep my words optimistic... Some of our furnature was to be supplied by a man who is moving out and selling us his things. This was actually our only furniture. The apartment has a lot of potential - it currently looks very spacious, and it's on the fourth floor, so the rats won't climb up the toilets. I think there's not a lot of work to be done before we get water, and even mention of a water heater getting hooked up, insha'allah.
But there's a lot to do. For example, the deadbolt on the door has been punched through, so there's a small hole in the outside door, and no dead bolt. We are actually not even staying there yet; we went back to our old apartments for another day or two. Please keep me in your thoughts. It looks to be a busy week.
But there's a lot to do. For example, the deadbolt on the door has been punched through, so there's a small hole in the outside door, and no dead bolt. We are actually not even staying there yet; we went back to our old apartments for another day or two. Please keep me in your thoughts. It looks to be a busy week.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Layer and Stink
When I met the other teachers over the summer, a teacher who had worked at my school for several years came to speak with us. He told us that, in country, we should do as the locals do: layer and stink. It gets cold in the winter, and the modesty codes require layers of clothing. And nobody showers much.
The local public bath houses are called hamaams, and for many, this is their only way of cleaning. I think I see why people don't have showers.
My shower broke today. I have only had cold water, which has only been a problem at 6am when everything is cold. Today, I turned on the water and the hose attached to the shower head snapped. Water went everywhere. Except on me.
Thankfully, Candace and Suzanne just had their shower fixed from a similar condition last week, so I was able to beg a shower from their place.
It was the first warm water I've had in over a month. Hamdullah.
The local public bath houses are called hamaams, and for many, this is their only way of cleaning. I think I see why people don't have showers.
My shower broke today. I have only had cold water, which has only been a problem at 6am when everything is cold. Today, I turned on the water and the hose attached to the shower head snapped. Water went everywhere. Except on me.
Thankfully, Candace and Suzanne just had their shower fixed from a similar condition last week, so I was able to beg a shower from their place.
It was the first warm water I've had in over a month. Hamdullah.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Eid al-F'tour Long Weekend!
Huzzah for getting both American and Islamic holidays!
The month of Ramadan ended Sunday, with the traditional huge feast and family visitation, so both Monday and Tuesday are given off from school, because none of our students would have shown up anyway. With the four-day weekend, we Americans decided to have some adventures!
Friday evening, I ended up venturing out by myself (before the F'tour) to wander the Mellah between the new city and the Medina. It's close enough to be a fast walk, but has fun winding streets and bustling markets. I had some of my first positive experiences with strangers (particularly males, because almost ALL experiences with local men are negative.) in talking with the shopkeepers, and it was great language practice.
I walked home down Hassan Tanni, the big boulevard in my city, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The following morning, I set out with Suzanne, Candace, and Ethan, and Hassan Tanni had a funny smell of lacquer. All of a sudden, there was a lion! Surrounded by gawkers, a bronze lion on a rectangular base covered in bronzed grass had been plunked down in the center of the boulevard! We stopped to take our pictures with him, and to speculate on his purpose. Of course, we had to poke various parts to find out what was still wet, and Suzanne came away with some of the gravel that was embedded in the bronze-coloured goo stuck to her palms.
-- We had a nice walk around the Medina, traveling Bab (door) to Bab. The Medina in my city is apparently the oldest walled city that has been inhabited since its establishment in the 8th century. It was interesting being there with the four of us after walking in smaller groups. We got a lot of hassle by kids wanting to be our tour guides. Ethan told them he was our tour guide, and they mostly believed him. He knows the Medina well enough to be a guide. I bought a kilo of fresh figs from the fruit-souk for the US equivalent of $1.50. Sooo tasty.
The plan was to meet at my place for F'tour before the salsa party, but the message didn't get out to all involved. I hosted my first semi-official F'tour, with milk and dates, figs, khobz and cous-cous, and Ethan brought malawi from the F'tour stand near his house. Candace had already eaten, and rested up for the salsa, and Abdul was running late, so Ethan and I stood around outside, unable to enter the apartment above suspicion with just the two of us! Oh dear! Suzanne came over, and we all figured three people was close enough to the culturally appropriate gender requirements... plus we were hungry.
The salsa party was lots of fun, if pretty tame. I had about 10 people come, and taught a short routine, and then we just put on music and danced - well, a few of us danced. We've already decided on having another one, just so more people come and feel comfortable with it. It was great to get in some dancing, and everybody did so well, but I missed all my Schenectady dancers! We ended up partying until about 4am, although the last several hours comprised significantly less movement and more chatting from the couches. An eventful and exciting day, and church seemed very early the next morning...
The month of Ramadan ended Sunday, with the traditional huge feast and family visitation, so both Monday and Tuesday are given off from school, because none of our students would have shown up anyway. With the four-day weekend, we Americans decided to have some adventures!
Friday evening, I ended up venturing out by myself (before the F'tour) to wander the Mellah between the new city and the Medina. It's close enough to be a fast walk, but has fun winding streets and bustling markets. I had some of my first positive experiences with strangers (particularly males, because almost ALL experiences with local men are negative.) in talking with the shopkeepers, and it was great language practice.
I walked home down Hassan Tanni, the big boulevard in my city, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The following morning, I set out with Suzanne, Candace, and Ethan, and Hassan Tanni had a funny smell of lacquer. All of a sudden, there was a lion! Surrounded by gawkers, a bronze lion on a rectangular base covered in bronzed grass had been plunked down in the center of the boulevard! We stopped to take our pictures with him, and to speculate on his purpose. Of course, we had to poke various parts to find out what was still wet, and Suzanne came away with some of the gravel that was embedded in the bronze-coloured goo stuck to her palms.
-- We had a nice walk around the Medina, traveling Bab (door) to Bab. The Medina in my city is apparently the oldest walled city that has been inhabited since its establishment in the 8th century. It was interesting being there with the four of us after walking in smaller groups. We got a lot of hassle by kids wanting to be our tour guides. Ethan told them he was our tour guide, and they mostly believed him. He knows the Medina well enough to be a guide. I bought a kilo of fresh figs from the fruit-souk for the US equivalent of $1.50. Sooo tasty.
The plan was to meet at my place for F'tour before the salsa party, but the message didn't get out to all involved. I hosted my first semi-official F'tour, with milk and dates, figs, khobz and cous-cous, and Ethan brought malawi from the F'tour stand near his house. Candace had already eaten, and rested up for the salsa, and Abdul was running late, so Ethan and I stood around outside, unable to enter the apartment above suspicion with just the two of us! Oh dear! Suzanne came over, and we all figured three people was close enough to the culturally appropriate gender requirements... plus we were hungry.
The salsa party was lots of fun, if pretty tame. I had about 10 people come, and taught a short routine, and then we just put on music and danced - well, a few of us danced. We've already decided on having another one, just so more people come and feel comfortable with it. It was great to get in some dancing, and everybody did so well, but I missed all my Schenectady dancers! We ended up partying until about 4am, although the last several hours comprised significantly less movement and more chatting from the couches. An eventful and exciting day, and church seemed very early the next morning...
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Ana ferhenna, andi henna!
Thursday night marked Leila al'Qaddem, the night of power in which Muslims celebrate the night of the imparting of the Qa'ran to Muhamed.
Tony and I went to the family in Sidi Bujita for f'tour with them, and they were lovely and welcoming as always. Visiting homes feels more regular now, sitting on froshes to chat, watching Ramadan TV, playing with the kids as they run around. The meal was delicious, with hirara soup, four kinds of bread, and a communal dish of something like pea soup with spices and oil that we dipped the bread into to eat. We had apple milk, a thick drink like a milkshake; and, of course, dates and shebekia.
After dinner, their neighbor Wafie stopped by, who is a henna artist. She mixed powders and water and some liquid from a small bottle, and stirred the henna up like a big bowl of cookie dough - but it was green. She used a medical syringe with a
fixture attached like a ball pump to swirl the henna around in beautiful patterns that she improvised as she went. She began learning henna when she was very young; she's always gone to school for it.
Tony and I and Khadija and the little daughter all had henna painted, and then had to sit for the next hour with our hands up in the air and fingers stretched! One of the men put us in the taxi home, so we wouldn't have to open the doors. Even after the wet paste dried, it them began to crack off our hands. We had a time of it trying to open our multi-keyed door when we got home.
Tony and I went to the family in Sidi Bujita for f'tour with them, and they were lovely and welcoming as always. Visiting homes feels more regular now, sitting on froshes to chat, watching Ramadan TV, playing with the kids as they run around. The meal was delicious, with hirara soup, four kinds of bread, and a communal dish of something like pea soup with spices and oil that we dipped the bread into to eat. We had apple milk, a thick drink like a milkshake; and, of course, dates and shebekia.
After dinner, their neighbor Wafie stopped by, who is a henna artist. She mixed powders and water and some liquid from a small bottle, and stirred the henna up like a big bowl of cookie dough - but it was green. She used a medical syringe with a
fixture attached like a ball pump to swirl the henna around in beautiful patterns that she improvised as she went. She began learning henna when she was very young; she's always gone to school for it.
Tony and I and Khadija and the little daughter all had henna painted, and then had to sit for the next hour with our hands up in the air and fingers stretched! One of the men put us in the taxi home, so we wouldn't have to open the doors. Even after the wet paste dried, it them began to crack off our hands. We had a time of it trying to open our multi-keyed door when we got home.
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