Arnold

Nearly a month and a half has flown by at site.  Okay, with the exception of the first 2 weeks, when it felt as though Time just packed up and went on vacation, leaving the poor little minutes and seconds to their own devices.  It seemed that their own devices included competitions to see who could progress at the slowest pace without actually moving backwards.

It was painful at times.

But, I read a lot- some Agatha Christie, Tom Robbins “Still Life with Woodpecker”, Robert Bolaño “2666”, The Impenetrable Forest, The Art of Happiness, Mill on the Floss, Le Tableau Met a la Table (it’s a HITCHCOCK story), and a compilation of existential philosophers – all of which I would recommend to you.  I also wrote quite a bit, and took on home improvement projects here and there (I made a shelf!  A clothes rack!  Hangers!!).  I also developed a penchant for coming up with inconsequential conspiracy theories.  The most important one is that JK Rowling must have read a lot of Alfred Hitchcock, because I found a few familiar faces in “Le Tableau Met a la Table”… voici

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1 - Ron

2 - Harry

3 - Hermione

4 - Neville

5 - Deane

6 - Colin Creevey

 Lucius Malfoy with a cropped hairdo.

HP creeping on (a more modernized) Dumbledore?

Entering the Chamber of Secrets...

Tom Riddle and his charcoal rendering of the Shrieking Shack.

Perhaps a portkey?

...and my personal favorite...

Hogwarts meets Baywatch.

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Now, I’m happy to announce that Time is back and working like clockwork. (Ha. See what I did there?)  

Last week, all of my 4 classes learned about question formation.  Now, as a native English speaker, you might think what’s so difficult about questions?  All you do is move the verb to the front and/or use Who, What, Where, When, Why, Which, How.

And you’d be justified in that reasoning. 

But, things get tricky when you get past the requisite 

     What is your name?

          Where are you going?

               Who is your favorite singer? (Answer: Rihanna.  It's always Rihanna.)

Try, for instance, explaining what "do/does/did" means in the following:

     Where do you live?

          Does your mother work in the hospital?

               What did you do this weekend?

*Linguistics majors, you're not allowed to help.

See what I mean?  So, I thought the kids needed a good, motivating review.  But what to do?  What makes questions fun?...

The answer struck me like the pincers of gigantic military ant:

The kids LOVED it.  They were yelling over each other to get to answer.  I admit that it may not have been the best reinforcement for orderly classroom conduct, but dang did they enjoy it!

However, I did make one large faux pas, which amused my students to no end.  I didn’t get the joke at the time, but thankfully one of the other volunteers explained it to me later.

You know how sometimes we use a “potpourri” category, when it’s a mix of topics?  Well, in French…

     Pot – bucket/pan

     Pourri – putrid/rotten

Put ‘em together and you’ve got, essentially “the poop can.”

* Note to all those TEFL teachers playing Jeopardy in French-speaking countries.  Avoid POTPOURRI at all costs.

So, school is well underway and I’m getting into the swing of things.  Now that classes are becoming more natural feeling, my “goal list” for the past couple of weeks has looked like this:

1. Sweep floor
2. Buy peanut butter
3. Get water from pump
4. Call Dieng
5. Make friends
6. Plan lessons

The important item is #5, “Make friends.” 

For the past four weeks, my most constant companion has been a mouse that lives somewhere in my house.  At first, I called him The Terminator because a) he must have x-ray vision that he uses to pick out where I’ve hidden my peanut butter, b) he has indestructible teeth that can nibble through anything to get to my peanut butter, and c) because when there’s no peanut butter to be had, he likes to munch on my electronics.  My iPod ear-buds have tiny teeth-marks on them, left behind by my cyborg housemate.  Recently, however, and especially in the middle of the night when I awake to the tell-tale scritch-scratching coming from my kitchen area, I started calling out to him “ARNOLD!! Go to bed!”  The name seems to fit.

I know, mice spread disease.  I haven’t had the heart to buy a trap or poison for it, though.  If Arnold keeps eating my peanut butter, however, I may have to borrow my neighbor’s cat.

My other companions are the goats/sheep that delight in scratching their hind-quarters against my fence every evening.  Last weekend, I realized I’d seen neither hide nor hair of the cows that once swarmed my house at night, due to the fence that I had constructed recently.  It was a welcome change, as I no longer felt like I was being scrutinized every time I went to the bathroom at night.    

While walking back from school one day, contemplating this welcome turn of events, I got the distinct feeling that I was under observation.  I looked at the road behind me, then up ahead, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.  I kept walking, though I still felt like I was being watched.  All of a sudden I heard a sharp crack in the bushes to my left.  I nearly jumped out of my skin, but upon finding the source of the noise, I breathed a little easier.  In reality, this is what it was…

Haha, I giggled nervously and kept on walking.  But when I looked back, this is what I saw…

So I’ve come to the conclusion that I ticked off the association of Ditinn cows for taking away their favorite sleeping space.

Whoops.

If anything, I think the goats have the most to be resentful about.  Here's what they have to put up with...

 The triangle collars (aka "trollars") are designed to keep the goats from entering fields and eating the crops.  A lot of the time the trollars just end up getting flipped around, and the poor animal is left dragging those heavy sticks around as they get caught up on the ground.

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In less crazy news, I have indeed managed to make some human friends here.  

More on that coming soon.