Double Whammy

           Today I "got" to speak in middle school/high school chapel.  Tomorrow morning I "get" to do staff devotions.. ahh. why would they do this to a new person? craziness.  anyway, chapel was fine.  just shared some poop stories, mostly.
           I was going to make a BLT for dinner tonight but i cut into the tomato, and it was no good.  I had already started making the bacon though, so I made some eggs and toast and had an even more delicious dinner.  take that, tomato.
           I may have made one of the worst decisions ever today.. called signing up for handball.  Technically, sign ups ended on August 31 but I was talking to some girls today after school and they said that one of the teams needed another staff member.  So, I said I would do it.. because a bad player is better than no player, right?  unless i just get in the way all the time.. but who knows? maybe i will go to the olympics on a handball team! gotta keep the options open..
           Best news of the day is that we still get to go to a supposedly really cool place for our staff retreat!  There was talk of not going there due to budget stuff.. but they decided we could do it if everyone pitched in 20 dollas.. for a whole weekend at a 4/5 star hotel!! i am more than okay with that!
            After reading this again, this post has been all over the place.  and really has no useful information.. but here I go, hitting "publish" anyway.

The Night of the Lizard

            So, this one time, I was brushing my teeth and walking around the apartment, because what else is there to do besides look at yourself in the mirror and make faces?  Which is fun sometimes.. but it's more fun to look at Katie McKinley who is also brushing her teeth and pretend that she is my mirror.  but, since i didnt have Katie, i decided to get my exercise instead.
             While I was on my stroll, something caught my eye.  I thought, "thats strange, i have never noticed anything that high up on that wall before" and then... I realized what it was.  a huge, creepy looking yucky lizard!!!! I'm not talking about a tiny baby lizard, this was a big macho sized man eating lizard!! i was so shocked, all i could say through my mouth full of toothpaste was "ouhjskmsaeir" (its french for "why?").  So Ruthanne comes out of her bathroom and she says "aww how cute.. look at that!"  Really?  CUTE is what you decide to call a LIZARD in our APARTMENT on our WALL!!!  i said something like that out loud, but i dont quite remember what it was.  but, by the end of the ordeal, i guarantee she wasn't thinking it was cute..
             She starts talking to it, asking it nicely to exit the premises.  Then, it starts moving towards MY ROOM!! So, i run into my room and slam the door, and put a towel down by the door to make sure it knows it is not welcome.  Luckily, my bathroom is connected to my room, so I can spit out my toothpaste and finish getting ready to go to bed.  But Ruthanne says "you think closing your door is going to protect you?" and I say "YES IT IS!!!" and she says "nope, you have a window in your bathroom that has a hole in it."  (yes there is a window in my bathroom that goes to the inside of the house.. i have no idea why.. but it wouldnt let the lizard in)
             I finish my bedtime routine, close my bathroom door.. just in case.. and lay down in bed when I remember that I have forgotten to take my malaria medicine.  As I am wondering which is worse, malaria or sleeping with a lizard, the 15 mosquito bites on my legs start to itch, so I yell to Ruthanne (who has been throwing clothespins at the lizard for the past 10 minutes) "Where is he??" and she says "right in the corner between your door and the wall" then, SMACK, i hear another clothespin hit the wall and she says "oh, now hes on your door!"  and i can hear him moving around on there!!! so i jump up on my bed and pray that he has a heart attack and disintegrates into dust.  doesn't happen.  finally, she tells me it is clear so i open the door and look up and he is in the corner staring at me!! so after screaming at him to stay there,  i run past him, get some water and my medicine and run back and slam the door (and then put the towel back in place).
               I had nightmares all night about godzilla, but i made it through the night, except i have no idea where the creature is now... i should have sprayed him with insect killer when i had the chance! He is probably prowling around the apartment as i type... i dont like him at all! i want him to go away. forever.
              Having a cockroach as a class pet is bad enough, i don't want a lizard as a house pet... sigh. the life of an African.

chili and lasagna... mixed together.

We had to sign up for a minimum of two extra curricular activities, so of course i chose the minimum.  I went for the easy route and signed up for after school computer lab duty.. which consists of sitting in the computer lab for an hour and a half.  Last time, no students came in to use it, so i felt a little bit useless.. but was kind of okay with it because i got a lot of grades done.. today 2 different kids came in and used it!  AND i finished grading early, and got some internet time in :) im feeling pretty goood about myself! 

now it is 5:00.. and there is still a kid in here and i feel bad about kicking him out, but i also want to leave.  ohh the dilemmas i face in africa.
here is a funny story for you.  I was grading homework and here is the question they had to answer:  "Do you like pizza, lasagna, or other Italian foods?  Write a paragraph about the foods you like or dislike." (it was for spelling... lasagna was one of their spelling words)
"I don't like spicy food.  I especially don't like chili although I've never tasted it before.  I think it will burn my tongue if I put it in my lasagna!"

There are just so many good things about that answer.  I love her.  We took some class pictures today.. i will put those up on facebook so you all can see.. i learned in college it was illlegal unless you ask the parents first... but maybe in africa it's different? i dont know.. thoughts on that anyone?? will i go to jail?

also, the computer lab needs a new key. it took me 10 minutes to lock the door. and i didnt even get it locked. i gave up. hopefully no computers get stolen...

Soggy Sunday

            It seems like all the really rainy days have been on the weekend.  And this time, I got caught without an umbrella. It wasn't exactly pouring when it was time to leave for church, but it was raining pretty hard!  So, I just ran through the river to get to church and showed up drenched. classy.  but, i found a good seat underneath a fan and dried off pretty quickly.
            I had made plans with the first grade teacher to go to lunch and do some shopping at the mall after church, she asked me if i still wanted to brave it.. after having a brief flashback of last sunday's adventures in taxi land.. i said yeah i want to brave it!
            So, after church, we borrowed a huge umbrella from Patty (who was originally going to come with us.. but decided she didn't want to "brave it") and started walking in the rain, trying to find a taxi.  There weren't a lot of them out, but finally we got one to stop and he said he would take us for 5000! which is 10 dollars... the regular price is apparently 1500.. or 3 dollars! so we said no thank you and kept looking for a taxi... eventually when we were ankle deep in water, we decided to turn around and go to a different restaurant that we could just walk to.
            By the time we were finished with lunch (and ice cream!) we were all dry,and it was just lightly sprinkling!
            And now here i am at school, trying to plan the next week.. but getting distracted like usual! A pretty uneventful day, i suppose.
            Missing everyone at home!  and missing un-natural peanut butter.  all i can find here is the kind with not a lot of sugar in it.. which you have to stir.  but im kind of getting used to it, i just eat it with some honey.. which is also pretty natural.. it has little black floaties in it.. im not sure exactly what they are.. but i think i will just continue not knowing. because the honey tastes good! and thats all that matters, right??

Goree Island

I wrote this yesterday. but since the internet in my apartment is still not working, im posting it today!!

            Today, I went to Goree Island with my friend Adama and her cute little 8 year old niece!  I thought we were going to N’Gor Island, and I’m still trying to figure out why there are two islands with such close names.  Anyway, we took a taxi (I’m getting pretty good at riding in taxis!) to the place where you take the ferry.  I had to pay FIFTY TWO TIMES as much for a ferry ticket since I wasn’t a resident.. what a rip off!! For a resident, its about 20 cents, and for a non-resident, it’s a little over 10 dollars, so it wasn’t really that much.  But, the fact that they charge 52 times as much is just a little ridiculous to me.  I guess I should have waited until after I went through that whole process to go to the island, but hopefully I will be able to go some more because it is seriously the most beautiful place I have seen since I have been here.. which I guess isn’t saying much, but I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing trees and flowers everywhere I go. 

            On the ferry, I saw one of last year’s students who would be in my class this year if he wasn’t moving schools! How do I know? Because he visited on Friday and hung out with us a while!  He’s super cool, and I’m a little bit sad that he’s not with us... but I have also heard things that make me thankful he’s not in the class.  Anyway, I waved to him and he said “heyyyyyyyy! Ms. Fisher!” (he speaks a little bit like Fonzy, not kidding!) he seems WAY older than 4^th grade.  Looks wise, I would guess him as a 5^th or 6^th grader, but personality wise I would put him as a sophomore in high school.  It sounds weird, I know.. but you would just have to meet him I guess!

            Towards the end of the ferry ride, this lady came up to me and introduced herself in French and started speaking to me, and I said “sorry I don’t speak French” so she started over in English!  She told me she had a shop that she wanted me to come to and she would give me a good deal.. I do not like the shop keepers here, way too pushy.. more on that later. 

            So, we got off the ferry and this guy is following us telling us he wants to be our tour guide, and I keep telling him no because he is just SO ANNOYING. He wouldn’t stop!  He kept saying “small island, big history” over and over.  But finally, I say okay because I just want him to stop so he takes us to the police station which was first a church and it was the first building on the island, and says a bunch of other stuff I don’t even understand.  Then, we go through a really pretty garden and he says some more stuff which I didn’t understand. 

            Then, we get to the slave house and he says “this man will give you a tour” so he makes someone else do his job!  It was really depressing inside there, obviously… and I understood the man who was giving this tour SO much better.  I told Adama I couldn’t understand anything the other guy was saying and she said “oh, well we can just get rid of him then!” but I was beginning to think that he had gotten rid of us!  I was kinda relieved!  So after we finish our tour of the slave house, we walk out and mr. tour guide is nowhere to be seen.  BUT THEN, he walks around the corner!  Adama tells him to go away and I try to give him more than half of what we agreed on and he gets all mad, and won’t take the money.  He just keeps saying “let me try again, I will speak more clearly” blah blah blah.  And I am just getting so scared.  Finally, Adama takes the money from me, shoves it in his hands and we walk away.  She is so brave.

            The rest of our trip to the island was much better.  We went to the top where we could see the whole island, and then we find the lady’s shop who talked to me on the ferry. She grabs my arm and pulls me inside and starts showing me things.  She tries to sell me a wrap for 10 dollars and then I say no thank you but she won’t let me leave!  Finally, I tell her I will think about it, so we continue our walk.. but on the way back she hadn’t forgot about me!  She was so mad when I told her I wasn’t going to buy anything!  She tried to make me think I was her first customer ever.. yeah right lady! What a liar.

            So then, we went to the shore and I stuck my feet in and the water was SO warm.  I think it was my first time ever in the Atlantic Ocean! 

            We got back in the ferry and went back to Dakar.. then we decided to do some shopping at the artisan market!  I was so overwhelmed in this place. I hated it.  So much. Everybody was grabbing us trying to make us buy things from them!  I ended up buying two little wooden giraffes which I am super excited about, a pagne.. the thing they wrap around their waists so their legs don’t show.  I have been borrowing my friends, but I thought it was time to get my own. And a wall hanging thing which I’m not super excited about.. but I mostly just bought it because the man made me.  I would be okay with never going back there in my life.  But, I probably will go back.. next time, though, I will have my pepper spray ready to tell them to BACK OFF!! Why can’t they just let me shop in peace?? Ugh! 

            We just had a meeting this week about culture shock and the different stages involved.  Theres the honeymoon stage, crisis stage (or “hostility stage”), humor stage and “at home” or adaptation phase.  The counselor told us we could go through a few or all of the stages in one day, which I definitely have been through at least 2 of them today.. I will let you take a guess as to which two.  She also said we weren’t supposed to write home when we were in the crisis stage…

            Anyway, all that to say, I think I definitely had a hostility/crisis stage at the market.   BUT, overall, I had a really great day although I did get a little sunburned.. I think I missed some spots with the sunscreen.  I’m just thankful it was a little bit cloudy, or else I probably would be burned much worse!

sad news...

           Our class pet is no longer with us.  Today, before lunch, the kids were washing their hands at the sink when 2 of the girls come running up to me saying "MS. FISHER!! THERE IS A CROCKROACH CRAWLING UP OUT OF THE SINK!!!!" so i, being the calm, intelligent adult that i am, just said "wash it down!" and they said "ITS TOO BIG!" so husky little Miguel marches over to the sink, picks it up by its antennas and throws it out the door!!!! i was terrified that the stinker was going to drop to the floor somehow and try to kill me!! but i am still alive, and the "crockroach" probably is still alive also, even after the 10 stomps that Miguel gave him after slamming him on the floor.
            Then Miguel walks back in and says "He was biting me the whole time." Do cockroaches bite??????????? blech.
            On a lighter note, i got made fun of for my non-french accent today.  I went to Tafa's to buy some bread for dinner and i don't know anything but vocab words.. like 10 of them. so i just say "bonjour..." and then "pan" for bread, so basically i sound like a cave woman.  Tafa corrects me and says "pan" EXACTLY how i said it! at least it sounded the same to me! its hopeless.  and then the two old men sitting on the bench say "bread!" and i say "oui oui oui!!!!!" BUT this time, i knew exactly the amount of money he asked me for.  (even before he said it in english) so i gave him money and i needed 50 francs for change, and as he is digging through his change bucket, i give him another 50, and he was so proud of me!!!  then he just had to give me 100 francs, which i guess was easier!  not only did i know how much to give him, but i could do math as well!  ..is probably what he was thinking.
             In other news, i paid $6 tonight for a tiny little tub of ice cream... sigh.

another dry day!

            Today I walked home under a sunny, slightly cloudy sky.  I heard some thunder as I walked through the THREE doors to get into my building.  Yes three.  One is a gate, the next is a metal jail door thing and the next is a glass door.  I walked up the looong flight of stairs, into my apartment sweet apartment, and just a few minutes after that there was BIG thunder that rattled the windows. Then, it started pouring!! The second time in a row that God waited to start the rain… JUST for me, I’m sure! : )

            I started to do the dishes, and then decided to go to the roof and enjoy the rain.  Best decision ever! 

            Here is a classroom story for you.. haven’t had much of those yet!  During math today I did a quick lesson and then gave them an assignment and told them I was just going to go and have some cookies because they could handle it on their own.. so about 5 minutes later, one of the little Brazilian boys raises his hand and says “so.. if we have a question, should we just ask one of our neighbors?” and I said “you can just ask me!” and he said “oh, I thought you were leaving!” and I said “oh, I was kidding! Did you all believe me?”  and the CUTE little Japanese girl said “well we never thought you would lie to us!!” yikes, way to make me feel guilty!  They obviously just don’t know me well enough yet.

            Also.. I tried to eat a mango tonight and it had black stuff in it… I was sooooooo sad.  (just had to get my daily mango post in, you know)

            Still wishing I would have gotten a whole tub of n’ice cream…