We have been in "dry" season since basically October. Now, I lived in San Antonio for 4 years and it's pretty dry there, but there was still the occasional rainfall intermingled throughout the many sunny days all year long. Here, they were joking when they said DRY! Not a single drop of rain from October until March 29th. Even then, it was simply a sprinkling.
Today, however, we got rain! I had been promising everyone that when it finally rained I was going to go outside and play in it wherever I was. I happened to be at home with a friend who refused to join in the fun and even my little 4-year old neighbor refused to play, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! It had been around 110 degrees for multiple days...so HOT! Despite 3 showers per day, I was sweating constantly...and that cold water from earlier in my stay is now just nice and toasty! :) Hence I LOVED twirling around in the pouring rain and cool breeze!!! Even the mud is delightful after all the dust! Yay for changes in seasons! :)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Trekking yields community
I know I've mentioned trekking before, but it has become a part of my identity here. I'm no longer "the bature"...I'm "the bature who treks everywhere". I meet complete strangers on the street and they ask me why I trek everywhere. In fact, someone today asked me if I was scared to take taxis. I said that I do take them, but I prefer to trek. First of all, it's good exercise. In addition to running in the morning, I'm able to walk about 3 miles after school too which allows me to eat all the yummy Nigerian food!
More importantly, it has allowed me to meet and connect with MANY people in Jalingo. If I were taking taxis and bikes all over town, I would have missed hundreds of conversations and have many fewer friends. People here are so open and friendly and are very interested in engaging in conversation and trekking, an aberrant behavior here, is a perfect conversation starter. I love it!
Going to the market or electronics shop is not like visiting HEB or Best Buy where the employees are there one day and gone the next, but these shops are the peoples livelihoods and LIVES! They are always there and ALWAYS ready to chat! Sometimes I'll decide to stop in for a pure water at a store that I've passed day after day and invariably they'll ask me where I'm going and why I always trek and a new friend is made!
I'd like to live somewhere that is conducive to trekking. Everything and everyone seems so much more connected that way...much more of a community!
More importantly, it has allowed me to meet and connect with MANY people in Jalingo. If I were taking taxis and bikes all over town, I would have missed hundreds of conversations and have many fewer friends. People here are so open and friendly and are very interested in engaging in conversation and trekking, an aberrant behavior here, is a perfect conversation starter. I love it!
Going to the market or electronics shop is not like visiting HEB or Best Buy where the employees are there one day and gone the next, but these shops are the peoples livelihoods and LIVES! They are always there and ALWAYS ready to chat! Sometimes I'll decide to stop in for a pure water at a store that I've passed day after day and invariably they'll ask me where I'm going and why I always trek and a new friend is made!
I'd like to live somewhere that is conducive to trekking. Everything and everyone seems so much more connected that way...much more of a community!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Skin Color
Again...the topic is perspective, but this time it's in relationship to skin color. My entire life I've fought against being really white. When I was younger (and I still fight the urge as an adult) I used to purposefully try to be out in the sun without sunscreen. Now this did and still does mean trying to evade my mother and her endless warnings about the perils of skin cancer, which I'm fully aware of and find myself preaching to others. My motivation was of course to become tan, or have darker skin. While everyone was tanning prior to prom, I was being told there is no way I would ever be allowed to do that. (I'm now extremely thankful for that and regularly teach my students about the dangers of tanning beds.) The point of all this is, white Americans have a strong desire to be tan, or darker than they are naturally made to be.
I don't know why I never realized the obsession that black Africans have with being lighter. They do everything to stay out of the sun and avoid anything that might cause them to be darker. They also buy creams and lotions to bleach their skin in order to make it lighter. It cracked me up! My Nigerian friends were aghast that people in the US try to be darker! :)
I think we need to all simply embrace the color that God has made us instead of trying to modify His creation! :)
I don't know why I never realized the obsession that black Africans have with being lighter. They do everything to stay out of the sun and avoid anything that might cause them to be darker. They also buy creams and lotions to bleach their skin in order to make it lighter. It cracked me up! My Nigerian friends were aghast that people in the US try to be darker! :)
I think we need to all simply embrace the color that God has made us instead of trying to modify His creation! :)
Lesson in Humility
I was pretty nervous before coming here about how the other science teachers would perceive and respond to some girl from the US coming and trying to implement all her American teaching techniques and labs. I worked really hard to keep my suggestions to a minimum in the beginning and simply teach my own classes according to my student-centered, hands-on way. I have been so blessed with wonderful colleagues at the school and specifically the four teachers within the science department. Of the four, only one has had any appreciable training within the field of education and none of them had done any practicals (hands-on lab activities) either in their secondary science education or during their higher education. They had simply been taught everything on a theoretical level. Needless to say, practicals were not being done because it is difficult to improvise with materials and do activities that you have never experienced yourself.
I was pleasantly surprised and excited when they were really interested in doing and learning how to implement many of the activities. Specifically, the teacher who teaches Integrated Science was very interested when she saw the JS3 students doing an acid-base activity using basic household materials such as various fruit, soap, baking soda, bleach, etc to test the pH values with a pH meter (Thank You OLLU Grant!), blue and red litmus paper. I told her I’d be happy to write up what I did and give it to her. She said, “No, I want to DO it!” So, we got out the materials that we’d just used in class for her to try. She was enamored by the pH meter because she had only read about such devices before, but never actually seen one and when it gave her a numerical value for pH, she was delighted. Then, when we got to the pH paper, she was telling me the definitions about how red litmus paper turns blue in a base, but she had never actually taken a slip of the paper and dipped it into a solution and SEEN it change! She was giddy with excitement!
When we were done, she was SO incredibly grateful for showing her the new practical and looking forward to implementing it! There was not an ounce of pride or irritation that I was showing her something that she didn’t know. I feel that oftentimes in the US, I am reluctant to appear ignorant about certain things want to prove my abilities…especially to other science teachers. However, by feigning understanding or boasting about what I do know, I am only limiting what I can learn from others around me. I was humbled by my friend’s unassuming and willing attitude and hope that I am able to emulate that mindset as I join a new staff back in Madison, WI…(hopefully…we can all be praying that Madison Metropolitan School District wants to hire me as a chemistry teacher!)
I was pleasantly surprised and excited when they were really interested in doing and learning how to implement many of the activities. Specifically, the teacher who teaches Integrated Science was very interested when she saw the JS3 students doing an acid-base activity using basic household materials such as various fruit, soap, baking soda, bleach, etc to test the pH values with a pH meter (Thank You OLLU Grant!), blue and red litmus paper. I told her I’d be happy to write up what I did and give it to her. She said, “No, I want to DO it!” So, we got out the materials that we’d just used in class for her to try. She was enamored by the pH meter because she had only read about such devices before, but never actually seen one and when it gave her a numerical value for pH, she was delighted. Then, when we got to the pH paper, she was telling me the definitions about how red litmus paper turns blue in a base, but she had never actually taken a slip of the paper and dipped it into a solution and SEEN it change! She was giddy with excitement!
When we were done, she was SO incredibly grateful for showing her the new practical and looking forward to implementing it! There was not an ounce of pride or irritation that I was showing her something that she didn’t know. I feel that oftentimes in the US, I am reluctant to appear ignorant about certain things want to prove my abilities…especially to other science teachers. However, by feigning understanding or boasting about what I do know, I am only limiting what I can learn from others around me. I was humbled by my friend’s unassuming and willing attitude and hope that I am able to emulate that mindset as I join a new staff back in Madison, WI…(hopefully…we can all be praying that Madison Metropolitan School District wants to hire me as a chemistry teacher!)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Misconceptions about the U.S.-Addition!
I know that prior to coming here, I had many misconceptions about how life here in Nigeria, specifically Jalingo and they are being correct daily. However, I wasn't aware just how absurd some of the misconceptions were about the U.S. Here are a few that I have found amusing:
1. White people from the US can't sing and clap at the same time.
(Now, while I agree that my sense of rhythm is significantly inferior to that of the Nigerians around me, I CAN clap and sing simultaneously!)
2. Walking down the street in the US, you are likely to get shot.
(I try to convince them that the movies are not real life. While there are murders that take place, if you are mindful, you will be safe!)
3. When you turn 18 years old, the government provides you your own home and a salary.
(Yeah right! I laughed pretty hard at that one!!)
4. There are no poor people in America.
(They are shocked to hear that there are hungry, homeless and jobless people in the US.)
5. People lose power in the US, just not as often as in Nigeria.
(They can't fathom electricity 24/7!)
I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting, but there are high-profile people that are propagating these crazy myths because everyone tells me the same things. They don't believe me that I'm not living in a government-provided home...We all have a lot to learn about our neighbors across the ocean!
6. People in the US commonly participate in contract marriages. They claim that here it's legal and acceptable for people to agree to only be married for a certain number of years.
(Now I recognize that divorce is exceedingly common in the US which is a shame, but I tried to explain that people here don't PLAN to only be married for a short time...it just happens. They were surprised!)
Picture Update...though this the same link as previously, there are more pictures added to "February Fun"...despite the fact that it's March. Sometimes the process is a little slow!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61701&id=501312909&l=f8c53ad007
1. White people from the US can't sing and clap at the same time.
(Now, while I agree that my sense of rhythm is significantly inferior to that of the Nigerians around me, I CAN clap and sing simultaneously!)
2. Walking down the street in the US, you are likely to get shot.
(I try to convince them that the movies are not real life. While there are murders that take place, if you are mindful, you will be safe!)
3. When you turn 18 years old, the government provides you your own home and a salary.
(Yeah right! I laughed pretty hard at that one!!)
4. There are no poor people in America.
(They are shocked to hear that there are hungry, homeless and jobless people in the US.)
5. People lose power in the US, just not as often as in Nigeria.
(They can't fathom electricity 24/7!)
I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting, but there are high-profile people that are propagating these crazy myths because everyone tells me the same things. They don't believe me that I'm not living in a government-provided home...We all have a lot to learn about our neighbors across the ocean!
6. People in the US commonly participate in contract marriages. They claim that here it's legal and acceptable for people to agree to only be married for a certain number of years.
(Now I recognize that divorce is exceedingly common in the US which is a shame, but I tried to explain that people here don't PLAN to only be married for a short time...it just happens. They were surprised!)
Picture Update...though this the same link as previously, there are more pictures added to "February Fun"...despite the fact that it's March. Sometimes the process is a little slow!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61701&id=501312909&l=f8c53ad007
Monday, March 9, 2009
Faith in Nigerians!
I left my flash drive at the internet cafe. I was pretty sure I was never going to see it again. Every time a Nigerian sees my flash, they are enamored by it despite the fact that I have seen exact replicas here in Jalingo. However, to my delight and surprise, when I walked into the cafe 4 days later, it was had been collected and kept for me!!! YAY! While the Nigerian government may be one of most corrupt entities in existence, there are many wonderful and honest Nigerians with integrity!
Slowing Down
Living in Jalingo has been trying to teach me to slow down since I arrived. Many of the strategies it has attempted haven’t been my mechanisms of choice i.e. slow internet, random power outages, waiting 15 minutes for a taxi before remembering why I trek everywhere. However, today I recognize the value of taking 3 hours to complete a task that could have been accomplished in 20 minutes. Whereas back home, I’m certain I never considered that to be a valuable skill. Now, accomplishing a 3 hour task in 20 minutes that was frequently a goal and occasionally attained.
Today, I was able to appreciate the value in slowing down long enough to:
-eat oranges with the magazine salesman and find out that he is getting his masters in Agricultural Science;
-sit down and have a 15 minute conversation with a woman who sits alone at a mattress shop all day;
-learn a few new Hausa phrases from the guy who tried to fix my phone, was willing to lend me a charger in a crunch;
-reduce my “solider-like” pace so that I could walk with a group of little Muslim girls who were thrilled to “shake me”;
-express my gratitude that my pocket-sized supermarket had finally stocked Diet Coke and let them know low-fat milk would be a good next step;
-heed a “tsssst” from across the way to explain why I don’t want to print my digital pictures from a standard printer while holding the smiliest Nigerian baby I had ever seen;
-sit down outside the restaurant by my house to listen to the little girls’ song and memory verse from school today.
Now, while I recognize that having more than 10 stops and conversations doesn’t necessarily sound like slowing down, for me it is. I wasn’t in a hurry. I was able to sit and linger in conversation with people without checking my watch. As I sit here, I wonder if this scenario is possible in the US. I know that I can purposefully free up my schedule, but would there be the same opportunities for impromptu, leisurely conversation or is everyone such a slave to pre-determined activities that even if I did make a conscious effort to make myself available would there be anyone around to interact with? I used to associate slowing down with being lazy, unproductive, and lonely, but I am beginning to see it in a new light.
Today, I was able to appreciate the value in slowing down long enough to:
-eat oranges with the magazine salesman and find out that he is getting his masters in Agricultural Science;
-sit down and have a 15 minute conversation with a woman who sits alone at a mattress shop all day;
-learn a few new Hausa phrases from the guy who tried to fix my phone, was willing to lend me a charger in a crunch;
-reduce my “solider-like” pace so that I could walk with a group of little Muslim girls who were thrilled to “shake me”;
-express my gratitude that my pocket-sized supermarket had finally stocked Diet Coke and let them know low-fat milk would be a good next step;
-heed a “tsssst” from across the way to explain why I don’t want to print my digital pictures from a standard printer while holding the smiliest Nigerian baby I had ever seen;
-sit down outside the restaurant by my house to listen to the little girls’ song and memory verse from school today.
Now, while I recognize that having more than 10 stops and conversations doesn’t necessarily sound like slowing down, for me it is. I wasn’t in a hurry. I was able to sit and linger in conversation with people without checking my watch. As I sit here, I wonder if this scenario is possible in the US. I know that I can purposefully free up my schedule, but would there be the same opportunities for impromptu, leisurely conversation or is everyone such a slave to pre-determined activities that even if I did make a conscious effort to make myself available would there be anyone around to interact with? I used to associate slowing down with being lazy, unproductive, and lonely, but I am beginning to see it in a new light.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ice as a Delicacy!
Ice...it's something that most people in the US have in their freezer right now...(unless someone forgot to refill the ice tray)! However, here in Jalingo, with extremely limited electricity, cold water is a treat. Ice is a mere figment of one's imagination. Therefore, when I wanted to do a practical where the students plot a heating curve by starting with ice water and taking the temperature every 30 seconds until it's boiling. I knew that finding "ice blocks", as they're called here, would be challenging so I was grateful when a friend of mine offered to take his car and get them for me the morning of the lab.
What I hadn't fully anticipated was that the students went CRAZY when they saw ice. They were basically heartbroken when they had to place the ice in the water and purposefully melt it. Then, they kept coming up saying they needed a few more pieces of ice because it wasn't quite cold enough...yeah...really they were eating it!
At the end of the day, I had one block left and I took it to the staff room where it was quickly parceled off. As I was laughing to myself about the fact that everyone was so excited about ice, I realized that I hadn't had any ice since August and I was pretty excited about it too! :)
What I hadn't fully anticipated was that the students went CRAZY when they saw ice. They were basically heartbroken when they had to place the ice in the water and purposefully melt it. Then, they kept coming up saying they needed a few more pieces of ice because it wasn't quite cold enough...yeah...really they were eating it!
At the end of the day, I had one block left and I took it to the staff room where it was quickly parceled off. As I was laughing to myself about the fact that everyone was so excited about ice, I realized that I hadn't had any ice since August and I was pretty excited about it too! :)
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