Break!!!

I'm officially on "winter" break. Ha, yea right. It's hotter than ever right now, and I wish I could just touch some snow. But they tell me we'll have about 15 days of cool Harmattan winds in January before the long hot season kicks in. Harmattan has actually already started up North (where I'll be travelling for Christmas and safari!!), so I guess I'll get a little break for the holidays.

So, two weeks before the break we had a week long of exams. All classes are cancelled and students take one of two tests per semester in every subject which will count for 1/3 of their grade. While there are no classes, professors are still expected to come in to "proctor" exams. I put the word proctor in quotes here because in the Beninese context it's a very loose term really only obliging the professor to pass out and collect the tests. I often saw professors standing outside of adjoining classes chit-chatting or walking 10 mintes to the admin building if they were one copy short and had already passed out the tests. Not exactly a strict no-cheating policy.

Given this set of circumstances you can imagine the incredible resistance and disrespect I received when I went in there and actually demanded quiet and watched them like a hawk for 2 hours. There's no pre-assigned proctor schedule (you just show up and take the set of tests at the top of the stack), so I proctored classes from 1st to 4th year. The older they got the more infuriated they were with me. When I told them they couldn't turn the test over until everyone had one they started screaming. I explained that's what's fair and some of them actually agreed and calmed down, but the others just kept protesting. Then I wouldn't even start passing them out until I had silence which just got them screaming again. Twice another (male) professor stopped in asking if I wanted help to which I replied "no", knowing they'd just take the stack and tell the chatty kids to take one and pass it, thus undermining all of my efforts.

Despite immense frustrations, the week turned out to be incredibly rewarding because I realized that my own students do actually respect me more than I thought they did. For both levels that I teach (1st and 2nd) I was tasked with writing the exams that all students in that level would take simultaneously. Given that the school's secretary doesn't speak English, she typed up my handwritten copy with numerous errors and so I had to go into each class and write and explain corrections on the board during the exam. I can't even describe how refreshing it was to walk into my own classes! For one, their faces all lit up and they seemed encouraged by me stopping by. But even better, in my own classes I actually got quiet when I reminded them talking was cheating, whereas elsewhere I was only greeted with laughter. Other classes wouldn't be quiet (nor would their proctors make them) and often would ask me ridiculous questions just so others could keep chatting.

Beyond the fact that my classes do actually moderately behave for me (respectively, anyway), the average grade in all of my classes was above the passing grade of 10 out of 20! In Benin, this is considered a success. Three classes had an average between 10 and 11, and the fourth was 12.6 (clearly an exceptionally bad proctor, there's no way that's feasible...). Generally, I was really happy and I'll admit pleasantly surprised with how it all turned out. Right after break we'll have to hit the ground running, though, because the 2nd set of big exams is in 3 weeks and then it's the end of the semester. Crazy how time flies! January 1st I will have been gone 6 months already!

Anyway, another cute story- this past week I taught all of me classes Jingle Bells and all about our Santa Claus. It was hilarious when I asked them where Père Noel (Santa in French) lives, because they all started naming the bigger cities of Benin and then arguing over who was right. Then some of them said he comes the day of Dec 25, while others said he visited the night of the 24th. So clearly there isn't really a solid story around his existence here in Benin, and I don't know if children ever actually think he's real. Anyway, when I explained that he lives at the North Pole with children-like elves with pointed ears I know at least half of them thought I was serious. Then I told them how he flies around the world and lands on everybody's rooftops (which led me to have to explain what a chimney is). I think (and hope) that by the end they knew it's just a story, but I guess you never know... Then they all asked for Christmas presents to which I explained that in the US it's the students who give the teachers presents. A couple offered to bring me some moonshine but the rest just said no.

Me blowing out my birthday candle at our awesome 80s bash! (note the sweet prom dress in the background)

AHHHH I'm so frustrated...I had this plan to upload a couple of random pictures but one takes so long that it turns out to be only one because I have to go now.

So instead of another random pic, I'll give you a random piece of information about Beninese culture- It is completely culturally acceptable to pick your nose. More than a few times I've been in a conversation with another adult and they totally stick their finger right up their nose. When I call on kids in class they always stand to answer, and sometimes they stand up and start picking their nose right in front of everyone. At first I was so tempted to laugh, but little by little I'm getting used to it. It's still so funny to think about in general though, and if I start picking my nose all the time when I get home you'll know why...:-)

goats & turkeys

So...I've realized that most of the pictures on my camera from the last three months are of my puppy, haha...so here are two of the most recent. The second one is of Jasper and my adopted goat. My neighbors bought this little goat right before I got there, and because it's from outside, the other goats shun it and they leave it out of the goat pen (I also think my neighbors dont really feed it as much). Anyway, when I first got Jasper he was half the size of the goat and I was terrified whenever he went near it. Well, as you can see now he's about the same size and we've all become great friends, I even named him "our friend the goat". When Jasper gets hyper he loves to run and jump on the goat, although goats play by ramming their heads together, so then Jasper tries to get away before the goat gets him in the stomach. It's hilarious. Jasper's food comes wrapped in manioc leaves, which I've started feeding the goat, so he's not so shabby anymore. They even take naps together on the stoop! It occurred to me last week that the holidays are coming up though, and I'm gonna be really depressed if my neighbors feast on our friend the goat!! I'm sure they appreciate how I'm helping to fatten him up though...I'll keep my fingers crossed...

In other news, my birthday and Thanksgiving were fantastic. I was up north for a week long training with all the other English teachers, so I got to celebrate with a lot of people. The night of my birthday we cooked a delicious Mexican feast (brownie cake for dessert!) and had an 80s power hour, complete with the best 80s wardrobe you've ever seen. You cannot believe what you can find in the markets hear that people threw away in the states. Not only did we have leg warmers and off the shoulder sweatshirts, but full on prom dresses and very official looking shoulder-padded business suits. It was classic.

Thanksgiving was just as fantastic, complete with giant turkey legs, stuffing, mashed potatoes (made by yours truly), sweet potatoes, and so so much more. All 19 of us sang amazing grace beforehand and after we went around the table and said what our experience in Benin has made us most thankful for. I said it was my education, but not just my formal education, more so the overwhelming amount of knowledge we have that we don't even realize and the fact that more is available at out fingertips (thank you google). The average Beninese person can't afford a newspaper or a book, or even read a map, let alone use a computer or time at an internet cafe. Anyway, after giving thanks we played a really fun get to-know-you-better game by pulling questions out of our watermelon cornucopia...good times!