classes and cooking

Last week was my second full week of teaching at the school and I was
confronted by my inadequacy and lack of experience. Again and again
lesson plans had to be put off so I could once more review the work we
had gone over the day before. But I’m improving. By Friday I felt like
I had a handle on teaching and reviewing. But by that time my 5e class
(basically grade 7) had already had their first English exam. I had no
say in the matter because the exams are scheduled by the
administration and then all the classes of the same level take them
together. Because the kids were taught some of the material by an
other professor, mom and hannah were trying to keep me from beating
myself up about the 10.6 average (that’s out of 20). 35 out of 52
people in my class passed. And the Chadians who I discussed this with
seemed to think that wasn’t too bad.
However, because the exam had been badly photocopied, the other prof
who teaches the same level I do decided we wouldn’t count this exam.
So now the kids have to write a second exam that will actually count.
At least I can make sure they are prepared for this one. As for
teaching this week, it’s going well so far. But then again it’s only
been one day and 2 classes. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes.
One thing about being an English teacher, I’m always thinking about
the tenses I use and if they fit the definitions/uses I am providing
my students with. Always looking for the exceptions, and it’s really
odd to be thinking that much about my native tongue.
The interesting story of my week is as following:
The director of the school is enjoying showing me off and invited me
to a board meeting on Saturday to eat with them. He told me to show up
around 12, so I walked over there and had sandwiches with the board
(baguettes with either beat or eggs/veggies in them) and then walked
home when the board meeting started up again. However, after I had
showered and sat down to help with the family lunch, the directors
daughter and chauffer showed up at my house to bring me back.
Apparently the actual meal was at 2. I got there, they were half way
through the meal, I joined in, ate in like 10 minutes, and then was
escorted back home. I thought this was hilarious, but my parents
assure me that in Chad it’s important that you are there to eat with
people, not that you actually do anything while there or stay for a
ridiculous amount of time. So I ate chicken cooked in oil Chadian
style and couscous. Delisious. And as always, terrified of getting
little buggies in my tummy. But so far so good.
Another good story, that illustrates how hard life is here:
Lately Hannah and I have been missing good conversations with young
adults. One thing my parents had hoped to do here is host a young
adult bible study with both Chadians and expats. And so, we decided a
few weeks that we would make this a reality. We invited our Chadian
and expat young adult friends and some girls from the choir at our
Chadian church. We planned to have the study in both French and
English. And we set the date for Sunday, Jan. 30. Chadian church
(which is a whole other topic that I hope I will have time to cover)
ends around 10 so we planned for 11:30.
Okay, so now we get to the tricky part. Our househelp, Jean, got hit
by a motto on Wednesday morning while she was on her way to work. She
had a huge gash in her leg and wasn’t able to work all last week, and
probably this week too. So that means we had to do all the cleaning
for the gathering on Saturday. And cleaning here is a lot more
vigorous. Mopping all the floors with a scwegy (like the thing you use
to clean car windows) after sweeping up the ants, dust, and crumbs.
And then the baking. A few dozen buns, soup, and chocolate chip
cookies doesn’t sound that intimidating. Now think really carefully
through the recipies.
Soup: lots of veggies. Need to all be bleached, peeled, cut, and then
cooked. Okay, not horrible. We got that one started in about half an
hour to forty five minutes.
Buns: hot water for the yeast = boiling a pot on the stove, then
waiting for it to cool. While it was rising, we realized the oven
wouldn’t shut. Call in our very own handy man = father. Buns formed
like normal and set to rise for a second time, dad still fixing oven.
Finally, oven is fixed and buns can go in. there are 4 trays. They can
go in one at a time. And there is no temperature gage on the gas oven.
Hot, hotter, or either and adding water to the base pan to slow down
the cooking. I chose hot and water (that’s what I use to bake bread).
By now the buns on the trays have run into each other and flattened
out. Not much we can do but put them in the oven. Set my phone for 15
minutes. Check the oven. Not even close. Okay, 5 more… and so it goes
for about half an hour a batch. And I’m still working on the soup. And
on supper for Saturday night. Finally the buns were done.
Cookies: I thought these would be easy. First thing: brown sugar, that
means molasses in white sugar. Not too difficult. And then I opened
the new molasses container and the built up pressure had the lid
flying on to the floor and spreading stick molasses all over me, the
table, and the floor. I laughed, cleaned it up and got back to work. 2
tablespoons of hot water. So I boil another pot. Finally the dough is
made and the cookies are shaped. I put them in the oven. 8 minutes
turns into 25 for the first batch. 20 for the second. So I set the
timer for the third for 15 minutes. And we half a batch of charcoal.
Sounds about right.
A whole day of work, from 3 pm until 9 pm simply getting ready to host
a few people for the bible study on Sunday. But the study was amazing.
The food was great, and it was so much fun to discuss between Chadians
and expats. I really enjoyed it.
That is just a little bit of my life here. I want to write about so
much more but it’s already 8:30 and I want to send pictures with this
email which might take God knows how long and I still need to make my
lesson plan for 11 o’clock. I wanted to write about church, I wanted
to tell you about the kids who smile at me when I walk around, and the
men who stalk me on their mottos or ask me to come home with them.
I wanted to share about our homegrown tomatoes that taste like heaven
and tell the tale of home-improvement in Africa (which is basically
that my parents kept talking about what they needed for their house,
but I felt that nothing was actually happening. So we made a list of
all the things they need to buy by the end of Feb when their budget
runs out. And then we tried to get started on that list yesterday. We
went to look for fabric to appolester their couch,and after driving
around, failed miserably. So I’m beginning to learn that things take a
long time, and I’m not so frustrated with my parents grand plans, but
more worried if it is actually possible to get it all done by the
28th!).
And then there are all the stories about solar power and fans and
electricity in the middle of the night and bucket showers because we
haven’t had running water during the day in a very long time. But all
that is going to have to wait for my next email. Maybe I’ll get it
written tonight.