September 5th, 2012

        Last week I was in Freetown for our Mid-Service Training (MST).  As
usual the training inspired and motivated me to come back to site and
get started on a plethora of new activities! Ha.  While I know we can't
possibly tackle all the issues and fix every problem there is here, I
enjoy hearing new ideas and learning about what my fellow volunteers
have done or brainstormed.  Of course I always come back with way more
ideas and plans than any one person could ever imagine to accomplish
(yet for some reason I always think I can do them all). But at least
the planning keeps me busy even if the plan/ idea is never fully
realized.
        So here are some of my plans for my second and final year of service:
1.      Continue with girls club (I already printed t-shirts for them),
having weekly meetings as well as big events for World AIDS Day and
International Women’s Day.
2.      Start a health and sanitation campaign.  This would involve buying
soap and water containers for local schools to keep outside by the
latrines.  This would be accompanied by sensitization activities held
at the schools teaching them about germs and the importance of
hand-washing.
3.      I would also like to draw the world map on both my school and the
primary school I help with.  It is a common Peace Corps activity and
includes an instruction manual on how to do it.
4.      I would like to work with my fellow teachers and administration to
create and use alternative punishment techniques in order to reduce
the use of corporal punishment.

So those are more or less the plans.  Oh plus the usual teaching.
This year I am teaching both math and language arts to my JSS 2 and
JSS 3 students.  This means I am teaching 28 periods this year plus
the extra classes twice a week after school for JSS 3 and the extra
class once a week for Class 6 at the primary school.  So hopefully I
will be busy.  Better to be busy than bored!

        Anyways before MST me and 2 other girls brought our Sierra Leonean
boyfriends to Freetown for a triple date.  It was fun hanging out with
everyone and doing a somewhat normal dating activity.  It is also nice
to get a good mix of Sierra Leonean and American sometimes so everyone
feels comfortable.  This way the boys could hangout and talk about
what interests them (football) and the girls could talk about other
things.  Sometimes when it is just me with Mohamed and all his friends
I have trouble engaging myself in the conversation and the same
happens to him when we are around all Peace Corps volunteers.  So this
was a happy medium and I think everyone had a good time.  We went to a
beach bar the first night and then ate dinner and played cards.  The
next day we went to a nearby beach and ate good food and were later
joined by other volunteers.  So all in all a good time was had.
(Oh and the beaches here are amazing so I would recommend you all come
visit someday!)

And now a small success story:
So in my town there is a little girl that has always been terrified of
me and cries on sight. Well finally, she is warming up to me a little
bit.  She is still pretty scared of me but she will greet me and
answer when I greet her.  She even consented to sit down next to me
for about five minutes the other day! haha So while her threshold of
being near to a white woman is still pretty low, it is getting better
and I am slowly but surely breaking through the barrier.  Peace Corps
teaches us to celebrate all the small victories with the big ones.  I
count this as a victory.  Maybe one day she will be able to see me
without feeling the urge to turn and run as quickly as possible in the
other direction.

Okay well that’s all for now!

Holiday

So I have been back in Sierra Leone for a month now.  I have mostly just been hanging out in Fadugu and thinking a bit about the start of the school year.  I will be teaching math and Language Arts this year which is exciting!
I am currently in Freetown for our Mid Service Training on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Until that time I will be on a triple date with two other volunteers and their Sierra Leonean boyfriends.  It should be fun having us all hangout together and go to the beach and stuff. 
Theres not a lot to update people on for now.  Check out all the pictures I put up on Facebook from our safari trip and my family's visit to Sierra Leone!

Dear Friends of Sara,

We are excited to tell you about Sara Metzler’s Peace Corps Partnership Program project. Since its inception in 1964, the Peace Corps Partnership Program has helped thousands of Peace Corps Volunteers implement community-initiated projects worldwide. Now Sara is taking on a new Furniture Construction project in Sierra Leone that needs your support.

This project, developed to address a pressing community need, will be implemented by both Sara and local partners. This project will benefit the people of the community for many years to come.

In order to begin implementation, Sara must raise $1,445.93 from friends, family and other interested donors. Sara and the people of the community are asking for your assistance to turn this project into a reality.  The easiest way to donate is to visit www.peacecorps.gov/donate and search by the project number, 636-013.   Although the web site is the quickest way to make a donation, you may also make a check payable to Peace Corps Partnership Program and send it to:

     Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters
     Peace Corps Partnership Program, OPSI
     1111 20th Street NW
     Washington DC 20526

 

Be sure to indicate the project number, 636-013, on the check so it will be applied to the correct project. Please note that due to security procedures, checks sent to Peace Corps via regular mail can take up to 4 weeks to reach their destination. We strongly recommend donors to send check payments through an expedited service such as FedEx or UPS as this will dramatically speed up the delivery process.

Also, if you’re looking for ways to make your donation go even farther, check with your employer to see if they have a matching gifts program; many companies match donations dollar for dollar. Furthermore, consider forwarding this email to anyone else who may be interested in supporting Sara. Remember that gifts supporting this project are tax-deductible!

Please feel free to contact our office directly at 202.692.2170 or 1.800.424.8580 x2170 with any questions you might have. Your support will go a long way to aid Sara’s efforts in Sierra Leone.

Best,
Caitlin Gliniecki
Peace Corps • Office of Gifts and Grants Management

Vacation Time

Whew so a lot has been going on the past few weeks.  From weddings, to
safaris, to the fambul (family) in Sierra Leone, times have been
exciting!
        So first of all, about 2 weeks ago two Peace Corps Volunteers from my
group got married! The wedding was in Freetown and all the PC
volunteers and staff were invited so it was basically a big party for
everyone and a good chance for everyone to hangout before Salone 1
leaves.  The wedding was held in one of the nicest hotels in Freetown
and was absolutely beautiful.  Everyone wore Africana (dresses made
from African fabrics) so we were a very colorful and a very shiny
group! ha It actually almost reminded me of prom because everyone got
ready together before the wedding in one of the hotel rooms so we all
did each others hair and makeup. It made me miss going out and getting
ready with friends back in America haha.  Then there was the ceremony
which was very nice followed by a fabulous dinner and then it just
turned into a party!  The next  day I headed to the airport with
Mohamed and 4 other volunteers.
        To get to the airport in Sierra Leone you have to cross from Freetown
to Lungi in a Ferry.  The trip over is about 1 hour long and was
pretty uneventful.  The airport was a bit hectic but I made my flight
on time and was on my way to South Africa!! After reaching
Johannesburg safely I waited in the airport for 8 hours because I
missed the car to the hotel but don’t worry I bided my time by
exploring the airport, using flush toilets, and eating all kings of
delicious food like grilled cheese and an oreo shake.. yummm
Eventually my family made it to South Africa and we all headed over to
the hotel together.  We spent one night in Johannesburg before heading
to the Game Reserve.
        The safari is set up so that you go out on game drives with the same
guide and group of 10 people twice a day for 6 days.  It was cool
because you become friends with the other people in your group and at
the lodge so you can joke around and have a good time even when you
don’t see many animals.  Lucky for us though our game drives started
out with a bang! On our first day we saw giraffes, rhinos, zebras,
buffalo and elephants to name a few.  The elephants literally walked
right next to our car.  The people in the back of the car could have
reached out and pet them if we weren’t all a bit afraid of the
elephants charging the car.  The next day we went on a game drive at
the neighboring game reserve to try and see lions and leopards.  The
lions were a success but the leopards not so much. While we were out
driving around looking for the lions they made a kill.  The lions
killed an antelope so we got to drive up and see them all eating.  The
cubs (when they said cubs I assumed cute little cats but they were
massive!) weren’t too hungry so they were pretty playful and fun to
watch.  When we tried pulling our land cruiser away though one of the
cubs was stalking our car as though we were the next prey. Fortunately
though we made it away safely.  Earlier we had also seen a black rhino
up close and personal.  Again I was a bit nervous he was going to
charge That evening we saw the cheetah at our game reserve eating and
saw some giraffes fighting.  So apparently giraffes fight in slow
motion by hitting each other with their heads.  It looks ridiculous.
ha but highly entertaining.  Then we saw the male cheetah eating.
After the second day we didn’t see much of anything new at the game
reserve.  We also went on a boat tour to see crocodiles and hippos one
day and then went over to the beach off of the Indian Ocean.
        Okay well that is a long enough update from the Safari. The pictures
are much more interesting and explain what I saw pretty well anyways
so hopefully I will be able to get them up soon!
        So next my family came back with me to Sierra Leone.  After a super
long flight we finally made it safely to Lungi Airport with all of our
luggage.  Mohamed met us at the airport with our rental car so we
packed up and headed back across on the ferry.  The first night we
just went back to the house we were staying at, ate some dinner and
went to sleep.  The next morning we headed to Fadugu.  We stopped in
Makeni on the way to see my host family and just get out and stretch
our legs a bit.  My host family was very happy to meet my family.
Then we continued on to Fadugu where we were swarmed by my excited
neighbors as soon as we got out of the car.  So that night I just gave
my family a tour of Fadugu.  Everyone was very excited to meet them
and told them tons of nice things about me. ha  The next day my school
put on a cultural program for my family.  Some of the girls did
cultural dances for them and then we went to see my school building.
That afternoon Mohamed had arranged a football (soccer) match to be
played for our entertainment.  Also throughout our stay in Fadugu we
distributed the clothes and toys my parents sent which people were all
very happy to receive.  The kids went a bit crazy though and we
eventually had to have Mohamed lure them away with candy.
        Friday we left with the hope of going on a beach tour.  Unfortunately
our car broke down just outside of Waterloo so we ended up having to
take public transport into Freetown and just went back to the house.
It was definitely a bummer but a good cultural experience for my
family I guess.  The next morning we went to the Chimpanzee sanctuary
which was also very cool.  On our way out of the sanctuary our car got
stuck again haha and we had to wait for someone to tow us out.
Eventually we made it to the beach and went for a walk and had a
delicious fish and chip dinner.
        Sunday my family left.  Mohamed and I took them to the airport to
drop them off and left quickly in order to make it back on the next
ferry.  So hopefully they all  made it home safely!  Overall, the trip
went well.  A couple of roadblocks were encountered while in Sierra
Leone but I think it just helped them to really see what the country
is like and some of the hardships encountered here.  I am glad they
visited and would welcome any one to come and see the life I live!! ha

Love and miss you all!

Okay so let me apologize in advance for the lack of organization/
coherency in this post.  It is kind of late and I couldn’t sleep so I
figured I might as well write a blog post.  Needless to say it may not
be my best work but I think it covers most of whats been going on.
        Well its been a busy last few weeks.  First of all, school was
wrapping up so we had exams every day for 2 weeks and of course it was
my responsibility to collect all the exam questions from the teachers
so that I could make sure all the exams started on time and everything
proceeded smoothly.  ha Luckily I had to go to Bo for training to be
on a panel of volunteers that are currently in relationships with host
country nationals (aka Sierra Leoneans).  The training is for the
incoming volunteers so it was fun going to meet all the newbies and
finally feel like the cool, experienced volunteers for a change.  So
it was nice meeting them and imparting what little wisdom I have to
offer.  Also, it was a lot of fun just hanging out with some of the
other volunteers there to help with training.
        Anyways, after 2 days in Bo I returned to Fadugu and continued
administering and proctoring exams until last Thursday.  So we are
finally done with exams. Now I just have to enter the marks for 14
subjects onto about 100 students report cards.  What I am really
looking forward to is hopefully putting on a little Awards Ceremony
for the highest achieving students.  I am planning on having it just
after they give back the report cards and giving away some of the
school supplies I have as prizes.
         I also went to Kabala last Thursday to give a math lesson for our
BECE candidates (When you complete JSS 3 you have to take an external
examination, the BECE, to continue on to the Senior Secondary level).
Anyways, they had to take the math portion Friday morning so they
called me in to give a last minute refresher course.  So I arrived in
Kabala at approximately 5 pm to meet them all hanging out and just
starting to cook.  So we decide that when they are done cooking and
everyone is done eating I should give my lesson before they have their
Religious Education lesson.  After just sitting there for 2 hours they
were finally done and we go take class for about 45 minutes before my
time is done.  Then the next morning it took me 3 hours to get a car
back to Fadugu.  All I can say is at least a handful better pass the
maths portion (last year only 2 people passed so I’m looking to double
it and have 4 pass.  We’ll see how it goes).  But the kids were really
excited to see me there and see that I care so going wasn’t a complete
waste time.  Hopefully it will have been a bit of a morale boost
before the last two exams if nothing else.
        As you all may remember I have been talking about my girls club and a
program we have been planning.  The program happened this past
Saturday and went as smoothly as things do here I think.  Friday
evening I was a bit stressed as an American who is used to having set
plans and organization in a place where nothing happens until the time
of the show.  So I was very anxious about the fact that at our dress
rehearsal no one was in costumes and up to that day we had never had a
practice with everyone in their specific roles because one or two
people always failed to show up.  Mohamed did his best to explain that
that is just the way things happen here but I have to admit that
didn’t calm my nerves too much and I may have been a bit short with
him.  Poor Mohamed, he has to put up with a perfectionist American
that likes efficiency and timeliness in a place where time doesn’t
really matter.  Fortunately though he was right and things worked
themselves out in the end.  The girls got ready Saturday morning and
even though, as per usual, not everyone showed up the show still went
well and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Also, four other Volunteers
came to watch so it was great to see their support of our efforts.
The crowd was a bit smaller than expected but I think that’s mostly
because we started pretty much on time and people here are used to
plays lasting 3 or 4 hours and ours was only 1 hour long so people
were still trickling their way in until the very end and even after
the show had been done for 2 hours people would ask me if we had
started yet.  Overall, I think everything went pretty well especially
considering it was everyones first show and I am excited to continue
working with the girls club when school reopens.
        Tomorrow for the 4th of July a few volunteers that live relatively
close are planning on coming to Fadugu to cook some American food in
celebration of Independence Day.  I am excited to try and cook some
new things and hang out with some other volunteers.  Other than that I
don’t have too many plans now that school is done.  The 17th-19th I am
attending a math/science conference in Bo as one of four
representatives from the Peace Corps Volunteers.  I was excited to be
chosen for that.  It is always nice to feel like someone actually
appreciates your work.  After that I will head to Freetown for a
wedding of two volunteers and then I get to go to South Africa and see
my family!! I am so excited to finally see them and then to show them
where I am now.
        Finally, thank you all that have contributed to my grant! I really
appreciate your help and my school is also very grateful for the
assistance.

Love and miss you all,
Sara

ONE YEAR

So today marks my one year anniversary in Sierra Leone!! WOOHOO!!! Things are going great. Love the work and have no regrets about volunteer two years of my life to live and work in Sierra Leone.

Tuesday May 29th

            Well I’ve decided to update my blog since I have had the past 2 days off from school.  I fainted in class Monday morning which apparently terrified the students and staff so they have forced me to just rest and relax.  Which to be honest I am fine with.  I really was quite exhausted yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed being able to just lay in bed and read or sleep all day.  And today I have been able to plan for my girls club, record grades, wash my hair, and now try and update all of you lovely folks out there reading this.  So you may be wondering what caused me to faint.. The most likely culprit is dehydration and low blood sugar.  Anyways the event caused quite an uproar in school and all of my students came to see me after school to tell me sorry.  Poor kids. Can you imagine a foreign white woman just collapsing in the middle of teaching you how to change decimals to fractions? Literally every kid in all 4 of the classrooms in the building was on his/her feet and rushing to see what happened.  Oh man. Well at least I finally accomplished my goal of getting everyone in the class to pay attention to me and not sleep. ha And I have had a nice little 2 day vacation to catch up on some much needed rest and to get a little ahead in my work.  Also, Mohamed has been the best nurse taking care of me and lecturing me that my health is more important than teaching, and “health is wealth.” ha At least he is looking out for me.  Oh and my sitemate Chelsea has malaria.  Things haven’t been great for the girls in Fadugu (update as of May 31^st, her health is much improved. The malaria is gone she is just a little weak.)

            Well that has easily been the most exciting event in my life for the past month but let me try and update you on the other mundane occurrences in my life.  School is going alright.  We just had midterms last week and as per usual the majority of my students failed the exam.  Even my JSS 1 students failed and their exam was just 4 questions, one of addition and subtraction, one of multiplication, one of subtraction of decimals, and one word problem.  And yet still at least 75% of the class failed.  These are things they should have been learning for at least 3 years in primary school, but the majority still appear as though they have never seen a decimal point in their lives.  Oh well at least a few kids in all of my classes are trying and doing well.  In each class I had a couple students get 100% so I know if they really pay attention they could do well and I cant possible be that terrible of a teacher.  It is just frustrating that education isn’t seen as that high of a priority.  On any given day there will be at least 10 students gone in each class to work on the farm, or to sell, or just because they didn’t feel like coming and there is no adult supervision that would force them to come.  I guess all I can do is my best but it is still hard when I see so many things I want to improve but know I cant possible tackle them all.

            On the positive side, one thing I am very excited about is my newly established girls club.  At the first meeting we had 41 girls show up.  This is much more than I actually wanted for my girls club so I asked any girls that were still interested after the meeting to write me an application letter just expressing that they were interested.  I ended up receiving 20 letters and 15 girls actually came to the first meeting which is the perfect number in my opinion.  We had elections for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Assistant Secretary which all went smoothly.   Then we decided to plan what we wanted to do.  I want the girls to be in control of the club as much as possible in order to really enforce that the club is for them and can be used to address the issues they are interested in and to build their confidence to voice their opinion and run a club.  Anyways, they decided the first topic they wanted to address is Teenage Pregnancy which is very important here as I think something like 70% of girls in Sierra Leone have had a child by the time they reach the age of 20.  So that is the first topic we will discuss as a club and the girls also decided that in addition to our weekly meetings they would like to plan a play to present for the community as well.  The play would obviously focus on teenage pregnancy and would try and educate the viewers on the consequences of teenage pregnancy and how to avoid pregnancy until you are ready.  All the girls were very excited for the chance to perform and practice.  Plays (or concerts as they call them here which is quite misleading for us foreigners who might expect music given the name) are very popular and people love to watch what is essentially a soap opera put on stage.  So the girls cant wait to start the planning and preparation for their own concert.   I am also excited because I think it is good to start with something that will get them invested and interested in the club and that can show the community what the club is doing.

            This weekend I am going to Bo for a bachelor/bachelorette party.  Two volunteers from my group got engaged back in February or something and the wedding is this coming July so they are having their respective parties this Saturday evening.  It should be a lot of fun to see everyone and to celebrate the event together! 

Okay well that’s plenty for you all to read for now.  As usual love and miss you all! If you have anything you want to send for me you can send it to my parents and they can bring it when they come to see me in July!

Here is a message from Mohamed:

Hey! Sara is the person I am always thinking of and I’m always pleased to be with her wherever life takes us. I am always in place to give her the fullest protection she deserves. I hope you guys are doing well and I cant wait to meet you, as I am very excited from what Sara has told me about you guys. Sara has been very honest with me all this while and helping me learn the American culture and always practice it. With tons of love…

Aww those Sierra Leoneans such romantics… Mohamed is doing well.  He has been helping to teach at both my school and Chelsea’s school so hopefully one of these days someone finally decides to compensate his work with at least a small stipend.  He has also played a very big role in helping me start my girls club and co-facilitates the meetings with me.  It is nice having him help when things get lost in translation.  We are also currently looking into some schooling options in America for him to see if he would be able to be an international student at a school in Michigan.  So hopefully we get the applications for that in this coming fall and then we just have to pray he gets accepted and some financial aid!  Overall, things have been going really well and he has definitely been a big help to me in getting some projects off the ground and to advise me on what would and wouldn’t work here and how to act appropriately in sensitive situations such as burials and things. 

Okay well now to end with a few “Only in Salone” moments:

Only Na Salone:

·        - Are mayonnaise sandwiches considered both delicious and nutritious

     spiders the size of my hand don’t scare anyone, but small garden snakes should be killed on sight.

·         will children run away from me screaming because I am white (at least I’m assume that’s the reason and its not actually because I am hideously disfigured)

·         can I convince a child to do any chore for me by promising him/her a reward of a pencil, pen, or even just a few almonds. 

·         will the children actually volunteer to do chores for me with an expectation of nothing

·         is mayonnaise mixed with ketchup a perfectly acceptable topping for a salad..

·         would the timekeeper at a school not have a functional watch or phone

·         would I consider buying a goat to increase my financial worth

·         is a goat worth 25% of my monthly salary

·         have I seen a two-year-old child say “f*** off” and not be punished for it. 

·         would my boyfriend think taking me on a date to McDonalds would be considered romantic

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile but considering my internet access is slightly limited I think I've been updating you all pretty well.. Ha but I might as well admit I have become a bit of a slacker when it comes to keeping people updated.  Its just that most of my life here seems pretty mundane now.  I mostly just teach and then hang around town or on people's porches.  My day-to-day activities dont vary a ton and I dont want to vent all my frustrations to the general public.  But I will try and find a few interesting tidbits from my life to share with you all today!

Well first of all, since my last blog post we had exams at school, break between term 2 and 3 which I spent half in Fadugu and half in Freetown, and now we are back at school and have been open for 2 weeks.

So let's start with exams.  First of all, not to brag but just to illustrate how schools are run here, I basically ran all the exams.  I made the exam schedule and had to collect all the exams from the teachers so we would have them in case the teachers didnt show up on the day of their exam.  You may be thinking, "teachers would never skip their exam day" but you couldnt be more wrong.  Some didnt even seem to know when their exam was scheduled for and had to write questions on the spot.  Anyways, after collecting all the exams, I then had to write the exams on the blackboards (at least for the morning exams since I am always the first to school).  Finally, when all the exams were done and results were calculated, I was lucky enough to get the job of entering them all, by hand, to the report cards.  Now those of you that know may be wondering how on earth I got that job since my handwriting resembles that of a 4 year old boy, but I guess they just knew I would actually get the job done.  But I just finished entering all the grades so I am finally done with that.. and guess what?? After not having school for the three weeks before exams, I would say at least half of the students failed all of their exams. Shocking. Okay so I feel like this reads pretty negative so I would like to counter this by saying, despite all the work I do enjoy teaching and I do enjoy the company of all the other teachers at my school.  Its hard to blame them for not being super committed when most of them only get paid $10 a month, which isnt enough to live off of even here.

Okay next, when exams were all done it was Easter!! So here Easter isnt really celebrated until the Monday after Easter.  Then, in Fadugu, everyone climbs a small hill and goes and celebrates on flat spot on top.  So me and Mohamed made the hike up the hill and just hungout for an hour or so before coming back down.  We wanted to come down before the mad rush of people all came running down the hill but about 2/3 of the way down, the music cut and all the kids started whispering "they're coming. They're coming now hurry."  Haha I felt like I was in a horror movie and zombies were chasing us or something.  But the danger wasnt due to zombies but due to the fact that since the hill was pretty steep, the favorite way to come down among locals is by running down the hill.  So essentially a stampede of people was threatening to overtake me as I slowly made my way down trying not to trip on any branches or rocks. Dont worry. I made it down safely.  Also, this weekend Chelsea's family and one of her friends were here visiting so it was fun hanging out with some Americans for awhile and most importantly picking up a few tips on what to do and what not to do when my own family comes.

After Easter I was just biding my time in Fadugu for the week before heading to the beach and Freetown.  I went to a beach called River No 2 for a night which was absolutely gorgeous.  White sand and palm trees and warm ocean water.  So I stayed there for a night with about 10 other volunteers and then went and stayed with Mohamed for a few days in Freetown.  Then I switched to the Peace Corps hostel for a few days and attended a workshop on Life Skills.  I really enjoyed the workshop and feel newly motivated and ready to get going on some projects like starting a girls club and having a career day to teach my students about opportunities available to them.  Also, we had to bring counterparts from our towns and my counterpart was just thrilled to be there and kept thanking me at every break for inviting him so I was glad I brought someone that really enjoyed the workshop and will be eager to work with me in Fadugu.  The rest of the time in Freetown I just spent time with all the other volunteers going to the beach or eating good food.  It was really nice to just get away for a bit and talk with other people that know exactly what I am going through.  Sometimes you just need to vent to someone that understands exactly what your talking about or share ideas/experiences of things you have done.  Also, sometimes it is just nice to laugh and talk with someone who understands your sarcasm and has similar interests and opinions.  All in all it was a very nice break.

So finally, we are back at school.  As per usual the first week of school is a joke, with neither teacher nor student in attendance.  I think we averaged about 15 students a  day and maybe 4 teachers a day.  So yeah the first week allowed me to ease myself back into the school schedule by teaching the kids that were there for an hour or two and then going home to nap. haha This past week though the students and teachers have started showing up so we have followed the real schedule and I have actually been able to teach a few classes.  Unfortunately my JSS 3 students who will be going to sit their external exam soon seem to have a case of something equivalent to 'senioritis' and are not taking class too serious anymore.  This is very annoying because they still need a lot of practice (and I really mean A LOT) if they have any chance of passing the math BECE.  I would estimate that only 2 or 3 of the 80 students will pass.  Which is actually common and expected here.. Anyways their incessant chatter during my classes has really started to strike a nerve and I dont know what to do since they dont care about school so all my threats are empty.  Also, it has become pretty aggravating for all my classes, for me to ask a simple question and have a class of 50 all just give me blank stares.  As much as I really really love some of my students, some days it can be just a little too frustrating and I cant wait for the school day to end.  But as I just said there are some kids I really care about and want to see succeed so much.  They are just so cute and try so hard!! Unfortunately there are also a few I really like that try really hard but math just isnt their subject.  Oh well.

Alright well this post is super long so I'll just leave it at that.

Love and miss you all!