I enjoy my life

A few days ago AJ and I were have light lunch at a local hotel. I received a phone call and the person on the other end asked what I was doing. At that exact moment the entire Malawi national soccer team walked through the door. So I answered oh you know grabbing some food hanging out with the Malawi national football team, the normal. It gets better.

Last night we went to the world cup qualifying Burkina Faso vs. Malawi football (soccer) match. Loads of fun and tickets were only 300CFA, less than one dollar (I thought National’s tickets were cheep). We were at door 18, no assigned seats just the assigned door so we sat in the front row.

Burkina won the match 1-0, should have been 2-0 but the Malawi keeper stopped an incredibly weak penalty kick from BF. No real excitement at the game just your standard football match, no deaths or fights or anything fun like that.

After the match it was time to chill out and grab some dinner. Siddo, Greg, Brad and I went down to Ouaga2000 to pick up another friend. Once we got him we were leaving to meet up with the others down town. We were side tracked because we passed a hotel and Siddo informed us that it is the hotel the national team uses. So we popped in for a drink.

Of course once we get in we realize we have a contact who works at the hotel. So we talk with him for a moment then he asks if we want to meet the team. At the time they were eating dinner in the next room. So we said sure, why not. So we were escorted in and got to meet the whole Burkina Faso national football team, just standard stuff. We went back to the bar area and our friend asked if we wanted to get some pictures with the team, sure, why not. So we got some pictures with some of the players. Then he asked if we wanted to go meet the goal scorer, sure, why not. So we went up to his room, got to meet him and take a picture, you know the normal stuff.

In any case it was all very exciting and fun. Just nice to be in the right place at the right time.

I wanted that sandwich

I’m getting into the swing of things with my three schools. However there are some bumps on the road to knowing what I’m doing. At my most organized school we actually have tests for the students from time to time. Sadly I was not aware of the system for these tests. The first test my students took with me was given by a fellow teacher. I thought the central office made the test and then I simply administered it. WRONG!

So this past week my students were scheduled to have a test. The test dates are set by the school not by me. So I arrived at school with a short warm up exercise that would last roughly an hour leaving two hours for test time. I thought it would be the same as the first test and a fellow teacher would come in with the test at the second hour. Of course that would be too easy so when I got to the teacher’s lounge my advisor came to me and asked if I had a test ready. No I didn’t thinking the central office had the test for me. Apparently I’m supposed to write the test for the students, no one had told me this. So I had to quickly throw something together and have it typed up by the secretary.

They then informed me that normally I should bring my test to the secretary three days before the test. This was all information that would have been useful before the day of the test. Also at this school there was an issue with a student wanting to marry me. She gave me a nice middle school style letter and everything with a greeting line that said “dear (your name)”. I thought that was sweet, NOT!

Sadly this type of thing is not uncommon here. There are many instances of teachers dating students so students are not really shy about being upfront. I’m in no position to pass judgment on some of the cultural peculiarities, but this is not the standard in the States or the way I choose to conduct myself. If something like this happens in the states you would normally go to your advisor to have it sorted it. Not really the best option here because my advisors don’t necessarily take these matters seriously.

I addressed the situation myself telling the student (who transferred into my class, brought to me by a fellow teacher) that if she wanted to stay in my class then there are to be no more letters or anything of the sort. At the time I was trying to tell her this she was trying to give me a sandwich she had bought for me. I really wanted that sandwich too but I declined a continued being “stern” with the student.

The following week I was approached by my advisor and he asked if I was having a problem with the student being in my class. Without trying to spread the students business I informed him there was a problem but I discussed it with the student. Apparently the student went to my advisor and told him that she felt like I didn’t want her in the class and that I was being very short with her. I told him that there are most likely other reasons she thinks I’m being short with her.

My advisor said simply, laughing the entire time and standing with two other English teachers, “we are all men, we know HAHA”. Again, this is not really the level of concern that these types of issues would warrant in the States. On top of that, the same English teacher who brought that student to my class also brought two senior girls to and told me that they wanted some help with their English. I thought no problem we can work one hour after my normal class.

This English teacher informed me that those two girls were not happy with the introduction that he gave them. Apparently they told him they “wanted more than just that”. So my fellow English teacher is acting as my pimp and sending me girls. Of course they don’t mind either that these girls are trying to throw themselves at teachers. This is just another unfortunate reality in life here. It is however nice to once again be confronted with a real situation and have to take a stance, a stance that is not forced by law or passed on from parents or churches.

Often times we say we think something is wrong because we were taught that it was wrong but we have never been confronted by the real situation where a discussion has to be made. Now confronted with the real situation I agree wholeheartedly with the laws and teachings that we have on the particular issue. I think it is better to learn the facts so that when you are confronted with the situation you can make a sound choice. It’s one thing to say you think or believe a certain thing about an issue when you’ve never been confronted by it; it’s another to think or believe something and practice it and believe it because you’ve had to make the choice.

Me and the Police

This week was the second time I have had to set foot in a Burkina police department. The first time was because we were driving the wrong way down a one-way street. That wasn’t our fault there were no indications of any sort saying it was a one-way road. The officer took our moto then sent us inside. Happily the person in charge was an old friend of Siddo’s from back in Fada, so they let us go.

This time was a bit different. At least this time I was not at fault in any way. Sadly the reason for this visit was the stolen purse of one of my housemates. So…I was awakened early (not realy it was about 9 but I didn’t get to bed until 5am on account of a freshly returned friend from the states) and summoned outside to speak with two police officers.

I don’t have to tell you that my French is not perfect. My French is even less so after only 4 hours of sleep. So in what I understood (which wasn’t much) they police had apprehended the gentleman who had swiped the purse. That’s good news, the bad news is now we would have to go to the PD to give a story.

So about an hour later we left for the PD. I along with my housemate met with the directive or whatever his title is and gave him an account. All this was done through my broken translation of what the detective and my housemate were saying. Long story short they Police now had the purse and we could pick it up but not until later in the afternoon. This whole process took maybe two or three hours while the detective hand-wrote a three page report on the event.

Later that afternoon we went back to the PD to retrieve the purse and items. On the way into the office I heard rumblings to the effect of “you get to meet the guy”. My perception of how this happens in the United States involves a two way mirror and no way for the frick’n guy to see me/us. Not in Burkina though.

We walk in to the office and there on the floor in his underwear is one hand-cuffed prisoner. Great, that’s just what I wanted and expected. The officer takes this prisoner out (good news) but then brings in another. This one is the one apprehended with the purse. So he sits there on the floor and gives some account, denies were made about the amount of money in the purse blah, blah, blah, standard attempt at sounding slightly less guilty or at least less malicious.

Pastor Zongo was with us and of course he got a little preachy toward the guy (I should say kid he was only 16) and told him something that I mostly tuned out from being tired. However, I did catch that this kid is the son of a government representative. I don’t know on what level, be it local or national but whatever, the point is the kid didn’t need the money my guess is he just though it was fun something stupid like that.

Any way we got the stuff back and I’m sure some sort of deal will be struck and the kid will walk, but for now I believe he’s spending time in a cell at the PD. My understanding of the process is that they strip you, take whatever you’ve got on you, and the only way you get fed is if your family brings you food.
Other than this thing are good, Monday was a holiday so no work. It’s November and that constitutes a yay!

Peace
Ben