Report Writin' and Body Parts

First graders hard at work

As a first assignment at site, Peace Corps tasked us newbies with writing a Community Educational Needs Analysis.  We are to research and write this report within our first 3 months at site.  Now, I do not normally consider myself to be a procrastinator- I was the kid who went home from school and did my homework right away, but I have been putting off this CENA for as long as possible.  I have been slowly gathering research and observing English teachers for a few weeks now, and finally this week I have begun to put pen to paper (or typing to Microsoft Word, I guess).  I have just about 2 weeks left to complete my report.  One reason my CENA has been a little slow going is because it is quite difficult to track down the correct people with the information.  Even when you find the correct person, he/she may not have the information you need.  Plus with an unhelpful counterpart, who regularly blows off our appointments and when I do get a hold of him, tries to get rid of me as soon as possible, it’s been especially difficult to get this report moving.

Oh yeah, and there’s the fact that this report is a pain in the butt, and I just don’t want to write it!  I don’t think the Peace Corps properly read my resume.  Did they not notice that I my degree is in Baking & Pastry Arts?  We didn’t write research papers!  Class assignments consisted of making fruit tarts, French baguettes, petit fours, and cakes.  Lectures were on the history of chocolate, the properties of eggs, and the gluten content of different types of flour.  Final exams were making wedding cakes and sugar showpieces.  I’m not sure I’ve ever written a paper that is this research intensive and important.  Well, there was that third grade report on Prince Edward Island.  That was a challenge- for all you kids out there, those were the days before Al Gore invented the internet!  Fortunately I am incredibly smart and talented, and as you can judge from my blog, a gifted writer, so I’m sure that my CENA will be just fine.  

A class of 68 first graders

The main school that I am assigned to work in is called Addis Katama Primary School.  This school has approximately 2,850 students from grades 1-8, and 63 teachers.  Class size ranges anywhere from 50 to 70 students.  I actually observed one first grade class that has 73 students.  Just think about trying to control 73 first graders, never mind trying to teach them!  As you can imagine, the teachers here face many obstacles in the classroom.  A first grade student can range from 7 years old to maybe 13 years or older, and an eighth grader could be anywhere from 14 years old to 20s.  Many children, especially girls, are kept home from school to do household chores or help with the family business, particularly farming, livestock, etc.  Once a younger sibling comes along to take over these duties, or perhaps the family can hire someone, then this child goes to first grade.  As for the age range in eighth grade, there are those who start late of course, but also there is a country-wide eighth grade exam which must be passed in order to move on to ninth grade.  The students who cannot pass this exam, may re-take eight grade and try again, possibly many times.  Judging by the fact that there are 7 public primary schools in Ambo, 3 public secondary schools (grades 9 & 10), and just 1 preparatory school (grades 11 & 12), it’s a safe assumption that most students don’t make it past eight grade and even fewer go past tenth grade.  If a student does not pass the nation-wide tenth grade exam to move on to eleventh grade, he/she may attend a technical training college, including a teacher’s college and become a primary school teacher.  Hmmm, interesting….

I’ve spent most of the past month that school has been in session observing the English teachers in my primary school.  Inevitably the teachers love to throw the lesson over to me, asking “Alicia, can you teach them something now?”  After the first or second time I was caught off guard, I learned to ask the teacher ahead of time what the day’s lesson was on.  This week I observed a 1^st grade class.  The teacher informed me that the class was working on learning parts of the body.  I told him I had a great song that I thought the students would enjoy.  I taught him “Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes”.  When class began, the teacher wrote the words for the song on the board as I went over the words with the students, pointing out each body part mentioned.  Then, 68 first graders got up out of their cramped desks to sing and do the motions of the song.  The kids absolutely loved it!  We started off slowly, getting faster and faster each time, until even I could barely keep up with the motions.  We finally stopped when I was exhausted and my throat was completely dry.  It was so much fun to see the students all active and participating and all just having a ball.  Unfortunately students aren’t regularly engaged in classrooms here and learning is rarely made fun.  These are some of the things I hope to work on with the teachers during my time here.

Also this week, I started my English club for the teachers at my school.  I plan to hold the club twice a week so that any interested teachers can join.  Because of the overwhelming number of students and lack of space, public schools are split into 2 shifts.  The morning shift goes from 8am-12:15, and the afternoon shift goes from 12:30-4:45.  Grades 1-4 attend one shift, and grades 5-8 the other.  So students and teachers have a 4-hour school day.  Each month the shifts change, so for example right now grades 5-8 attend in the morning.  Next month, they will switch to the afternoon shift.  Anyway, this is my reasoning for running my Teachers English Club twice a week at two different times.  On Tuesday I had 9 teachers attend- 4 were English teachers and the rest were from various other subjects.  On Thursday I had only 4 teachers attend, but I did have 2 teachers tell me later that they forgot and will come next week.  I adjusted the time for Thursday’s club to be more convenient, so I expect a better turnout next week.  I originally didn’t want to start anything just yet because I will have to miss 2 weeks in November due to Peace Corps In-Service Training, but the English department head was pushing to start now.  It was actually really nice to have something to plan and work on this week- made me actually feel useful for the first time in a while.  I think the teachers all enjoyed it, and I am looking forward to starting some student clubs soon.

Some of the older first grade students

One of the newer and nicer buildings on my school campus

Most classrooms look like this though

and like this

Field in front to the school

A watched pot does, in fact, boil.

I have now been living on my own in Ambo for 6 weeks.  I have spent most of the past 6 weeks being extremely bored.  I have not been able to do any work yet because although school was scheduled to start over 2 weeks ago, classes are not yet in session.  My counterpart, who has been assigned to help me get work done, meet town and school officials, and basically support me and the Peace Corps mission is full of promises, but has proved to be unreliable thus far.  The first couple of weeks in Ambo, it was actually a relief to have nothing to do.  It was really nice to relax and catch up on some sleep after a rigorous 2 ½ months of training.  It was good to have some time to wander around town, find out where to go to buy the things I need.  After about 2 weeks though, I had slept so much that I had thrown off a normal sleep pattern.  I had no reason to get up in the morning, nowhere to go, and nothing to do, so I would just stay in bed until noon, sometimes I would fall back to sleep in the evening, then I would be awake until 3am.  I have never before been so bored.  Sure, at times I would have nothing to do back in the U.S., but then I could watch t.v., go drive somewhere, call a friend to hang out, something.  Here it’s a whole new level of boredom.  There’s only so much I can walk around town.  Plus a simple walk through town is anything but simple.  There will be stares from every person I walk past, children asking for money, people shouting out at me from across the street, “ferengi, feringi, where are you go?”  On one walk to the post office, I had a young man walk with me (uninvited, of course) and ask me all about how to get a visa to America (I have no idea, call the Embassy), why I am not married (because I neither want nor need a husband), do I want a habesha husband (absolutely not!), could he have my phone number (sorry, my phone is only for work), could I give him an English book (nope), where do I live (over there, pointing to everywhere and nowhere),  could he come to my house (not a chance in Hell, kid).  I finally ditched him once I arrived at the post office only to run into him again later that day, and have him ask again for my phone number and if he could come to my house.  I’m sure you can see how this could become quite annoying.

One thing I have done to combat my boredom is to enact a strict “no multi-tasking” rule.  I absolutely will not allow myself to do two things at once.  If I am cooking dinner, I will sit and watch water until it boils, rather than doing something else in the meantime.  Then, I will do whatever else I have to do later in order to stretch out my time.  I have also become an old lady, and I enjoy doing crosswords and other puzzles.  I have read a lot of books and written a lot of letters.  I have watched all the movies that I have, some multiple times, and you know, The Lucky One just isn’t good enough to watch over and over, but I’ve now seen it 3 times. 

Many Peace Corps volunteers have a site mate- a fellow volunteer assigned to the same town.  At first, I was glad to not have a site mate because I wanted to discover things on my own, and make my own way here.  I know that if I had someone, I would depend on that person to show me the ropes.  I am really glad that I have done a lot of things by myself.  It has not been easy, but I have managed.  That being said, there will be a health volunteer coming to Ambo in a couple months.  The new group of trainees has not even arrived in Ethiopia yet, and I have already made this person my new best friend and planned all sorts of things we can do together!  Haha  Hopefully he or she will be cool and not think I’m too nuts!

Carrying torches to light the Meskal bonfire

Bonfire, but nobody brought marshmallows! What's wrong with these people?! haha

In other news from Ethiopia, this week, we celebrated the holiday Meskal.  Meskal is celebrated by the Orthodox Church and commemorates the discovery of Christ’s cross.  Part history and part legend, the story says that Empress Helena sought to find the cross upon which Jesus died.  In order to find where the cross was buried, she lit a fire and followed the direction of the smoke.  The smoke led her to a site and after digging, 3 crosses were discovered, one of them said to be the True Cross of Christ.  Part of this cross is located at a church here in Ethiopia.  On the Eve of Meskal, neighbors come together to light bonfires, some with crosses fashioned at the top.  During this time yellow daisies are in bloom everywhere, these Meskal daisies are used to decorate the bonfires and also in homes.  It was really interesting to observe this celebration, and to see friends and neighbors come together.  As at home, Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, Meskal is the unofficial end of the rainy season.  I am very happy about that!

Another Meskal tradition- bands of men go around chanting/singing/praying (who knows?!) and collecting money

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Before furniture- living like a bag lady!

Yay! Clean and organized. Now I'm just waiting for a couch.

I am also happy to report that my furniture was finished this week.  About a month ago, I ordered a coffee table, chest of drawers, and kitchen piece from a local carpenter.  Finally, with the help of my landlord and his truck-owning friend, we picked up the furniture on Wednesday afternoon.  I feel so much more relaxed and settled now that I have finally unpacked after almost 4 months!  It is a great feeling to have a clean and organized home.  I didn’t have enough money to order all my furniture at once, so this week I ordered a couch which should be ready in another month.  I look forward to being completely settled into my house soon.