I Work With MKs

And I'm still trying to figure out what that means.

Check out this.

SPRING BREAK!

The kids are gone.

I'm reading books.

Lesson planning's fun

But I'm not hooked.

I try to get off campus

Each moment that I may

Today I went to the tailors

And ordered a complet (said in french...so it's 'complay')

I spend each evening out

Reviving my social life that's flat.

Niamey's so great.

I saw a dude eat a rat.



*ok...so I wasn't feel all THAT poetic today...stick with me though...I promise the next one will be better

Quote of the Day - Kennedy who?

Steven: a junior whose parents are Togolese, but he was born in America where he has spent very little time.

"Aunt Cindy, do you remember what you were doing when you heard that President Kennedy died?"

"How old do you think I am?!!"

Kids!

Quote of the Day

Asyncrite (for whom English is a third language)

"Aunt Cindy, when I first met you, I thought you were going to be nice."
-- emphasis on the 'nice' part.



I just stared at him.

Grande Mosque

My friend Jenn took me to the Grande Mosque this Thursday.
Muslims pray five times a day. On Friday you are supposed to try to make it to the Grande Mosque. I've heard that all of this 'parking space' is full of worshipers on Fridays.

It was pretty cool. I was surprised how much the architecture resembled the Alhambra in Spain (a Moorish Palace Addie & I saw on our Amazing European Adventure)

Our tour guide guy was kinda grumpy. He just ran us through the building.
I think he was disappointed in our meager offering to the mosque.Anyway, so when you enter to pray (we were not praying) first you must wash (we didn't wash).


The 'religious leader' does the call of prayer from here. That's what the microphone is for.

Check out the carpet. each design is a prayer rug and is large enough for one man to kneel and pray.
He puts his forhead on the dome of the building. Everyone's heads will be facing east...toward Mecca, which is depicted on the rug.This is the overflow of the mosque. The men have two rooms that are huge and open all the time. The women's part was locked (interesting) and they had two tiny rooms...which I neglected to photograph...silly me.

Islam defines a Nigerien. So many elements of their life are tied into this religion. Although it is a strong enemy, we hear some incredible stories of God moving through this country. He's reaching for these people! Keep praying for Niger and her people. This is a hard land and it is in the clutches of a hard religion.
Hard, but not immovable.

Accreditation

A team came out this week to finalize the accreditation process of the school. We are glad they are finally here since they were supposed to come on coup d'etat weekend. However, because of the delay, only two of the four persons were able to come. A man and a woman.

On Tuesday they spent their time wandering around the school and poking in on several classes. The guy stopped in on the second half of my double period that day. I felt my heart drop. I was really hoping to have slipped under the radar on this one since I only taught one class. Oh well. There he was!

We are reading Pride & Prejudice in class and having a fairly good time doing it. Well, I am anyway. I tried to act pretty normal and just teach as if he wasn't there. He seemed to be enjoying himself so I almost forgot about him. The kids were great! They were excited about what we were doing and really participated in discussion. The regular kid only fell asleep once! It was amazing!

He sat there for nearly 20 minutes! I was thankful for the smile he had on his face or I might have died! When he finally left the room, I just sat on the floor in front of all my laughing kids. Just as my brain started to relax as the knowledge that the observation was finally over sank in, my door opened again and the lady walked in. EEEEEK!

Good thing I had stood up a few moments earlier.

She sat for about 5 minutes and left.

Game over!

This morning, as I walked out of the library the man stopped me. Here it comes, I thought. He's going to tell me Sahel would have been accredited if it wasn't for the insano English teacher.

"I really enjoyed your class and your enthusiasm for teaching! You are a good teacher." he said.

Immediately, I dropped my books and ran towards him. I tackled him in a giant bear hug while sobbing and blubbering something about Ms. Bennet and Caroline Bingly.

Oh, wait.

No I didn't.

It turns out, he's a really nice guy! He wasn't scary at all. We had a nice chat and then I left.

Except I couldn't stop smiling for a few hours.

A good day is improved.