Saturday, October 16, 2010

Song Requests: Part I

I'll start with little sis's questions, because they're here and accessible, and I have internet access. I got a few more very good writing suggestions, which I'm going to work on when I get a chance in village.

She asks:
1. Do you want to come back next year or are you dreading it more than youre looking forward to it?
Yes. I look forward to coming back. It's been two years already since I've seen snow. It'll be three by the time I see it next. And of course there's American cuisine--tube steaks and meat patties, hormone-pumped chickens with breasts so big, meaty and boneless as to make Playmate jealous. And I dearly miss my Rock'n'Roll. I feel so unable to express myself without amplification. I often think of my stereo, sitting in a corner, gathering dust.

Still, things happen to me daily that I fear the loss of. I just recently started taking my study of Moore seriously--and if I don't learn a lot quickly, I never will. And who cares if it's not useful back home? It's just kind of cool... Will I ever learn to make dolo? What will happen in my students lives? What great things will they grow up to accomplish?

A great number of my volunteer friends from my last year of service have finished their service. Will I ever see them again? How quickly it goes...

But I'll be glad to go back. To be on track towards somewhere. To work hard and be able to rely on co-workers with a professionalism and attitude towards work that, unfortunately, is rare here. And the simple access to resources. My work here moves so slowly not only because of the culture, but because of the sparsity of infrastructure.

Still, that's a year from now. I'm only half done, and it's not until now that I feel truly capable in what I do here--work and otherwise. So it's far too soon to start dreaming of ice cream cones and microphones.


2. How is the dry season coming along?
Not quite dry yet. It still rains about weekly. But before I know it, i'll be waking up in the middle of the night to dig dry black rocks out of my nostrils.

3. How is school going? I hear you are teaching Physics and Math this year. Do the kids get it? What types of labs are you doing with them?
Good. Yes. Two math classes and one physics/chemistry. Math is fun. I can do exercises and ask applicable questions to the kids. In the lowest level, some of the kids--especially at the beginning of the year like this--have a very feeble grasp of french. It's frustrating to ask a four word question and get a blank stare in response. But the'll get a hold on it soon enough. No labs to teach. No labs to teach in! I do experiments in front of the class, reminiscent of the Late Show's "Does it float?" and my own pyrotechnic experiments in the back yard as a kid.

4. AFRICA HAS SNAILS?!??!?!
Yes. In Moore, they are called garweongo ("gar-ah-way-own-go"). Seems excessive in syllables. Guy was BIG, though!
I also saw the biggest snake on the african continent on a hike the other day. I was about to jump off a rock I had been climbing with my new volunteer neighbor, when she pointed out to me the strange, scaly, diamond-shaped texture of the ground deep down, between the weeds. I pulled up a nearby plant and started poking it down below. Suddenly, the earth shook. The weeds around the beast shuffled like a hurricane was passing. The clouds parted and lightning struck. I felt myself floating up above the ground, in the presence of a mythical god--the African Rock Python. It's a boa constrictor. It eats goats, my village friends say. We don't think it's ever caught a kid.
Moore: snake=waafo, african rock python=waa-kenfo. Best leave him be...

5. How DO magnets work?
Perhaps it was thoughtless of me to propose this question. I think it has to do with the ionization of the metal inside the magnet. It creates circular fields which grow more neutral towards the middle of the magnet, and align anything with a charge along it's axis, which is in fact perpendicular to the axis of an electric field. I forget why this matters. Perhaps it doesn't. Perhaps nothing does.

6. Do you want Chili's chips and dip?
Shut up. Of course.
Nowadays I crave wierd things like rice with vegetable sauce and fried dough balls. Barbequed corn. Fresh bread. The things that are, if not immediately accesible, at least within my near future. I didn't convince myself of it. It just happened. I miss cheese.

7. What are you going to be for Halloween?
A scary white dude with glasses and a beard.

8. How many girlfriends does Mirza have these days?
I don't inquire about his goings about, and he leaves me to my own. He's like any good roommate.

9. What's the bat situation at school like?
My school had a bit of a bat problem, especially over the summer when nobody was using the classrooms. They were hanging, ubiquitous and stalagtitic, from the rafters of one classroom. The ground was carpeted black in their waste. It smelled unpleasant.
We had somewhat of a specialist come in to lay down a chemical that would make them leave. It worked for the most part. Though every once in a while I hear a strangely mammalian chirp in response to a question posed in class. Could be a choked up student...


Hope that clears a few things up.