Five Great Things About My Life

Usually, when things are not going well here, it's pretty obvious to me. And there have definitely been some rough patches in the last sixteen months, but I kind of thought things were going okay now. It's hot, but not too hot, and most of my students are coming to school and some of them even seem to be learning. I can speak French and get by in Mandara and Fulfulde, I have friends and work and I don't have malaria. But as some of you have probably noticed, lately when I talk to people at home, all that comes out is a whole lot of negativity. I set out trying to tell a story about how wonderful my seniors are, and end up instead complaining about how annoyed I am with the discipline master at my school. And then I shout at a bunch of small children. I've been trying to figure out where all this negativity is coming from, and I have three possible ideas: 1) Everything kind of sucks, but I have only realized this subconsciously; 2) Everything is fine, but I am just really cranky and perceiving it all negatively; and 3) I have just become an awful storyteller. Regardless of which scenario is correct, I thought maybe I would try to write a blog entry focusing on five awesome things that are going on in my life right now.

1) My seniors are amazing.
Seriously – these kids are the coolest (and the smartest). About 80% of them passed their English exams this sequence, and about half of them wrote smart, insightful, eloquent (and, okay, often depressing) essays on the topic of unemployment. Because we finished exam review early last week, we had a spelling bee (something they had never heard of before, but got really excited about), which turned into a really cool opportunity for them to practice pronunciation, go over vocabulary, and shout “CORRUPTION!” at each other when they refused to leave the stage after making a mistake. These students call me out if I am late or unprepared and are always asking to have discussions or do another exercise to practice for the Bac (while most of my other students complain if I ask them to do anything other than copy off the board). Teaching them is a delight and the best part of my week.

2) We didn't get evacuated.
The election is over, results have been announced, all is quiet, and we get to finish our last few months of service. We also are not on standfast anymore, which means we can leave post. Pretty sweet.

3) My house is successfully catproofed.
Things had been going pretty well with Nagano...until she figured out how to break into my house. I'd been putting her outside at night (I have a high wall around my yard so she can't get out, and she doesn't like being shut in when she could be out hunting), which was going okay (except that she would sit outside and cry at 5 a.m. every day – not because she was hungry or thirsty, she just wanted to hang out...) until one night, around midnight, I was startled to wake up to see her sitting at the end of my bed, meowing excitedly. I figured she had maybe snuck in as I was closing the door, and put her back outside...only to be woken up an hour later by her clawing at my mosquito net and meowing triumphantly (yes, it was more than a little startling). It took a couple nights of this for me to figure out how she was getting in – my house is cement with only two windows, which are barred and have screens over them. Finally I guessed that she was jumping off my water bidons and forcing her way underneath the screen, then crawling in through my bedroom window. I moved the bidons and shut the window and still woke up with her in my bed in the middle of the night, crying to go back outside. I spent the better part of this week setting cat booby traps, to block her entrance or make the window an unpleasant place to enter through (I'm not going to lie, she had more than one cup of water dumped on her head). Finally, creating a window blockade out of my PC medical kit (just kidding?), tupperware, and old clothing, and through the strategic placement of duct tape, it is now impossible for the cat to break into my house.

4) It's almost cold season.
A glass-half-empty person might say instead that in reality, it's the beginning of “petit hot season” (November is going to be WARM), but a month from now I may even be sleeping with a blanket and putting a sweatshirt on in the morning (okay, it's likely I'll take it off like an hour later when the sun comes up, but still. A sweatshirt!). This also means that the rain is finished, which is a bummer, but that means that the power will stay on pretty much all the time until maybe May (barring any ridiculous telephone wire/power company bill drama like last year...). It ALSO means that there will soon be a lot of delicious food at the market. We've already got delicious heirloom tomatoes, and in December we may even have cabbage and carrots – in village! (To put this in perspective, the market normally has tomatoes and onions...which are delicious, but get old...)

5) My brother is coming to visit.
Cold season also means it will be December, which is when my brother is taking vacation from his work in Madagascar to come spend Christmas and New Year's in Cameroon. There will be some crazy frogging expeditions in the south, then some awesome (awkward?) hangouts with my friends in village. Pretty exciting, particularly since it will be the first time since June 2010 that I will see someone who knew me before June 2010.

So, no matter what ridiculous stories I tell you, things are in fact pretty great here. Thanks as always for all your love and support. Special shout out to Kyle for his awesome package filled with coffee, fake cheese products, and Del Scorcho sauce (yummm). You're the best!