I wrote this post on Wednesday night... but haven't had a chance to post it until now!
Is it really Wednesday night already? That means we leave in 2 days! 3 more sleeps in this place, and then it’s back home. Crazy. When I first got here (which actually seems like a really long time ago now), I thought these two weeks would never come to an end. But it’s coming. The end is coming.
This week has been much improved from last week, actually. The participants are generally participating. There are a few of them who still refuse to do what is asked of them. It’s very strange actually. I’ve never really encountered participants like that before. Perhaps it’s because they are government paid teachers and were basically assigned by the officials in their area to come to this workshop. It wasn’t something that they volunteered to do. So maybe they just really and truly arent’ interested, and therefore there’s nothing that I can do to interest them!
But others are doing great! They’re interested, they’re keen, and they’re learning and taking on new ideas and sharing their own ideas. So I just keep concentrating on them, and am trying to ignore the two who keep sleeping through the sessions!
It’s been interesting being here, though, and getting to know a bit more about this culture. There have been a few pretty crazy things going on… except that I can’t think of any examples of them right now…
I’ve actually found that the participants in our workshop are quite gentlemanly. None of them have made any inappropriate comments, and I only had the one comment, on the first day, that he loved me. Other than that, they’ve all been really kind and completely professional about everything. I’ve been so impressed. I normally have a pretty good “radar” for the creepy ones, and I don’t get any bad vibes from any of them. Except for the one young man who told me that he loved me.
Actually, I had a bit of a run-in with him today. He’s one of the ones who’s been sleeping through the sessions. And yet he thinks he knows everything and has nothing to learn. But then when it comes to the actual assignments, he doesn’t get it. He just literally doesn’t get it. And he won’t listen to me when I try to explain it. Then today, as I was explaining something to the group that he was working with, he completely interrupted me and started talking to one of the other members in his group. Completely oblivious to what I was standing right next to him saying to him and his group members.
I put on my “authoritative” voice and told him that he interrupted me and that it was very rude. In fact, I ended up scolding him like a child! Completely not what you do in an “adult education” sort of situation, but honestly, if someone is going to act like a child and disrespect me, then he has to be told off! For the past week and a half, he’s been ignoring what I have to say, and in his case, I think it’s because I’m a woman! He’s probably only in his early 20s, so he’s quite young, too, so I didn’t feel too badly about sharing with him how rude he was being! But it felt so unlike something I would normally do!
Anyway, apart from him, the rest of the guys are real gentlemen. At tea time and lunch time, they always make me go first in line. If we’re all waiting outside the shower stalls for a shower, they’ll let me go to the front of the line so I don’t have to wait. And they’ve even been kind in making sure I have a chair to sit in, or carrying around my boxes of books etc. None of them have been going out and drinking in the evenings, but they all just sit around under the trees, laughing and making jokes and chatting with each other. Really, just nice guys. Most of them, I’d say, are in their 30s, with a couple of older guys, and a couple of younger guys.
I haven’t been out much in the past couple of days, beyond the hotel next door to get my email! The weather’s been a bit unsettled in the afternoons, so I haven’t wanted to get stuck in the rain somewhere. Plus, by the time I finish my organizing for the following day and getting everything sorted from the day, it’s getting a bit late. I suppose I could go for a wander around the neighborhood, but I have to admit, I’ve found myself sitting in a plastic chair under a tree, staring off into space or chatting with someone!
I’ve also started to chew with my mouth open and spit out the little pieces of bone that I find in my stew on the ground. I wander around in the morning with my towel wrapped around my shoulders (don’t worry, I’m also wearing my mumu!) and chewing on my toothbrush. I drink hot milk instead of coffee at tea break. And I slurp it. I shake hands with anyone and everyone who wanders past. I’ve also just dropped my empty water and soda bottles on the ground in the compound, expecting someone to pick them up (which, amazingly enough, they do!).
But I do think I’d better get back to my home in the city before I get myself some cows and get too settled here!
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