A new view, an open eye

I hear the metal door to my compound pull open and I lift my head to the sound of rusty metal scrapping. I am sitting on the floor with papers and grammar books spread around me lesson planning for the following week. This group of lessons I’m trying to figure out the best way to tell my students about irregular present participles, a topic I know will be greeted with blank stares and squinted brows. Pausing, I gaze out the door of my house waiting to see who appears in the frame. I hear her before I see her.

“Ash-e-lee?” She calls, with excitement laced through her tone.

“Fatou! Je suis la – I’m right here.” I tell my friend.

She steps into my view with a huge smile plastered on her face. Opening her arms wide she shouts, “FELICITACIONS! Barack Obama – President United States!”

I laugh and stand up, immediately folded into her waiting arms while each cheek is excitedly kissed. She tells me she has been watching the news all night and that she was so happy for me – and so relieved that Americans “have chosen the right one”. I tell her about my lucky friends who were in Chicago for his acceptance speech and she agrees that they have witnessed a piece of history. We sit for a while chatting about change and hope, how the American presidential elections can touch the hearts of those in an obscure country called Mauritania.

The day after elections electricity pulsed through my veins. I stayed up the night before listening to the radio as the polls rolled in, gazing at the brilliant stars above me and willing the American people to show the world that they can change. I received calls throughout the night, from the U.S.A., from Belize and from Mauritania, all family and friends’ assuring me that the charged pulse I felt was not only pumping in my body. That morning as the cool night turned itself over to the African sun I sat with another volunteer listening to that Chicago speech, my eyes stinging with pride and relief washing over my body. I was humbled to realize that Americans weren’t the only ones who felt these emotions. I continuously greet people in the street who say in happy Hassaniya “Bush mshat! Obama President!” Their eyes are genuine and their handshakes hearty, I tell them “yes, Bush is gone, we are very happy. It is very good.” They are satisfied to know I’m pleased with the change as well and their smiles linger a little longer than usual. At times people only need to see me or my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers walking through the streets to shout “Obama!” and simply leave it at that. I have heard this from small children jumping up and down on rooftops and from small old men resting on the floors of boutiques.

Though, as in the USA, not everyone is pleased with the change. The stories of our past intertwine with so many. Our waters run together and one ripple or splash travels further than we can imagine. Considering the fact that America has its hands dug into the earth of so many nations it’s not surprising to find groups of people that have different views of American politics. Talking with a Pulaar, a black African Mauritanian, one will find a person that loves Bush and are sad to see him go. The reason is that for many years now Bush has supplied weapons to bring down those that called for the Arabization of the Middle East and other Muslim countries. Mauritania has had its own problems with identity and events in 1989 reveal a rather bloody boarder fight with Senegal as the country tried to define itself. Many of the black African’s, especially Pulaars who are a large culture in Senegal, were beaten and humiliated, expelled from their homes and sent across the border. During this time Bush was a friend who helped them – if not through the actual backhand passing of weapons for protection, then through support of their resistance.

Mauritania is still trying to create an identity. With so many groups of people (Pulaars, Sonike’s, Wolofs, Black and White Moors) and being a rather newly independent country (November 28, 1960) things like official language, government, politics and education are constantly debated. I see the backlash of such problems in my school, where Education Reforms call for Sciences to be taught in French and Humanities to be taught in Arabic. Teachers who have always taught in Arabic find their very professions at risk. Some of the best teachers resolve to lie about knowing a language to trick their way into teaching the subjects they know best. Mauritania is still a very fragile country. Still taking baby steps and learning from mistakes as an independent country.

Mauritania’s Independence Day is this Friday. It is a day to be celebrated and, maybe, a day to face many of the questions floating in the air. What does it mean to be Mauritanian? What does it mean to be free? What should be done about the inter-cultural tensions? Perhaps these questions will be considered. Or perhaps they will just dance…

Living in a country that is still trying to figure out Democracy, it is a good feeling to see the message Americans are sending out to the world. An example that Democracy can work, that people should have a voice, and that there are places where those voices are heard. At times it’s unreal to see that new respect and that lingering smile in the eyes of those who watch their own country struggle.

Dreams of Different Colors

The culture in front of me is bold. It is bright. It is sacred. A father teaches his children how to pray, quietly whispering time-old secrets into their ears. A mother sifts couscous, tossing the grains into air and letting it fall into the waiting bowl. A sister shifts her baby brother on her back, old enough to stand tall, young enough to not feel the burden. A brother laughs without reserve, head tossed to the sky, as his friend chases a goat through the dusty streets. Here, a person must wait to uncover the mysteries of this sandy world, it will not happen immediately. I would never have known the secrets of fabric if I had not sat and watched, wide-eyed, as they danced in front of me. The light shone golden into the room through barred windows and outdoor children pressed their faces against the rusty metal to get a glimpse – smiles and eyes illuminated. Women step surely, carried by the Arabic strings and drums, swirling multicolored mulafes. They fix their faces into a rather proud poses, arms waving with attention to the fingers. Occasionally they cover their face with cloth, more often, they expertly shake their butts, ticking and swishing in time with the scratchy cassette tape. The men are like birds, and with their grand bou-bou’s spread like wings they fly around the room with ease. They flutter around the women, showing off the solid steps and hopping lightly with the beat. They swirl and mix, tangle and part. Laughter bubbles as they show off their moves and minutes fold into themselves.
Sometimes it seems like the sun shines too bright, or too much sand blown into your eyes to actually see. But, I suppose that is why we have five senses. I will always hear prayer call echoing through the labyrinth streets and smell lunchtime as rice and fish simmer over fire. I will feel the touch of a greeting hand and taste the bitter sugary tea from a sticky glass. I’m learning to quit making over-assumptions, and to let things go quickly. I’m learning to take it slow and to enjoy the quiet. I’m learning to laugh in a different language.
School began this week, but once again, culture morphs something so familiar to me into the unidentifiable. On the first day of classes I wondered, as I gaze at the empty school yard before me, occupied by wandering donkeys, if I’ll ever understand completely. I find the school director, Ahmed, in his quiet office. Wise and quite official looking he is dressed in a bou-bou surrounded by papers on his desk. He smiles and tells me that maybe tomorrow he’ll have the schedule ready. And – he adds – you don’t have to come by tomorrow if you’re tired. The back to school vibe is still there, I can see it when I visit the market. Children pour over carts of notebooks, choosing their colors importantly. They walk down the streets with blue UNICEF issued backpacks, the glow of newness alive in their struts. I suppose a week from now I’ll be in the swing of things. Classes will begin and students will trickle in, switching from lazy summer days to pencils, pens and notebook paper.
I have decided to move in with a Mauritanian to try and catch some things I might be missing. She is a bright spunky woman who has a three year contact with an international organization in Aleg. One year into her contract, she will finish her time in Aleg right when I will. Her name is Fatou and her family lives in Nouakchott, with her adorable son. She lives alone in a house, very similar to the one I live in currently, except that it is two minutes away from the school. She has created family here and they have welcomed me into their lives with ease. We speak in French mostly, though she knows Hassaniya (and Wolof… and Pulaar!) and helps me figure things out. I sat in a boutique late one night with her as she visited her friends. They behaved like sassy schoolgirls and we joked and sipped tea and let the night seep into our bones.
My dreams have a new shade to them. They have taken on a new tone. I see broken toothed smiles and wrinkled expressive hands. I see swirling fabrics and piles of onions on sheets. In my sleepy minds eye there are blue backpacks, wise men and unfinished schedules.

Pictures on the Walls

Stepping back, I look at the faces of my family and friends staring back at me from my walls. Now that I am in my own house in the town I will be in for the next two years, I can finally unpack all my bags and carve my place into this country. As I look a picture of my nephew Gavin stuck in a happy pose at a baseball game, cheering and holding a two-year-old fist full of hotdog toward the sky, I can feel the odd sensation spread over me once again. The realness of my situation continues to catch me off guard. The distance from the people I love and the proximity to the people in my neighborhood with whom I’ll form relationships. Not to mention the tragedy of that hotdog, something I won’t taste for a very long time... But unidentifiable ground meat becomes somewhat miniscule in comparison to the things I’m gaining here. Aleg, my town, seems to have a lot to offer me, and hopefully I’ll figure out what I can give in return.

My house is across the street from a Mosque and two doors down from my landlord’s boutique. I live in a small walled compound with a couple rooms, a small kitchen and a salon. The doors and windows, covered in bright blue cracked wood, obey the weather expanding and shrinking with Mother Nature’s commands. My bathroom and “shower” (place to stand in while I bucket-bath) are outside and laundry lines are strung about the yard. For now, there are small green patches on the ground, where sporadic grass and the infamous Death Star plants grow. Death Star is not, in fact, the real name of this macabre plant, only a name we have so lovingly assigned. Starting out rather beautiful, the Death Star dries up in the desert sun, creating tiny and very prickly balls of death, which stick into skin like an orb of splinters. Though the Death Stars are a negative, I am lucky to have electricity in part of the house, which works a good percentage of the time, and running water, accessed by a pump outside. My roof is tin and my walls are concrete and my kitchen counter was built with bricks and wood planks. My stove is a portable gas camp-style with one burner and is mostly used outdoors. It has already been used to create some rather delicious creations (Pad-Thai is very do-able here).

Every day the Mosque is my alarm clock, the sunrise call to prayer my morning wake up call. It is Ramadan this month, so the days are slow. Fasting (no food or drink – water included) is required between sunrise and sunset and the hottest and most unproductive time is between 1-3pm. Walking around at this time brings you face to face with a ghost-town. Store owners and produce vendors sleep in the shade, slowly rising if you ask for something. Eating and drinking in view of other Mauritanians seems rude and awkward, though it is sometimes forced upon you when you sit to talk with a fatigued family, as they understand many foreigners do not participate in their religious holidays. The children and oldest of old do not usually partake in the fasting, and those that do will not utter a word of complaint more than “it’s hot out today” or “I’m a little bit tired”. The dedication is empowering to see, especially given the climate. What must get them through is the wonderful event of breaking the fast at sundown. Women start preparing in the early afternoon, cutting and chopping slowly, getting things ready to drop in a pot and quickly prepare. When the Mosque announces the breaking of fast, the chanted song is only on the second syllable when cups are brought to parched mouths. What follows is amazing. I broke fast with a family one night and was in disbelief at the never ending bowls and plates set before me. There were dishes of beignets, dates, juice, water, milk, and a sweet cous-cous/water/milk/sugar mix brought out to start. A dish of meat and potatoes with bread to dip followed by a round of tea, and then even more drinks set before you. Finally there was a large dish of pasta and meat set out on a plate, followed by more rounds of tea. This celebration takes time, and I even made the mistake of trying to leave before it was over – thinking there couldn’t possibly be another course…. That night I would lay under my mosquito net in a food coma, staring up at the stars, happily stuffed and planning out another visit to break fast.

Walking through my town can take forever. I greet everyone in the Mauritanian way, which is to spit out as many inquiries as fast as possible. Included are things such as “How are you with the heat?” and “How are you with your health?” I am discovering my favorite people to sit and take tea with, and faces and names are easier with each passing day. I once walked back from the market with an empty trunk for my room, balancing it on my head with a hand, when I heard an excited greeting. I recognized that it was the mother of the family I broke fast with the night before. She beckoned me over and we went through the greetings – followed by the common “whatareyoudoing –whereareyougoing-wherewereyou.” I slapped hands and touched my heart doing my best to keep up with her Hassaniya/French. I told her I had to bring the trunk home, and she smiled and pressed a bag of beignets into my hand. When I asked her how much she waved my money away like an annoying fly, telling me it was a gift.

I know that not everyone I meet here will be as nice as her. Not everyone is willing to put up with my broken Hassaniya and cultural slip-ups. I have embarrassed myself many times already, and I know it’s only the beginning. Laughing is a good way to deal, because really, some of the situations I find myself in are simply ridiculous. Another is to always remember those pictures on the wall are always there, reminding me not of what I left behind, but of the people who continuously offer me support.

Flashpoint Mauritania

****There has been a Coup d’Etat. Hadij, my host mom sits over our fish and rice lunch and shakes her head. The government is bad, she tells me, this (she waves her hand over the rice) it’s too expensive. She is unsatisfied with the current state of the economy welcomes change, even though democracy is threatened. I find out information from bits of French news on T.V. and word of mouth. The president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi has been kidnapped and 11 military officials, lead by Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, have ousted the government and taken over the capital. There are many protests over weekend supporting and protesting the coup. Hundreds of Mauritanians march the streets with signs and honk car horns, democracy may be in straits, but it is alive. Most are not surprised as Mauritania only recently had its first smooth election transition with democracy. From the Mauritanians I’ve talked to, this seems normal and will be remedied soon. There is a little tension overseas, but for the most parts all seems peaceful. The directors of Peace Corps keep close tabs on the news and update us frequently.

****A little girl peeks over the wall at me, I smile immediately. She is my buddy – petite Hadij. She had the same name as my host mom, and the same silly attitude too. I beckon her over and she climbs the wall into my courtyard. Her bright yellow dress looks perfect next her dark chocolate skin. Petite Hadij speaks only Hassaniya, and I only know bits and pieces. Though who needs language when you have a secret handshake? We created one shortly after meeting each other and we use it often. Petite Hadij loves to sit next to me under our tent in the courtyard and watch me make my English lesson plans for the following day. I let her use my colored pencils and she draws little pictures at my feet. Sometimes she dances. Tongue clicks and feet flying she shows me how to get down Mauritanian style. I found out the other day that her mom died the past year, and grande Hadij (my host mom) is one of petite Hadij’s caretakers – one of the reasons she is at our house so often. You would never be able to tell, her personality as bright as the yellow dress she wears so often. I’ll miss her sunny face peaking over the wall when I leave my host family. In my mind she’ll be dancing forever.

****”Do you understand?” Murbana asks me with imploring eyes. “Who is that? Is that the wife of the main character?” I ask. Murbana and I sit outside my house on a mat with a T.V. in front of us. The T.V. cord stretched from a plug in the saloon, and after some fiddling we got the reception working. We are watching a Wolof (Senegalese and Mauritanian culture) Drama that is very soap-opera-like. Murbana is Senegalese and speaks French, Hassaniya, Wolof and a little tiny bit of English. She is sitting next to me braiding my hair, translating the show from Wolof into French. “You see, that is the husband and that girl there is trying to be with the husband. She is pregnant and does not know who the father is. She needs to get married, so she will try to trick him… Watch!” She explains. With Murbana’s translations, I am heavily invested in the show. I lean forward and flick an ant off the screen. We hear the pot of rice and fish shift on the coals and the boiling water softly hisses. Murbana gets up and expertly adjusts the pot, most of her attention on the show. She is eighteen-years-old and is currently working for Hadij. She does some of the cooking and cleaning around the house – she may or may not get paid, that I haven’t exactly figured out, but she does get treated well and eats with us. She is beautiful. Her oval eyes are wide and shine with kindness, her thin face and African skin framed with a white and pink mulafe (veil, wrapped around body and head). I enjoy spending my afternoons sitting and chatting with her about Senegal and telling her stories from America. We laugh about my few words in Hassiniya and her few words in English, and we teach each other as much as we can. Murbana sits next to me again and continues with my braids. She informed me earlier that braids were necessary and made me go buy some rubber bands so she could do my hair. “See,” She says pointing at the T.V. “This is the real wife, she is going to be angry when she finds him with that girl.” I nod in agreement and the Wolof drama mixes with the Mauritanian sounds of goats braying and lunch over coals.

****”You will help me tonight.” My host mom Hadij announces. I laugh and agree, unsurprised by now at her forwardness. Dinner is cooking and the night surrounds us, a cool breeze whisking the heat off the day baked earth. My mom has just fixed the refrigerator that had been sitting in the corner of the saloon and changed the whole thing into a freezer. She now sells Bisap (a cold red drink) and bags of ice from her house. Tonight she is making more bottles and I am helping her. We sit on the bidons (yellow jugs of water) and begin the process. Boil the Bisap leaves, strain the juice, mix with water, mix with sugar and red drink mix and finally add the special essence (which is some unknown herb). I chat with her about my day as I clean out the bottles. Bisap bottles are reused water bottles – and when a customer drinks one, they return the bottle so it can be reused again. I clean the bottles with bleach and water, shaking them and wiping the tops, then passing them to Hadij to be filled. Salem, my host cousin, sits next to us playing cards with his friend. We taste our creation and smile at each other. “Me,” Hadij announces “I am a fabulous cook. One day I will go to America and make lots of money.” I laugh and agree on her cooking skills but try unsuccessfully to explain the inner-workings of American business. After we finish, I take a cold Bisap from the fridge and enjoy the icy delicious treat. “Make sure you tell your friends.” She tells me “There is enough for all of them now – only 50 ouguiya.” Sure, I tell her, they love the Bisap, I will have them come over tomorrow.

****It is early morning and I have just returned from an excellent run with one of my Peace Corps friends. My capri’s are dripping with sweat and the morning air is cool, just starting to warm. We ran along the main road and our minds wandered over the vast and dusty landscape dotted with green. The cars that rushed past us were driven by turban-wrapped men with sunglasses and we prided ourselves at being faster than the donkey carts. In the dunes and ditches, we caught glances of the slaughtering of goats and camels to be sold in the market. Back at my house, there was no water. I need my bucket bath and we do not have a water pump in our compound. I grab a bidon and a 20 ouguiya coin and walk down the street to the local boutique. They know me by now, and we exchange morning greetings and they fill my jug at the pump. I also grab a piece of bread and butter, the bread still fresh and warm, just brought in by the local baker. I lug the water back to my house, still quiet, and sit on the jug. As I eat my bread I watch the morning stretch across the sky.

****There is a goat head in the hand of my host cousin, Salem’s. He stands next to me and I stare at the lunch laid out before me. I just got back from teaching a morning English class and my appetite is wavering as the bloody blank eyed goat stares at me. Today Hadij is having a party, and to celebrate a goat was brought into out compound and slaughtered. It arrived the day before and stood braying for hours, perhaps knowing of the impending doom. I did my laundry that day and as my clothes hung on the line the mischievous goat hooked one of my t-shirts on its horn and ran around our yard. Hadij and her friend laughed deep belly shaking laughs as they watched me chase the white goat with a bright blue t-shirt attached to its head. I finally caught it and adjusted my clothes line a little higher, out of goat-horn range and laughed at the silly situation. Recalling the situation as I sat there eating my lunch, the white head, stained red, dangling next to me, I contemplated justice and retribution. Surely the poor goat didn’t deserve to be my dinner that night, but it was nice to know my future laundry was no longer in danger.

****I stand in front of my classroom. The front of my shirt dusted with chalk and my fingers smeared with erased words. I am teaching summer school and my students are in high-school (sixth year Lycee in Mauritania). Because it is summer school, there are not a lot of students; only about 20 show up each day. Today I’m teaching about Present Perfect and Present Perfect Progressive, a lesson I had to review and teach to myself again. English is not an easy language, and you soon discover that though you may know how to create a sentence, it’s very difficult to explain how it’s done. “Teacher, teacher!” They shout, snapping their fingers in the air when they know the answer. I feel comfortable teaching and though the summer school is a lot of work, it is also great practice for when I will have regular English classes during the school-year. Five days a week I create a lesson plan and teach for one or two hours a day. This will go on for three weeks, and then I will test my students and give the top students prizes. “What is the Past Participle of ‘to go’?” I ask them. I am met with dozens of snapping fingers and I choose a student, “Gone!” she answers. In Mauritania, the summer school kids are smart.

****I stifle a laugh as I sit on a rock in our yard. I am watching my host cousin Salam and our dog. Salem is standing by the dog with a bottle of black watery liquid in his hand. “Le chien est malade” He tells me. The dog is, as a matter of fact, sick. It has black bugs that resemble ticks on its back, face and ears. I’m sure it picked up some sort of disease in the thousands of garbage dumps that surround us. It’s a funny sight though, watching Salem apprehensively brushing black liquid onto the dog, quickly backing up and staring as the dog nonchalantly stares back at him. The dog, brown and white, slowly changes to black and brown as Salem brushed on the ‘medicine’. “Look at him…” Hadij scoffs “Salem, the ‘le médecin de chien’.” This makes me laugh out loud. Salem looks at me and I see a smile at the corner of him lips – the dog doctor. My mom is now laughing too, commenting on how soon, the dog will be as black as ‘le médecin de chien’. This has us all roaring as we watch the once white, now black dog, trot away and escape through a hole in the wall.

****Computers buzz around us and a wall fan hums, pushing around hot air. I am at the local Cyber with me new friend Cheihk. He works there and through talking with me and the other volunteers that frequent the internet café, has come to understand I teach English. He expressed his desire to learn English and asked if I could help him, so now I come a couple times a week to teach him one hour lessons – in exchange of course, for one hour free internet. This works out very well for both of us. I get to save my Peace Corps money for other things and still get to use the internet every week and Cheihk gets to learn English 101. I get the extra bonus of working on my French with him, as he is fluent.

****My Peace Corps friends and I lie on the roof and stare at the night sky. We are taking a break from ‘cultural integration’ and having a small American gathering. Our heads in a circle and our minds ticking, we discuss our life in Mauritania. The conversation shifts from hilarious conversations about pooping (a common subject here…) and deep thoughts about religion and government. They have quickly become my family. We support each other when our minds can’t wrap around a cultural norm, and ease the tension with jokes when we are sick and frustrated. Sometimes we lay quietly, silenced by the beauty of the endless sky. Shooting stars start up discussions once again and we chat into the Mauritanian air.

Lesson 1

The National Syllabus booklet dropped on the desk in front of me, sending up puffs of dust from my desk into the air. I thumb through the photocopied paper bound with a plastic spiral. Inside those pages are the building blocks to my future success as an English Teacher in Mauritania. I stretch my neck around and take in the classroom. Basic. There is a chalkboard, broken and chipped on the wall with lesson plans of the past scrawled in French and Arabic. There are rows of desks in bench style crammed against each other, time and weather worn. The walls, ceiling and floor are all cement, the windows are sparse and the paint is thin. In these schools the learning environment must come directly from the person standing in front of the room. Most things, actually, must come from directly from the teacher. In the majority of the schools there are no books, rather, you create the book as you teach. Each word written on that blackboard will be published on the spot, written as law inside the notebooks of students. The education system in Mauritania is anything but desirable. A rough history of reforms and disagreements split minds on what and how things should be taught. These discussions push classroom supplies, management and upkeep into the background. Surprising? Not at all. Frustrating? Infinitely.
To start, it’s important to note is that Mauritania is divided in many ways, like so many of its African sisters. Colonized by France, Mauritania became independent in 1961. This was long enough for traditions of French school systems, government and politics to saturate the culture. Before the 1999 reform schools were taught patchwork quilt style. Each region and school adapted to a different style of education and language depended on geographical location. After 1999 schools developed a language-specific education style. Science type classes (math, biology and chemistry) are taught in French while Humanities type (theology, history, religion) classes are taught in Arabic. English education is a requirement and begins halfway through College (equivalent to American middle school) and continues through Lycee (equivalent to American high-school). I spent a good amount of time and wasted a good amount of paper figuring out and internalizing the system.
In comparison to the American school system there is one thing that stands out in my mind. Teaching to tests is very prevalent. And it’s getting worse. The requirements to graduate Lycee (taking the Brevet) are getting more rigorous and graduating College (taking the Bach) is next to impossible. There are many brick walls for Mauritanian youth as they make their way through an already perplexing system. A student is extremely lucky to make it to University (American College) and if they do get there, they better have the resources to travel out of country to get to a good facility. One can only begin to imagine the mental damage such a frustrating system can cause on the psyche.
On top of all this, the shinning façade of the Millennium Development Goals comes into play. MDGs, in short, are 8 sector specific guidelines to achieve preconceived goals determined by the United Nations meant to directly improve a developing country’s status and economy by 2015. Though, something along the way of achieving these goals is beginning to sour – a case of good intentions gone wrong. Take Mauritania’s approach to the education MDG into consideration. The goal is to achieve universal primary education – an objective that is great, solid and measurable. The Ministry of Education in Mauritania is starting to achieved this goal but at a grave cost. The push to get more kids in school has worked, but now, there aren’t enough crumbly schools for all those kids and many are being taught by poorly educated/trained teachers. Too many kids and not enough teachers is the name of the game. This is why when I finally land my spot in the classroom, 90+ sets of eyes will be staring back at me. I’ll have the usual mix of jaded burnt out pre-teens, over-achievers and some that just don’t care. Yet these students will be jammed into a hot classroom, fighting for desk space and wondering why the hell I’m teaching in their village. Sounds fun right? But alas, I’m up for the challenge.
For many students, the burning question bubbles from the sulfurous surface “what can an education do for me anyway”. I respond – if nothing else, an education gives you self worth. No matter what you’re learning or who you are, when you learn you discover; you discover more about yourself and others. When it comes down to it, I’m teaching English to these kids so they can pass the test and head toward higher learning, not so they can have conversations with other people in the street. Most will not continue, many will fail and the few lucky ones will struggle. I’m going to try my hardest to teach them to my greatest ability, and try to develop side projects to get the creative juices flowing. I’m going to run into walls with my kids, and I’m going to get lost in the maze – but it’s good to know education is a universal struggle, that I have solidarity over seas. Plus, as a bonus, I just picked up a box of colored chalk at the market and it comes with the color green.