Just like a faucet that leaks

I have successfully completed my first week of school! Yay me! And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I came in the first day of class and I laid down the law; and when students didn't abide by it, I sent them to the surveillant. It was awesome. But I also kept thinking, "golly gee I'm mean." But I'd rather be very strict for awhile so the students know that I mean business, and then ease up later in the year. Pheeeww, it was a long week, but altogether a productive one.

I have two 5eme classes (7th grade) and a 4eme class (8th grade). And right now I'm teaching them about symmetry about a point or a plane, and powers of 10, respectively. I have anywhere between 80 and 100 students in all three classes, but I don't have the attendance sheets yet so I'm not certain of the number. But yes, the class sizes are huge indeed. It's going to blow major chunks once I have to start grading tests. But as the Burkinabé say, "ça va aller."

And the week before last I helped give the polio vaccine to kids five years and younger in the quaint little village I like to call Bouroum-Bouroum, or home. I didn't actually put the droplets in the kids' mouths, but I did mark their crusty little fingers and keep tally of all the people we gave the vaccination to. It was fun, and people gave us peanuts! I find it amusing the number of little kids who are frightened of white people. And their parents know it, too. So what do they do? They shove the kids into my arms to make them start bawling, and then they chuckle chuckle chuckle. It is kind of fun, but I do sincerely hope that those kids aren't scarred for life from being touched by the scary white girl.

And where am I right now? Gaoua, you say? Actually I'm in Diebougou which is about 50 km north of BrBr. The internet hasn't been working lately in Gaoua, so I figured this would be a great time to check out Diebougou and use the lovely internet. So far, so good. Diebougou is more compact than Gaoua and a hell of a lot less hilly, which I dig the way I dig sugar-packed American peanut butter. Yum.

Mayhaps I will buy some baskets and bananas. And of course a coke or two.