It's a learning process, I tell you. I've never quite understood what rainy season meant. I mean, I understood the words, of course, but I had no instinctive sense of what it meant. I think I'm beginning to get a feeling for it.
Today, it rained. I guess it has rained every day I've been in Cameroon, but all other days except for my arrival it has waited till after dark. Today, I woke to the sound of rain hammering the roof.
I've never had much use for umbrellas. In Manitoba, and in the Netherlands (and my two weeks in England, for that matter), it's always too windy for them to be entirely useful. I'd rather just dress right and be prepared to get wet than to expect this pidly metal frame stretched with thin material to actually protect me, and then get soaked when -- inevitably -- it doesn't. But here, where the rain quite cooperatively falls straight down, whether in torrents or a more manageable shower, here I think I will learn to use an umbrella. I find I'm rather awkward with it at this point; the whole juggling things in one hand, an umbrella in the other, and worse, the part about opening and closing it at the proper time so as not to get wet, and not to get anything else wet.
The grass (which is more of a luxurious carpet of low, long-leafed weeds) hid rivulets of water coursing down the hill, so I cut across the grass to reach the path and found my flipflops engulfed in the carpet of water just below the green.
FES kicked off this evening and I spent much of the day supervising the girls (Jenny, Christy and one Grade 5 FES participant) decorating the conference hall (classrooms and eating area) dividers with this year's theme: chocolate. The girls are dears, and well-behaved, but by the end I was ready to pull out my hair. I'm assuming it will be better, though, when I'm teaching them all day because we'll have structure, not just an endless day of being creative.
They're such bright and confident kids, I forget they're actually kids and do need help with some things. That, and I haven't worked with this age for a while. I'll need to remember they're still growing and learning. But my confidence that I will survive this year without too much damage to either the kids or me is still unshaken, even after putting together the box of curriculum materials for all four kids (3 Scotts and 1 Friesen) yesterday (which was initially quite daunting).
Onwards and upwards! (and hey, I get to read aloud to the little kids every day for the duration of FES!)
Today, it rained. I guess it has rained every day I've been in Cameroon, but all other days except for my arrival it has waited till after dark. Today, I woke to the sound of rain hammering the roof.
I've never had much use for umbrellas. In Manitoba, and in the Netherlands (and my two weeks in England, for that matter), it's always too windy for them to be entirely useful. I'd rather just dress right and be prepared to get wet than to expect this pidly metal frame stretched with thin material to actually protect me, and then get soaked when -- inevitably -- it doesn't. But here, where the rain quite cooperatively falls straight down, whether in torrents or a more manageable shower, here I think I will learn to use an umbrella. I find I'm rather awkward with it at this point; the whole juggling things in one hand, an umbrella in the other, and worse, the part about opening and closing it at the proper time so as not to get wet, and not to get anything else wet.
The grass (which is more of a luxurious carpet of low, long-leafed weeds) hid rivulets of water coursing down the hill, so I cut across the grass to reach the path and found my flipflops engulfed in the carpet of water just below the green.
FES kicked off this evening and I spent much of the day supervising the girls (Jenny, Christy and one Grade 5 FES participant) decorating the conference hall (classrooms and eating area) dividers with this year's theme: chocolate. The girls are dears, and well-behaved, but by the end I was ready to pull out my hair. I'm assuming it will be better, though, when I'm teaching them all day because we'll have structure, not just an endless day of being creative.
They're such bright and confident kids, I forget they're actually kids and do need help with some things. That, and I haven't worked with this age for a while. I'll need to remember they're still growing and learning. But my confidence that I will survive this year without too much damage to either the kids or me is still unshaken, even after putting together the box of curriculum materials for all four kids (3 Scotts and 1 Friesen) yesterday (which was initially quite daunting).
Onwards and upwards! (and hey, I get to read aloud to the little kids every day for the duration of FES!)
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