Binaire (Monday, 2012 July 16)
I’m cutting back my hours at the telecenter this week. I’m leaving the village in two weeks, and I have three main large projects that I have to do, ideally before then. The projects are all written, which is probably why I’m writing less and less here. Even if I had the time and energy to work on them, I wouldn’t really have enough left to write here.
I still have at least one, possibly two entries in the fiction thing. I’ve got a vague idea of how it’s gonna go, I just haven’t written it yet. And I remember that people always like more pictures, but I don’t really have any more pictures. Sorry.
The results for the BEPC and the Baccalaureat are both up, but the Probatoire, which Romeo was taking, isn’t out yet. Still, I took a gander at the Baccalaureat. Almost none of my favorite students (Domche, Stevine, Youdom V. V., the bigger Brondone) made it, the exception being Poula Youta, the brilliant kid who would have made it anyhow. A lot of the useless kids got it (not least of which one of my neighbor’s kids). Kind of dispiriting.
I went to the telecenter today, because there are some "students" who need to have "make-up classes", and I’m trying to guide Cecile, the secretary, through teaching them. Nobody was there, not even the teacher who was supposed to be teaching this week. Wandered home — it’s about a thirty-minute walk. One person, who really should have known better, suggested I "look in your bag. Is there nothing for me?" Another person called out "Nassara", which is one of the nicer-sounding ways to call you by your color. I felt pretty shitty about that for a while, thinking darkly that even after two years in this village, I was still the token white guy, would always be a foreigner, and how my post combines the worst parts of living in a village with the worst parts of living in a city. Combined with the shitty results on the Bac, I just didn’t feel great. Most of the volunteers I’ve talked to these days are nearing the end of their service, and just like me, are tired.
I also put a rock in my bag, just in case that asshole asks me for anything else. A bottle of water would probably do just as well. I’m going to spray him like a disobedient cat.
But then I passed one person who called out to me "Bonsoir, monsieur!" in a bright, cheerful, polite tone. And then another, one of my favorite students from 4e, who looked happy as could be with her summer vacation. And then one of the Anglophone moto guys waved to me as he drove past. That all made me feel better.
I spent the rest of the day hiding out in my bedroom with my laptop, finishing the first of the three major things I want to do before I leave this village. It’s this self-teaching book based on the material that I taught in 3e. It’s about 25 (French) pages long, and I’m going to print it out for Josiane, who made me promise to write it as her condition for going to Yaoundé (and out of my hair) for the vacation. It’s below (but I’m about to upload it to all the proper Organization-specific resources). I hope the formatting comes out OK in .doc format, but if not the .pdf should be OK.