My bad...

So I just realized that I haven't posted in a while…oops… It's been a busy one! Here are some of the small highlights:

1. I got my first clothes made in country!! One of the host dads is a tailor so a bunch of us went to him the first week in Leo. I got two shirts and a tunic-type top, and I think I'm going to go back soon to get some more stuff made because I love the ones I have. I promise some day I will post pictures…

2. Okay so one Sunday I was going to meet my friends Chris and Jeff for lunch and  then go hang around for some internet time. Only Chris knew where the selected lunch spot was, so we decided he'd come get me, we'd pick up Jeff, and then all go together. Only my host parents and sisters were around, and Ranea was apparently afraid of the tall white man and cried behind her mom the whole time. My 8 year old host sister (nickname Mami) was a little shy, but introduced herself nonetheless. BUT!!!! Apparently Mami sees Chris EVERYWHERE in Leo and will always shout across/down the street, "CHREEES! CHREEES!" frantically waving. I've only seen it in action once, but they both always report in to me, and it's both adorable and hilarious. NB: the time I saw it happen, Ranea was also with us, and she hid behind my host mom again, hahaha

3. Site visit: so this happened! And it's very exciting but it deserves a post all to itself, so I'll try and do one this weekend. Until then….MY SITE!! AKA the village that I'll move to at the end of August, and where I'll live for the next two years! It's called OUEGUEDO! More details to come!

4. We've started Model School, which is where they find willing kids in Leo to come to school for a month during the summer and we get to practice teaching them. It's kind of a blessing and a curse…I know the practice is good but it's (obviously) a lot more work to make lesson plans and teach than it is to sit in class and "listen" all day. (Just kidding mom, I listen attentively to every word…)

Model school is from 8-12 Monday-Friday, and this week I have one class every day except Friday. In order for everyone to teach at least four hours this week, they had to split two of the grades into two classes, so I'm kind of hoping that next week they put them back together so I don't have to do so much…I know that's a bit lazy buuuut…we still have sessions in the afternoons, so the days have become pretty packed!

Since last Friday, I've been teaching 5e (cinquieme), which is basically the equivalent of 7th grade. I've got a couple little snots who sit in the first two rows with these shit-eating grins - so obviously, they're my favorites. Today one of them was taking forever to finish copying the diagram of a plasmodium into his notebook but I didn't realize it because the rest of the class was finished. So I went to erase it and he's all, "AH, no, Madame!" and because it's one of them, I got to be all dramatic and be like "you aren't finished?! UGHHHHH," which the rest of the class enjoyed, hahaha.