This past week has been a blur, as I suspect many upcoming weeks will also become.
On the household front, the school has been great at making sure that any repairs or work that need to be done in our homes are done promptly, so all light switches, fans, A/C's, windows, doors and locks are all now in good working order. I asked to have all the sliding screen inserts screwed in place so Nooks couldn't accidentally (perhaps in a frenzy to get at a bird outside the window) move the not-so-secure screen and escape.
I've put in a work request to have both the front patio and back patio screened in, too.... that's for me to sit out in the morning/evenings without mosquito worries and for Nooks to be 'outside' the house a bit, too. The whole house is surrounded by a high wall, but there are a couple of places in the back and in the front where trees or bushes would provide an escape over the top....so....eventually....but not for a while....and only after I figure out how to limit the climbing height.....Nooks will be able to go outside, under very close supervision.
Nooks has met the housekeeper, Saran, on Saturday, and even ventured out from under the bed a few times on her own. She spends a lot of time under the bed. :-( She's still pretty freaked out by the noises from the upstairs apartment and from the guards in the yard. I hope she'll get somewhat used to them.
There are lots of animals in the yard. Some small red-headed finches with white eye circles, lots of small and medium sized lizards of varying colours, and big geckoes. I'll have to find some time to just sit out and photograph them all.
I've seen some lizards with bright yellow heads and tails and some intense blue birds and a couple of red parrots on drives to and from school, too.
The most interesting and disturbing critter was the one Nooks was playing with last Sunday night in the bedroom.....I thought she'd gotten a little gecko, but it didn't look quite right..... When I got closer, I saw that it was a little (about 2" long) scorpion! Freak me right out. I got Nooks away from it and it headed under the frame to my closet. Lovely. Fortunately, it couldn't get through and couldn't fully hide in the little crack. I managed to pull it out with a paper towel and do away with it. Then I was all creeped out and figured that if there was one there must be more. It seemed like it was a baby so I was concerned that there was a nest of them somewhere..! I looked in and under and behind everything in the house with the flashlight, but didn't find any others. When I mentioned it to the facilities manager the next day, he thought for sure I meant something else and was very surprised to learn that it had, indeed, been a scorpion. In his 5 years at the school, this was the first he'd heard of one in a house. He immediately sent me home with two workers from the school to search the house. They didn't find anything either. And so far....there haven't been any other of the nasty little visitors. But I'm always on the lookout, now!
My house is coming together. This particular house has not been used by the school for some time, so the basic furniture really was/is quite basic. I think the other teacher houses are better because they've been used regularly and likely have had things left behind by others, so furnishings are more complete. I have had some additional start-up costs buying a few things to make the house more comfortable and organised ....like some shelf units for the bathroom, some small mats for the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, some drapes that actually provide some opaque privacy and/or aren't torn, some accent cushions and a carpet to cut down on the echoes in the empty-ish room. All of these things are so expensive, particularly since there are limited shopping resources--in fact, there is only one (1) reasonable home furnishings/decor store in town for anything that is relatively 'nice'. And it's waaaay across town.... Good thing we have the use of the school vans and drivers for this month!
I continue to butcher the French language here! So many words and conjugations lost in the language files..... It will come, but right now, I find it takes a lot of energy to be thinking/speaking in another language so much. Some words are pronounced much differently here, too, so that only adds to the confusion. The other day I bought some fruit at a stall and the gal told me it was dey mille francs.....I didn't understand.....2? thousand....10? thousand...a new number?.....turned out it was deux (2).... Now I know.
AND...to top that all off....it's a VERY good idea to learn a little Bambara, the local language. We had one lesson with some very basic greetings as an introduction, with the option to continue lessons later. But only if one has one's head well above the water.....
We've had lots of meetings at school, getting to know all of the staff, procedures and curriculum. I, for one, am on overload from all of the information and events, and am not even close to feeling prepared for the first week of school! We have one more staff day on Monday, then the students start on Tuesday!
Having been out of the classroom proper for 12 years (except for a couple short stints in Vientiane), I feel overwhelmed at all that I must consider and plan for Art and Drama/Theatre. The beforehand excitement of this adventure has become a weighty load of reality and confusion. Nonetheless......I will figure it all out. I will have to! I have a feeling there will be some long days and nights for a while until I get on top of the planning.....
We ended our week at the Mande Hotel for drinks and sunset over the Niger River.
Saturday was a bit of grocery shopping and then plant shopping. The plant shopping was an experience. There's a big boulevard downtown where there are numerous nursery stalls. It seemed pretty complicated figuring out what was bought from whose stall, and who to ask for the total.....but it all worked out fine in the end. I bought some small spider and philodendron plants for the classroom and a few plants for the garden....a pink hibiscus, a jasmine bush, a dark pink bougainvillea and a purpleheart creeper (some of my favourite plants!).
My neighbour, Attie (from Holland), and I took a short walk around the neighbourhood Saturday afternoon. We're not far from the river and one of the bridges. There seems to be the beginnings of a park area along the river and there was a lovely breeze as we walked along there. There will be pictures later. We only went out with our house keys and a few francs in our pockets. We wanted to see the neighbourhood and let the neighbourhood see us.....as regular, friendly folk. Eventually, we hope that there will be more comfort and safety for us to walk about. As it is now, we are directed to walk with someone at all times if we are out and about....just to be on the safe side. There haven't been any problems, so it is definitely a precaution.
When we came back to the house, we introduced ourselves to our Chinese neighbour.....who runs a private restaurant out of her house. There were a couple of UN guys just leaving (who thankfully spoke English and Chinese) so we were able to ask about going in to eat. We tried to order a noodle soup with fish, but we got stir-fried noodles with fried fish. It was good, so we'll probably try it again another time. Super convenient!
I've added a few more photos to the Picasa album
Now....back to that planning....
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