OK. This is it. It's the last day of school today. I make my final walk from the city, past the banana plantations, into the countryside. Overhead, there is the awesome sight of two bright yellow planes undertaking an impressive aeronautical show. It appears as if they are from another era- they are bi-planes. The plane's main function is to spray the crops, but if they tried this now, half the insecticide would end up back in the aircraft. The things you see on the way to work...
I approach school as two pupils come towards me, taking a break between exams. I tell them we will play a game today, if there is time. "Thank God!", one girls says, almost burying her head in her hands. The exams must be fraying her 10 year old nerves.
We do indeed play a game today, right at the end of the day- Preposition Bingo. It's grand that most of the kids understand the concept of the game, though at least one of the children has already filled her board, even though only one word has been pulled from the "magic box". The results are ever so slightly manufactured to ensure we have at least one successfully completed card. I'm sure that you'll agree the difference between "in" and "on" is very minimal- only one minuscule letter.
The last snaps are taken, and the goodbyes are said. As I pass through the school gates, I'm still laughing at how the children celebrate at any opportunity. Many a time I told one or two pupils they had the right answer. These children started singing dancing,and waving their arms about, and this just seems to set everybody off. It's a sort of contagious abandonment, as if they just been told they've won the rollover lottery on their birthday. It is, it has to be said, often chaotic, and usually funnier in hindsight. I'm certainly chuckling about it all now.
The local orphanage in the Bokova is celebrating it's first anniversary today. It's a European funded initiative, with strong Dutch links. There are a couple of money men here from Holland to mark this auspicious occasion, as well as the usual troupe of government officials. I somehow manage to miss the bus for the start of the event, instead taking a bus back into town. This one has the wife of UAC director, and she takes me to her house in order to prepare herself. I manage just over an hour of "The World Is Not Enough", thus avoiding a number of speeches. We arrive just as the oration reaches it conclusion. The usual food and drink is generously laid on for all guests, with the added bonus of roast potatoes and fried chicken! This is the place to be. I've almost exclusively eaten fish since I arrived here. 54 days ago. I don't really like fish.
Like any self respecting adult, I dart off to play "Pairs on Wheels" with the children, this time avoiding networking with people I'll never see again. This afternoon has been about avoidance. I do have an interesting conversation with one of the dutchies. He works all over Africa, and will fly out to South Africa for the entire World Cup. His plan is to set up big TV screens in rural areas so local children can watch all the action. What a great venture.
All things wrapped up at the orphanage, it's back to Moliko to chat with the UAC director about one or two things. Whilst I wait for him, his daughter thrusts a book in my face, saying: "Uncle, read for me!" It's the same book I read during break the other day: "Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger Too"! It's starting to follow me about. The young girl tells me about some weird American Disney film, where there is no Christopher Robin, and Pooh wears a cap. I tell her she must have dreamt the entire thing.
The taxi ride home is highly comical, with a roguish driver attempting to over charge all those who enter. One guy wearing a cap enters, and, hearing the price, replies: "No problem. Nine years I've been waiting for my brother to buy me a car. I'd have given you a thousand Francs." Now that's the way to deal with such characters.
I approach school as two pupils come towards me, taking a break between exams. I tell them we will play a game today, if there is time. "Thank God!", one girls says, almost burying her head in her hands. The exams must be fraying her 10 year old nerves.
We do indeed play a game today, right at the end of the day- Preposition Bingo. It's grand that most of the kids understand the concept of the game, though at least one of the children has already filled her board, even though only one word has been pulled from the "magic box". The results are ever so slightly manufactured to ensure we have at least one successfully completed card. I'm sure that you'll agree the difference between "in" and "on" is very minimal- only one minuscule letter.
The last snaps are taken, and the goodbyes are said. As I pass through the school gates, I'm still laughing at how the children celebrate at any opportunity. Many a time I told one or two pupils they had the right answer. These children started singing dancing,and waving their arms about, and this just seems to set everybody off. It's a sort of contagious abandonment, as if they just been told they've won the rollover lottery on their birthday. It is, it has to be said, often chaotic, and usually funnier in hindsight. I'm certainly chuckling about it all now.
The local orphanage in the Bokova is celebrating it's first anniversary today. It's a European funded initiative, with strong Dutch links. There are a couple of money men here from Holland to mark this auspicious occasion, as well as the usual troupe of government officials. I somehow manage to miss the bus for the start of the event, instead taking a bus back into town. This one has the wife of UAC director, and she takes me to her house in order to prepare herself. I manage just over an hour of "The World Is Not Enough", thus avoiding a number of speeches. We arrive just as the oration reaches it conclusion. The usual food and drink is generously laid on for all guests, with the added bonus of roast potatoes and fried chicken! This is the place to be. I've almost exclusively eaten fish since I arrived here. 54 days ago. I don't really like fish.
Like any self respecting adult, I dart off to play "Pairs on Wheels" with the children, this time avoiding networking with people I'll never see again. This afternoon has been about avoidance. I do have an interesting conversation with one of the dutchies. He works all over Africa, and will fly out to South Africa for the entire World Cup. His plan is to set up big TV screens in rural areas so local children can watch all the action. What a great venture.
All things wrapped up at the orphanage, it's back to Moliko to chat with the UAC director about one or two things. Whilst I wait for him, his daughter thrusts a book in my face, saying: "Uncle, read for me!" It's the same book I read during break the other day: "Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger Too"! It's starting to follow me about. The young girl tells me about some weird American Disney film, where there is no Christopher Robin, and Pooh wears a cap. I tell her she must have dreamt the entire thing.
The taxi ride home is highly comical, with a roguish driver attempting to over charge all those who enter. One guy wearing a cap enters, and, hearing the price, replies: "No problem. Nine years I've been waiting for my brother to buy me a car. I'd have given you a thousand Francs." Now that's the way to deal with such characters.
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