August 6, 2006

Friday was the last day of our Model School. Children come from all over the area to come to the secondary school. Some have to drive 30 minutes just to get there, and this is no easy task. But the school is cheap 20$00 for 8 days of class taught by novices, but, for the most part, is still effective. I was lucky to have older children. I taught 10th and 11th grade and they were pretty god kids. They didn’t give me much trouble, and because they already know a lot, they are easy to instruct with directions and such. But I marvel at their drive. Today, two of my 10th grade girls, who are also cousins (everyone here is cousins), gave me a gift at the end of school today. It was a music box in the shape of a piano that doubles as a jewelry box. When you wind it the ballerina dances to Fur Elise, which amused me. But where in the heck did she get this little gift? These things are not just lying around. She cannot hop to mall to pick up a little trinket. I admired this, because I wondered if she had bought it, or was it something she had already? I couldn’t help but wonder. The ‘festa’ after Model School was something amazing. All the classes had learned a song in English and had to perform it for all the rest of the school. My 10th graders did “Hello, Goodbye” by the Beatles. It has approximately 5 words, so it was perfect for them. They did really well. Which brings me to my next marvel: artistically speaking, these people are incredible. They picked up my song faster than I did. And you should see them dance. They are not afraid to let loose. They dance close and I mean really close. It’s a dance called ‘funana’ that can be done both fast and slow. And believe me when I tell you that you better like the person you are dancing funana with, because more than likely he likes you….a lot. They are just beautiful people. They dance, they sing, and they are just physically beautiful people. They never cease to amaze me.
All this weekend I have done nothing but dance. Saturday evening, my ‘older sister’ (she’s not actually older than I am but she’s the older of the two sisters; her name is Lai) took me to the neighborhood dance party. We had to dress all in black, something about witches. I’m not really sure and when I tried to explain our Halloween I don’t think she got it, but I mostly understood the witch idea. You dance with everyone and anyone and EVERYONE is into it; boys, girls, all and no one cares. They just dance and they dance awesomely. There is always food and drink and they don’t start till about 11pm and go until well into the morning. We were there until 3am because, come on, how many of you know what time I usually go to bed? But it was still going strong for a long time after we left. Again, I love this place.
Also, on another note I have to say that ANYTHING I say in my blogs is my opinion only and has not been endorsed or supported by Peace Corps or the US Government in any way.