2012 (August-December) Highlights

The first few days back in Dakar for staff orientation I always find myself thinking I will be busy and then things will quiet down as we get back to "normal". A month or two later I realize that staff orientation is the quiet part of the year and the excitement just keeps on going from then until June. We started back to school August 15 and took a few weeks to fall into the routine. Then, just about the time the day-to-day starts to become tiring, the summer rejuvenation wears off, you fall out of the honeymoon stage with your new classes, and the hot and humid weather is making you cranky, the administration hosts a staff retreat weekend at a resort a couple of hours outside the city. 

The weekend starts with a half day of professional development (it's not ALL fun, games, and tanning time) before we board coach buses that whisk us away from the city. The weekend is typically full of sunbathing, reading, napping, gourmet food (I still dream about molten lava cake, goat cheese salad, and pain au chocolat sometimes), swimming, beach volleyball, board games, and wherever else your whims take you. The staff gathers together for a devotional and worship time Saturday night and Sunday morning, but otherwise the most enjoyable part of the weekend is not being confined to a schedule.

Keren and I reading in the pool.

Dinner with friends

Late-night Killer Bunnies in the game room.

One of the times I most enjoy is Handball Season, but who am I kidding, there's always something to look forward to at D.A. It's somewhat difficult to pinpoint when handball season is because it seems to get longer each year (due to scheduling issues), but I think it's fair to say it runs September-October. The Advance P.E. class organizes teams (staff and students mixed) and we play. My favourite part of handball is the atmosphere...the lights coming on as dusk turns to night, people chatting, concessions being sold, music playing, and the energy on the court.

Orange Crush takes on the Her-ricanes

 

Orange Crush holds it's breath as Mrs. E-M takes a shot on net

Orange Crush takes a shot at the crease

Harvestfest is a fall fair hosted by the Senior Class. It traditionally falls on the day of first quarter parent-teacher conferences. I suppose it gives us (students, parents and teachers) something to look forward to after the "business" of the day. Events include "hayrides", a zipline, karaoke, square dancing, a cake walk, face painting and more! Of course, no D.A. event is complete without good food and this year was no exception. The Senior Class imported bacon for bacon cheese burgers and other North American delicacies that are harder to find in Senegal.

A not-so-traditional hayride on the soccer field.

You can pay to have people put in jail. One of my students decided to seek some revenge, but the joke's on him...triple the homework the following week ;)

Sack races...a classic! (with Lauren and Emily)

Mustaches!

The Arts department always puts on a great show, whether it's the fall play, the winter concert, the spring musical, or the year-end Fine Arts Festival. This year's play was no exception. The Clumsy Custard Horror Show is a silly, comical play that includes audience participation and several clever one-liners. I spent much of the fall running lines with one of the actors in our Study Hall, so I like to say I was the biggest fan!

Dacron, the villain, in his lair. He was arguably the most comical of the characters and well played by senior, Jonathan L.

Sir Vival, Sir Cumference, and Sir Prize (get it?!?) hold the hero, Swashbuck Valpariso at sword-point as traitor, Malforce, looks on.

Worfle and Swashbuck check for cracks in the dungeon's force field. Their timely escape happens as they are about to be devoured by turkey spiders.

One of my major commitments this fall was the International Appreciation Week committee. We hosted a week of events for the whole school to highlight and promote our international identity at Dakar Academy. The week started with a parade of nations representing over 25 nations, and also included a talent showcase, a taste of the nations, lunch time competitions inspired by international games, and an Olympic day featuring sports from around the world.

Organizing for the Parade of Nations

The flags flying over the blue top (center of campus).

Worship time at the opening ceremonies.

That's me announcing the week's schedule of events to the entire student body.

I hosted lunch time events throughout the week. This is a chopstick competition. Students had to move kernels of corn from one bowl to another. We had professional and amateur contestants.

Another lunch time competition, cockroach races. Students had to blow a ping pong ball (their cockroach) from one side of the blue top to the other.

My other responsibility for the week was Olympic Sports Day. Students gathered with their colour teams (the colours of the Olympic Rings) before beginning rotations to the five world sports.

Cricket was first played in England in the 16th century and is still the national sport. When the British Empire expanded, so did cricket. It is played particularly in Australia and New Zealand, Indian, the West Indies, Southern Africa and the British Isles.

Canada’s official summer sport, lacrosse comes from Native American origins. It is mainly played in Canada and the United States.

 

Bokwele: A game originated in the Congo. When the game begins the players yell “Bokwele” while they try to steal their opponent’s scarves.

Bocce Ball has been adapted from the ancient Roman Empire. The modern form in Italy is called bocce, the plural of the Italian word boccia which means "bowl". It is played in Europe and has spread around the world, to places such as Australia, North America, and South America.

Sepak Tawkraw, also known as kick volleyball, is a sport from Southeast Asia but known by different names in different countries. Traditionally a rattan ball is used to play.

Dakar Academy is an American school which means that we (us Canadians included) observe a long weekend for Thanksgiving. The Wednesday before the holiday is a half day of school and then...TURKEY BOWL (a flag football tournament).

Like I've already mentioned, no school event is complete without a special menu. Turkey Bowl is hosted by the Junior Class.

The Middle School tournament kicks off the event. I teach or have taught all of these students at some point. They play hard!

The female staff put together a team again this year. We were the defending champions going into the tournament. I don't know that we ever settled on a name, but we were Orange.

Some people have called this a "play of the day" which is somewhat embarrassing for me. I had played center all day, but for the last match up (All-Stars vs. Staff) I was sent in as a receiver. I was so shocked to make the catch that I paused for a minute. When my teammates yelled at me to run I turned around and ran straight into Cari-Brooke. You can see me mouth saying "oh no..." The best part of the play, not shown in this picture was when Cari-Brooke, just slammed by a teacher, held up both my flags in a gesture of surrender.

We take the game very seriously! We practice together before the tournament and have our plays on cards which we consult between plays. It payed off though, we were the tournament champions!

The boys games were where the exciting, talented, entertaining plays happened. It was the next best thing to the NFL for Thanksgiving weekend.

Finally, when there aren't "big events" happening it is not uncommon to find me field-side or court-side cheering on DA teams as they play.  Softball, varsity volleyball, middle school soccer, boys varsity basketball, and girls varsity soccer have kept me busy most Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays since August. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, DA takes sports very seriously.

Adan's fancy footwork.

Caleb and Martin get past the opposing team's D.

Soo and Sara gaining some ground.

Basma is one of the team's high scorers.

So you can see that my lack of communication does not mean that life has been uneventful or boring. Stay tuned for more Dakar happenings in 2013.

Begrudging (but healthy) Resolve

I have been home in Canada for the holidays with my family, though you may not have known this because I have been MIA since September. I have been asked a few time over the Christmas break if I have posted recently and have had to sheepishly admit that my blog has fallen by the wayside.

Upon my return to Dakar in August I resolved to be consistent in posting a blog entry every week. I had even determined that Tuesday afternoons/evenings in the dorm would be the perfect time to compose my thoughts, but as with many resolution this one was, unfortunately, short-lived. I don't know if you'd believe me, as my track record has been dismal, but I even have the first entry of a 3-part "Lost in Translation" series mostly written from the beginning of September. It's just waiting for a conclusion and editing, but when I lose momentum it's hard to get back in the groove. 

I am not a huge advocate for New Year's resolution. Don't get me wrong, I am big on goal setting, list making, and enjoying the sense of victory and productivity when overcoming a challenge, but I don't see much sense in making a resolution just because "it's that time of year". I firmly believe that a setting goals will be most effective when you reach a point in your own personal journey when a change is necessary and you are intrinsically motivated to pursue that objective. 

That being said, I wouldn't go so far as to admit that I am "intrinsically motivated" to be more faithful to this blog, but I would say that it's an important habit and a good way for me to process and remember my experiences.  It's good to know that I will be held accountable, to myself and to you, if I put all of these thoughts down in writing. And so, contrary to my better judgement, I am resolving at the beginning of this new year, to be consistent in posting blog entries. 

Any teacher knows that the key to successful goal setting is making your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Trackable, blah, blah, blah. So, to make my students proud, my SMART goal is as follows...

I am committed to writing at least once a month (to start) for the rest of this school year. (More is obviously better, but the experts say "attainable", so there you have it.)

As an added bonus, so that you can really judge me for being a hypocrite after what I wrote about New Year's resolutions, I am also resolving to read 50 books this year.  You may have noticed on the right side of this page a montage of the books that I am reading or have read. This goal started three years ago, but my record has been worsening with each passing year. The optimist in me says, "this is a new year." Besides, for this particular goal I need a full year to make it realistic.

I suppose in the end, you can't achieve OR fail to achieve a goal unless you start by setting one, whenever it is you happen to feel the impulse.

**This post was inspired by my friends Andrew and Kate for whom I am very grateful.

Rain, rain, go away. No, for real, go away!

I am a big fan of lazy weekend afternoons curled up in an armchair, a good book in hand, an overcast sky and rain providing the backdrop. When it comes to overcast, rainy days, Senegal definitely has it's share between July and October aka rainy season. While we occasionally experience those lazy, gray, rainy days, Senegal's rainy season manifests itself more commonly as an impressive display of forceful winds, lightening and torrential downpours accompanied by mighty thunder sound effects. I have woken up more than once thinking the entire apartment building was falling down.

Have you heard of the Butterfly effect? The chaos theory, not the movie. The theoretical example often used to demonstrate the theory is a butterfly flapping it's wings which consequently causes a hurricane weeks later in a far off destination. Though I can't offer any expert opinions on the theory, I can say that it's almost inevitable that our monster storms here in Senegal spin off the west coast and turn into tropical storms heading towards the north american coast. We had a crazy storm here about a weak before hurricane Isaac made landfall.

Sadly Senegal's infrastructure isn't always up to the challenge of handling excessive amounts of rain. Dakar experiences some flooding every year, but this year we've experienced more excessive rain levels than usual. This past week we had 6.1 inches of water in 2 hours. Most of the city's neighbourhoods experienced severe flooding and the president came home early from a trip abroad, ordering a full emergency response.

Though my apartment is on the the main floor I escaped the floods unscathed. Our campus was not so fortunate, but did recover quickly with the help of some masterful bailers. As much as we like the cool relief of the storms and the lush greenery it supports, suffice it to say that for the city's sake I don't pine for romantically rainy days.

Our blue top (outdoor sports court) which is also the school's main thoroughfare.

The soccer field. Kids love to play american football in the rain.

The staff parking lot.

A few of our dorm girls who heroically bailed out main floor classrooms.

Photo credit to Mr. E-M, DA Staff.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...Happy New Year!

My friend Suzi loved the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. I never would have heard of him (yep, it's a him don't let the 'Maria' confuse you) if Suzi hadn't introduced me. She found a lot of inspiration in his words and I'm impressed with how often they echo my own thoughts, though in a more philosophical, artsy, and poetic way. So to quote a great poet and simultaneously honour a friend, Rilke wrote, “And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been." I'm sure he was referring to midnight of January 1st, the party hat, streamer, and noise maker kind of New Year, but for me fall is the New Year. Well, here at Dakar Academy it's actually early August...but you know what I mean.

This is the beginning of my third year at DA, crazy isn't it?!? By now returning to the familiarity of my apartment, my classroom, my friends and colleagues is comforting at the end of a long journey. This year though, I am most excited about "things that have never been". Of course these things are likely to be anything unexpected, but I am also thrilled about several anticipated changes.

For the past two years I have been privileged to be a Mid-termer with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, but alas, when I joined the program it was a 2 year position and I have expired my status. When I made my decision to return to DA in the spring I didn't want to leave the security and support of the PAOC so, with a few meetings and e-mails, I have been graciously accepted as the first ever PAOC Global Professional. This means I'm a professional (teacher) employed overseas (in Senegal) that lives missionally and maintains a relationship to PAOC. I also hope to volunteer with local ministry opportunities.

It's not a secret that I spend most of my time with middle schoolers. Between teaching middle school, sponsoring the middle school senate, and sponsoring middle school youth group I sometimes find myself thinking and acting a little too much like a middle schooler myself! Some people find 6th, 7th, and 8th grade to be a scary place, but it's my niche and it's for this reason that I accepted the role of overseeing our new 6th grade transition program. I have observed 5th graders struggle through the move up to 6th grade for a couple of years and so, together with the school counsellor and our administration, we are implementing a number of strategies to help our newest middle schoolers adapt to the challenges of multiple teachers and classes in a day. Between lockers with combination locks, moving around the campus each period, stretching their minds, and learning to help themselves, middle school is a BIG deal! In addition to facilitating various orientation opportunities, I am teaching a new 6th Grade Study Skills class for the first quarter. Even these first couple of weeks I'm loving the extra time to get to know, encourage, and support my class of young grasshoppers.

Finally, I have been most excited to have been asked to act as dorm relief for our on-campus girls dorm. The school itself accommodates the children of diplomates, non-profit organizations, business people, etc. but the dorm program is exclusively missionary kids from West Africa. Every Tuesday I get to hang out with a group of 16 exceptional young ladies between the ages of 12-18 so their dorm mom can have a night off. It's a fairly easy gig, they pretty much manage themselves. However, I love having the opportunity to hang out with the girls, get to know them, learn from them, and offer them some extra support along the way.

And so I look forward with anticipation to this new school year and all the things that have never been...yet!

Politics and Spring Break

Senegal has a new president and the people are happy. There was a celebratory atmosphere in Dakar Sunday night when it was announced that Wade (the current president) had conceded the win to his opponent, Macky Sall. Our street was peaceful but we could hear cheering and fireworks in the distance. We rushed up to the roof to watch the fireworks from nearby neighbourhoods. My friends and I have been watching the news closely as we are scheduled to leave for London tomorrow, and have been concerned that if there were any protests/demonstrations they could jeopardize our travel plans. However, democracy has prevailed and we are now in full vacation planning mode.

Our spring break at DA started Friday at 3:30pm. After the gauntlet of grading, report cards, standardized tests, and parent-teacher conferences in the preceding week, my household looked like a battlefield Friday night; bodies strewn about, moaning, and very little movement...but without the blood. We had weathered the 'war' but were a little worse for wear. I went to bed embarrassingly early, but woke refreshed and ready to embrace the break. Some of the highlights thus far include:

Saturday Market shoe purchases for my upcoming London trip (3 pairs for 11, 000cfa=$22CAD)
Technological triumph (recovering/transferring music from my iPod to my computer)
Skype chat with Jenn
Eggs benedict from scratch
Monday morning sleep-in
Thai chicken wraps with peanut sauce
Banana milkshakes
Downtown adventure
Haircut
Fresh pain au chocolate and tarte au chocolat

It seems that a lot of my spring break happiness is connected to food, but I enjoy culinary adventures as much as any other type of adventure. I am mostly excited because it's Tuesday, spring break has only just begun!

Miss Black in the Middle

Have I mentioned that I am the Middle School Senate sponsor? Well I am, and it's a lot of fun. We have very official meetings, and plan (what I would consider to be) awesome activties for the Dakar Academy Middle School.

In October we hosted our main event of the year: Lock-In! I think I mentioned the lock-in in a previous post. I somehow found myself encouraging the hyperness and insanity of 30 middle schoolers until midnight, and then attempting to calm them down to watch movies and "sleep" all night. Imagine with me, the "aroma" of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders after running around for 3 hours outside (during hot season) and then being locked in a science room for another 7 hours. Ahhhh Middle School!

I feel compelled to brag about the senate, they planned all the activities, chose the movies, provided breakfast, set-up and cleaned up ALL with very minimal help from me. I simply made sure they had their bases covered and they ran with it.

Settling the Crowd


Costume Contest: Superhero Theme


Charades: Chloe


Charades: Caleb and Isabella


McComb Twin



Big Booty


Grace and Miss Lee


Big Booty


Teachers


Food line


In December we had our second annual dodgeball tournament and added a movie night afterwards: Home Alone...classic! More recently, in February we hosted our first ever Middle School Progressive Dinner. Most of the kids weren't sure what a progressive dinner even was, so we welcomed them by explaining that a progressive dinner is when you enjoy each part of the meal in a different location and progress from one locale to another (see how I casually explained 'progressive dinner' for those of you who were sheepishly asking yourselves what it was?).

The Senate girls served appetizers and fancy drinks with sugar-rimmed cups in the science lab. We had covered the counters with poster paper and the kids loved being able to draw and write.

Our main course was a pasta dinner with garlic bread and shirley temples served on the petits poteaux, our soccer 'rink' usually used for soccer, handball, and occasionally volleyball. After we had eaten groups were given a bag full of random items and had to create a 'skit from a bag'. A spin on dinner theatre.

The middle schoolers then progressed to the dorm rooftop for twilight brownies and ice cream. We finished our evening with s'mores around a bonfire in the sandpit. Is your mouth watering yet?

In addition to being the Middle School Senate sponsor, I am also a Middle School Youth Group sponsor. I love me some middle schoolers. I'm scared to consider what it says about me that I am so comfortable with 10-13 year olds. It really feels like my niche.

On Thursday nights a typical youth group starts with singing, followed by a 15-20 minute talk, and then chat time in small groups to discuss what we have just heard, or how our weeks have been. We used to start with a game, but have learned that it's best to end with the game. By Thursday nights even the best-behaved middle schooler has some 'crazy' just waiting to be unleashed.

Story Time with Miss Black


Small groups






What would you do for a coke?


Minute-to-Win: It Set-Up


Minute-to-Win-It: Ta-Da



Minute-to-Win-It: Chloe


Minute-to-Win-It: Luke M




Life in the 'Middle' is anything but boring!

Sister Alicia's Musical Debut

Senior Café is a classy talent show hosted by the senior class each year in February. Staff, students, and parents sign up with acts showcasing their talent, comedy, and creativity. Last year I spectated, this year I could not be prevailed upon to sit idly by, I wanted to be a star, a superstar!

I was enlisted as the novice nun for the Sister Act-inspired lip sync "I Will Follow Him" (I am front, left). So without further ado, for your viewing pleasure...



We placed third and second on Friday and Saturday nights respectively. Check out the following link for other acts. "Epic Rap Battle" and "Why Spain Won the World Cup" were the first place winners...and personal favourites.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dakar+academy+senior+cafe+2012&oq=dakar+acad&aq=3&aqi=g6&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3.3.0l6.1303l4968l0l8319l12l12l0l0l0l0l338l1084l2-3j1l4l0.