Roller coaster ride...

The days are just passing by so quickly. I sleep a little because I can’t sleep until around midnight and get up at 6:30-7am. It is either too hot or I have bizarre insomnia. I have had pretty good luck with the kids coming to school this past week and a half. The strike is still going on over 2 months later. The kids were doing everything possible to get the non-government paid teachers out of the class because if there is a strike-everyone is supposed to strike-I don’t know! So, anyways, they didn’t come to school for a couple days for me! But, now they come for the most part and we are almost done with the 6eme book. I checked where the other teachers are in the book and we are all on the same track! So, no worries there. The worry I have is the strike not being over. The President called upon all the ministers, teachers, students’ parents, etc to the palace in Cotonou for a meeting today at 4pm. If they can’t come to an agreement, the year is white! The students will not have any more school, they will have to redo the school year that have already done, repay the tuition/contribution, and no grades will be calculated! Can you imagine paying for a school year, all the supplies, uniforms, etc and then having to do the year all over again. There will be no tests for the kids to take to move up to the next level. Even all of the private schools will be told to stop school until next year! It is a political mess! If there is no school, there is no work for me and no house for me because the school pays my housing! So, I am hoping and praying all works out today in the Presidents Palace as I only have a couple months to go and want to finish up! In the mean time, I have been working on a couple of secondary projects. I am working with the 4eme girls for “Take Your Daughters to Work Day” and I donated a hand washing station for my school. I was able to do a hand washing activity with my classes thanks to my closemate! She helped me with a song: Lave Lave Lave les mains….like row row row your boat! Maybe I will sing it one day for you, yes you! I am trying to get all my paperwork done before I go to Cotonou on Friday morning. That is a pain in itself, but I am doing the best I can! Today is March 22, 2012 and it is 12:33 in the afternoon. Kea is on my left and Timone is at my feet chilling in front of the fan with me on my bed. They have just been fed so all is quiet. My tapioca with sugared milk is cooling on the shelf (made it because it is too darn hot to stay in the kitchen)and have a cut off sleeve on my head with a wet head because I just took a shower shorts and a t-shirt that says “Go Buckeyes!” on the back! But guess what I am still sweating to death and I have to say it “IN A MOOD!” Actually, I have been in this mood for about 3 days now. I do not know how to explain it well, but I will try. I guess this is going to be my “get it all out” blog because I need to get it off of my mind! I am tired of Benin; I just want to wash my clothes in a washer and dry them in a dryer and smell the fresh scent of a dryer sheet! I want to have the option of taking a bath or a shower, not just a maybe cold or maybe hot shower because the pipes are hot! I want the option to choose! I am tired of being sick every time I eat! No, it does not matter if I cook at home or eat out! I boil and filter my water! I am always sick in the stomach! It is a pain I can hardly explain-ouch! Comes and goes as it pleases I should say. If I see one more huge fly flying around my house and close to my ear to mock me I will SCREAM! I think they know and they call their friends! Yes, the flies call their friends, I know it! I want my car to go back and forth to school. It is too hot, my skin in melting! Lotion only helps to a point because the skin just sucks all the moisture out and dries up again within the hour! My legs/belly are pasty white while my feet, arms, a little piece of my shoulders and chest and back are brown! I scare myself in the mirror sometimes! That’s it! I will get rid of the mirror! Great idea! Oh what about sleep? Of course NOT, Kayla! What is sleep? Let’s have bad dreams instead because of the medicine you are taking for malaria, or maybe stress from the “wonderful well-behaved” students that I have! I am waking up in another room; walking in my sleep at age 24! Are you kidding me? No one has the answers! There probably isn’t an answer! And for the strike..is there an end? No idea! Teachers are coming to school, but are they working is the question. They don’t have the love of teaching anymore-their minds are not on school-it is on the government and its strike. I hope it ends soon. So, sorry for the above, I just had to get it out! I know tomorrow will be a better day-maybe this mood will go away. I have had some successes in the past couple of days. I have tutored some girls in English, sang some ABC’s and have not gotten burnt! Sunscreen in my third best friend after the fan and the toilet! Without them, I would definitely be the crazy swamp woman! :P! Everything is going to be all right! Just a roller coaster ride of emotions! I love my job and most of the people here around me. I am almost ready to come home and feel normal again. Well I made it through my Thursday classes! I have four which equals 8 hours of class in one day! Yea, it is normal in the states, but not here! Anyways, the kids were actually ready to learn today...most of them were calm and quiet while copying notes. But, then I came home and had no power for the second day in a ROW!!! which means no fan-until 11pm. I can deal with no lights, but no fan UGH! It is super hot lately with the weather wanting to rain but just being humid instead. So, I slept on a mat in the living room for awhile until the power came back. Friday morning is here and I am up at 6am because I am sweating to death! No power again! Are you serious?! Took a shower, let the dogs out and got ready to go to the bank by 7:30am. I got there at 7:45am and guess what!?! It doesn’t open until 8am. So, I went and had an omelet sandwich and some tea for breakfast with Sylvain before he went to work. So, I went back to the bank by 8:15am and wait in line for about 20 minutes. I finally get to the desk to cash my check from Scholarship Girls Program (25,000cfa) and you know what happened!? The signature (another PCV who signed the check) is not acceptable. It has to be verified by Cotonou’s bank. So, I waited there for about 2 hours-clerks telling me to be patient and how women should not get angry, etc. I guess I looked really mad. But really, come on! So, I finally get up to the counter again and the clerk calls Cotonou-asks me if I can come back-and I say no I want my money, the signature is a good signature! Nope, so he says okay, wait for a FEW more minutes…I sit down and NOW every one of the clerks is going in for a meeting! And we all know meetings can a million years here in Benin, so I am home. I will go back later today after “repo.” I washed my underwear; it is hanging out to dry, swept the floors, fed the dogs, and took a nice long shower, shaved my legs and washed my hair up nice! It is deeply conditioned! My hands are shiverly, but everyone deserves a long relaxing shower every now and then! Right? Well those crazy days are over for awhile because I found a pool in Lokossa! I went there the first day I had a chance! Two days after it opened! It costs 2,000cfa (about 4 dollars) to swim! It was a nice pool, warm, but not too warm and pretty big. Might need it to be cold some days though! I went with 2 other PCV’s! I have to say it helped my morale a little bit. I am ready for another week. Last weekend, I went to the beach and that certainly helped me get through last week. Haha. I guess something is telling me to live close to a beach or have a pool in America! Sounds right! Sounds perfect! I have one more week of school in April and then there is a 2 WEEK break for Easter! What am I going to do with 2 weeksss???? I am going to read a lot of books and go back to the pool of course! I already did my spring cleaning and gave a bunch of things (Christmas decorations, seasonings, candles and such) to a post mate because I certainly will not use them anymore! I only have less than 6 months to go! Yipee! The closer I get to the end of service, the more I think about how tough it is going to be to leave. But, I am certainly tough enough to get through it just as I did to leave the states for 2 years to Benin and struggle to get by/live there. I could really use a good cleaning at the dentist for sure! I have a COS conference in May and there all the PCV’s who came in 2010 will decide the dates for finishing service and get a bunch of paperwork, I am sure. So, until then, all I can say is August (preferred ending time) or mid September. Smile, be happy and have a good day everyone! Always dreaming about that slice of pizza and a cream stick donut! Haha! Xoxo see you soon!