Aug 17, 2006: Getting to know the neighborhood

How busy we have been! Brian’s basketball team looks quite promising. Final team cuts will happen in a week or so. 12 spots, 23 boys. 2 local guys, Jean-Paul and Mark, are helping coach as well. The players represent at least 7 different countries.

Betsy is keeping very busy with 3 classes. She has US and World History and Foods. She also is running an American Sign Language class, co-directing the student council and chairing the learning support (special ed.) department.

Brian has an IGCSE (Advanced Placement) Geography, World Geography and a P.E. class. He is co-directing the Community Service effort, chairing the Social Studies department ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) self-study, coordinating intramural athletics and coaching the boys basketball team. It seems like a lot, but the staff is very closely knit and everyone is willing to lend a hand wherever needed so we get a lot of support. We are very impressed by the attitudes of the students. They are very respectful and driven. Many of them do not claim English as a first language so it can be challenging. Brian’s World Geography has students from 8 different countries.

We like our house very much. It is quite spacious and more than we need, but it was the only place available at the time. We are back down to just the 1 cat. She is kind of a pest sometimes but does okay.

We ride into school with some other teachers from our neighborhood and 1 student. It is about 10 minutes or so of squished behinds, but we have a lot of laughs. We usually taxi home together after practice or lesson work.

It seems that the only people here who are in a hurry for anything are the taxi drivers. The streets have no lines and no real rules except don’t hit anybody. It is not uncommon to come over a hill and see 3 cars wide coming at you when only 2 will fit. It is like a 2-way go-cart track at 50 mph. Taxis make up 2/3 of the vehicles on the road and we can get from our house to school fairly quickly and for about 200 CFA (40 cents) each. (we learned the hard way to have exact change) You pay by the person and the driver will stop and pick up more people along the way. Most are mid-90’s Toyota Corollas but not all. We rode in one yesterday that had 530,000 miles on it. We met one driver who many missionaries hire to take them to markets and guard their stuff. Emmanuel is a devoted Christian and a real nice guy. He thought we were pulling his leg when we told him about stores in the USA that are as big as 4 football fields and have everything you could want to buy and more. Stores here are open sometimes, have a wide variety sometimes and give change for big bills sometimes. He was kind enough to give us the secret for telling when to pick mangos. We have 4 mango trees in our yard and had no idea how to tell a ripe one from a green one. The fun starts when you draw straws to see who climbs the tree.

We have recently discovered a “store” very near our house. Clement has fresh eggs, bleach, some bread, candy and some various bathroom items. It all fits in about 15 square feet of shelves and the prices are pretty good. The whole store is about the size of a closet but we like it (he speaks English). That’s it for now. We will be in touch soon. Thanks for the thoughts and
prayers.

Brian & Betsy