Back to normal

This week everything is ‘back to normal’ after the elections and the second round actually isn’t until the 28^th. So we have some time before everyone goes home again and doesn’t leave the house for a week.

Since everyone was at home last week, Monday at the dispensary was nuts. We saw over 60 people and didn’t finish until 2:30. Halfway through I went into the house to drink some water and get my snack on, but sr Vicky didn’t stop once. I guess it’s kind of hard to say ‘come back on Wednesday’ to people who have walked super far to get there and their kid has a fever of 104. So it was a long day, but it was interesting and I really like being there. At around 2:15 sr marguerite came in to lay down the law and tell us to stop, but at that point there were only a few people left. She was hilarious and bossy. ‘No you need to stop. Even at the people at the hospital stop for lunch and then start again after’. To a dad whose son was falling asleep in his arms: ‘non mais pardon monsieur why have you not given him anything to eat?’ To someone who only had a big bill: ‘No next time you get change beforehand. It’s a waste of time’.

So other than Monday being a long day, nothing too notable has happened this week. English classes are going well even if the students continue to mock me even to my face. I guess I say ‘ok’ too much because on Tuesday every time I said it, one of the students would repeat it and everyone would laugh. Oh well. The ‘classes’ with the boarding school girls are funny because they are really into that ‘waving flag’ song from the world cup so we end every lesson by singing it. I’m glad I listened to that song on repeat or else I wouldn’t be able to teach them the words.

I’m going to go figure out what to do with the English class at the literacy center this afternoon. They are older and more attentive than the boarding school girls or the technical school kids so it’s a nice change. They also wait to make fun of me until after class at which point they tell sr marguerite just how funny it was when I said ‘Im not a sister’. I really don’t know why that was funnier than any other phrase that I butcher, but at the lesson after that, when someone called me ‘sister’ I didn’t bother to correct them. So this is sr anne signing off.