It's not too long since I last wrote but the last few days are of course significant to document in British culture (a culture of which I am more aware of my heritage in now that I am living in a multinational, multicultural, Christian community).
My Christmas was actually very British in many ways. On Christmas Eve I played cards and cherades with the Moltons (a British family, the school coordinators) and afterwards led our midnight carol service on the theme of Immanuel (the name given to Jesus, meaning 'God with us').
On Christmas morning the single Britons met for a full(ish) English breakfast after which we went to the school Christmas morning service in the chapel and then I retired home to a lunch of bread and cheese (our traditional family Christmas lunch when we're not at a Granny's house for Christmas). I met with the other Brits again at 3 to listen to the queen's speech on BBC Worldservice (not as good as last year's but still alright), some insisted in joining in the national anthem afterwards too and Bob Molton stood up throughout the whole speech. After the speech I went home to cook roast potatoes for our staff Christmas meal that evening.
The meal was fantastic. Everyone signed up to cook part of it and there was far more food than we needed. Starters included home made spring rolls, garlic bread and olives, the main course had BIG portions of roast chicken, various potatoes and assorted roasted and boiled veg along with stuffing, gravy and home made bread. Pudding was fruit salad and chocolate mousse (very rich) followed by hot drinks and gingerbread houses in Eagle lounge where we opened our presents to one-another. Afterwards we watched 'Cars' on the projector in Falcon dorm lounge.
On Boxing day I decided to start working again as I don't have much to keep me entertained when I'm not working so I finished my training to become a qualified Cambridge IGCSE Computer Studies coursework moderator and started work on the internal phone system which isn't working in places.
On Christmas Eve we went down to the village as a school and sang carols in French and presented a short gospel message through an interpretor. It was fun and all the village kids were enjoying messing around with my guitar and drum before we started.
I should cook up my left over potatoes now as I'm going to the sports hall at 8 and it's 7:31.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Laptop's back!
I'm writing this from my laptop!!! This is the first time I've used it since it died back in September and I've only just got it working again; in fact I haven't even screwed it back together yet!
I've spent this morning working on my laptop and simultaneously reorganising the store room in my classroom, the rest of the day will probably be spent fiddling on my laptop now, although I can't do too much customisation right now as I need an ADSL connection to download my favourite software and desktop environment.
The Embassy on Sunday was great fun. The Ambassador and his wife live in a very nice victorian/georgian style house which is set in its own grounds overlooking the sea (Dakar is on a peninsula). They have lots of grass (and I'd imagine a very hard working gardener and high water bill) which was of particular novelty value to the children in attendance who spent a large part of the evening chasing each other around on the Ambassador's lawn (very surreal). We were provided with a free bar serving mulled wine, various soft drinks and Flag (Senegalese lager) and there were two Africans serving freshly prepared Chawarma which is a cross between Doner kebab and Fahitas. Later on in the evening some ladies came round with mince pies (something I've been rather short on this year) and we sang carols around the piano. Keith, the WEC Senegal field leader was invited to pray for us (and apparently instructed not to "take advantage") and did a very good job.
In the end I was wishing I'd booked into the WEC guesthouse for a longer stay in Dakar as it was great to get away from the school and have a break. There were quite a few from BCS at the guesthouse while I was there which made it fun.
Unfortunately I tend to miss out on some holiday activities as there are only two single men at the school, myself and Adam, and Adam's been everywhere already and so doesn't really go off site much so while all the girls are going of in groups to visit Dakar, Saint-Louis or the Gambia, I end up staying at the school working because they don't think to invite me. I think I'll have to do something about that.
I've spent this morning working on my laptop and simultaneously reorganising the store room in my classroom, the rest of the day will probably be spent fiddling on my laptop now, although I can't do too much customisation right now as I need an ADSL connection to download my favourite software and desktop environment.
The Embassy on Sunday was great fun. The Ambassador and his wife live in a very nice victorian/georgian style house which is set in its own grounds overlooking the sea (Dakar is on a peninsula). They have lots of grass (and I'd imagine a very hard working gardener and high water bill) which was of particular novelty value to the children in attendance who spent a large part of the evening chasing each other around on the Ambassador's lawn (very surreal). We were provided with a free bar serving mulled wine, various soft drinks and Flag (Senegalese lager) and there were two Africans serving freshly prepared Chawarma which is a cross between Doner kebab and Fahitas. Later on in the evening some ladies came round with mince pies (something I've been rather short on this year) and we sang carols around the piano. Keith, the WEC Senegal field leader was invited to pray for us (and apparently instructed not to "take advantage") and did a very good job.
In the end I was wishing I'd booked into the WEC guesthouse for a longer stay in Dakar as it was great to get away from the school and have a break. There were quite a few from BCS at the guesthouse while I was there which made it fun.
Unfortunately I tend to miss out on some holiday activities as there are only two single men at the school, myself and Adam, and Adam's been everywhere already and so doesn't really go off site much so while all the girls are going of in groups to visit Dakar, Saint-Louis or the Gambia, I end up staying at the school working because they don't think to invite me. I think I'll have to do something about that.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Christmas break begins
Sorry it's been so long. We've had internet problems at the school. I'm now sat in the WEC guesthouse in Dakar using their ADSL with a colleague's laptop. I put my new hard disk in my laptop yesterday but it still doesn't work; gives a very confusing message.
It's now the school Christmas holidays and the kids have left. I'm in Dakar today for the British embassy Christmas carols and mulled wine tonight, should be fun. There's quite a few of us brits going from the WEC community.
The end of term was very busy what with cleaning and closing down the dorms for the holidays and the school end of term production. I made a TV camera and boom microphone props which I must take a photo of before they get stored away. I've not got much planned for the holidays. Most people are going away somewhere like the Gambia or somewhere up north but I'm not planning anything big. There's plenty to keep me entertained at school though, there are always jobs to be done. Thanks to those who prayed about the amplifiers I've been working on; I found the cause of the problem on one of them the other day and it now works on one channel, I need to get a replacement component to fix it fully.
I hope to get the laptop working in the next week so I'd appreciate prayers for that too. If I do that'll rapidly increase my blogging and emailing rates. That's all for now, I hope to get out to the supermarket soon and buy some Christmas food treats for over the holidays.
It's now the school Christmas holidays and the kids have left. I'm in Dakar today for the British embassy Christmas carols and mulled wine tonight, should be fun. There's quite a few of us brits going from the WEC community.
The end of term was very busy what with cleaning and closing down the dorms for the holidays and the school end of term production. I made a TV camera and boom microphone props which I must take a photo of before they get stored away. I've not got much planned for the holidays. Most people are going away somewhere like the Gambia or somewhere up north but I'm not planning anything big. There's plenty to keep me entertained at school though, there are always jobs to be done. Thanks to those who prayed about the amplifiers I've been working on; I found the cause of the problem on one of them the other day and it now works on one channel, I need to get a replacement component to fix it fully.
I hope to get the laptop working in the next week so I'd appreciate prayers for that too. If I do that'll rapidly increase my blogging and emailing rates. That's all for now, I hope to get out to the supermarket soon and buy some Christmas food treats for over the holidays.
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