Rain

It's raining!

That's not so unusual for this time of year but this summer has been
quite a dry one so far. And it's not just raining, it's torrential, the
only kind which really counts here.

We've just had a talk from Wally Seck, on of the locals from Kinniabour
who has a little English and German too. He was talking to us about
Sereer culture and village life. It was very interesting.

I think I'm one of a very small number who braved the rain and ran to
check their windows. If you leave your windows open during heavy rain
you can end up with some very soggy belongings.

Johannes has just come home, also looking wet but not as wet as I was.

I've not got anything timetabled this afternoon so I think I'll continue
to work on the school amplifier in the chapel. It's been an ongoing
project since term one last year. I finally diagnosed the cause (I hope
correctly) last Easter and the parts needed were ordered then but have
only just found their way here to the school. I started on it yesterday
and initial signs were promising (at least the fuse didn't blow with the
new component as it did with the old).

Another reason for working in the school-block is that Ruth said she
would be doing a dance in the primary wing. Whether she was serious or
not remains to be seen but it's intriguing nonetheless.

My pot of tea looks nearly brewed. I'm taking advantage of the cool that
the rain brings to drink a hot drink in comfort. So far I've not drunk
tea in the dining room but only in people's houses, perhaps I'm still
affected mentally by my experiences of dining room tea this time last year.

Time for a spot of tea and maybe a ginger nut.

Full House

As predicted my house has changed in an instant; it's no longer 'mine',
it's 'ours'. My new housemate Johannes arrived yesterday night at about
11:30.

He's a year older than I thought (19) and seems a very nice chap. His
English is not great but he makes a good effort and can hold a
conversation fairly well.

He seems very happy to sit in the lounge and make small talk which has
been nice.

Not being the worlds greatest conversationalist myself I sometimes worry
about my own first impression on occasions such as this. Although
they're not so important in the long run they can have a big effect on
relationships for a good few months (depending on how memorable the
impression is).

I remember last year it took me quite some time to realise a
subconscious spirit of competition between myself and Adam (entirely one
way). Because we were the only single men on site I felt that everything
I did would be measured against him, especially with me being the new guy.

I hope I can avoid such silliness this year and develop healthy
relationships with all the new staff quickly, as well as improving
relationships with existing staff.

I'm conscious that even after just a few days I still feel a little like
Johannes is moving into 'my' house. I hope that he can feel at home and
make the house his own. I've deliberately tried not to move too much of
my stuff into the lounge and I've not done any decorating of any sort.
Hopefully we can find something to put up though as the lounge is quite
bare!

I'm also wondering how to approach ownership of food and other such
items. So far I've tried to communicate a freedom to use anything
Johannes finds in the kitchen but this may need adjusting once he's had
a chance to stock up and once we see how our lifestyles fit together.

We will be keeping very different hours once term starts anyway as he
will be in the dorms and I shan't be.

A Safe But Wet Arrival

I'm now very pleased to be writing from my new room here at BCS.

I'm not so pleased to say that I'm writing on battery power as we've
just had a power cut.

The plane finally landed in Dakar at about 1:45 local time last night.
We were delayed a total of 11 hours I think.

The good thing was that we met the De Souzas at Lisbon airport and there
was quite a crowd of us in the minibus on the way home.

I finally got to bed at 4:30 and slept surprisingly well considering the
new bed and the humidity.

The humidity was (and is) very noticeable but thankfully it's been
fairly cool so far.

It turns out the rains never properly started here over the summer.
There were only two storms of note. There's hope that things are really
kicking in now though as we drove through a very impressive storm last
night and there's been heavy rain this lunchtime followed by rumblings
and threatening skies right now.

Last night was a big one. I stepped out of the van to try and see how
wet Lesley's suitcase was getting on the roof-rack and when I got back
in the van it was like I'd jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed
(fun!). There was cool lightning too. Every so often our surroundings
would light up and we'd see the sillhouettes of baobabs on the horizon
against the bright white sky.

I've spent this morning trying to get my room into order but I'm finding
it very sweaty work. In fact I just broke into a forehead sweat brushing
my teeth! It's quite fun really, I'm enjoying the novelty at the moment
and I got used to it last year so it doesn't bother me (although Ruth
and Tracey were amused by my shininess at lunch).

I found out at lunch time that I'm now officially a full time teacher.
That will mean no dorm duties and a Saturday day off. I'm disappointed
in a sense that I won't be in the dorm officially but I'll definitely
hang out there when I can and I plan to be as available as possible in
the first few days to help the Eagle kids settle in with new dorm
parents and dorm helpers (whilst trying not to tread on their toes).

I had thought initially that I'd like to be a full time teacher this
year but as time went on I realised I really wanted to stay in the dorm
too. It'll be interesting to see how the two roles compare (although
comparison of jobs is impossible here really and a fairly fruitless and
even divisive exercise at times). It will mean I have the house to
myself a lot at times which will be nice.

I should go now before I use too much battery as I'm not sure when power
will return (it's too expensive to run the generator when so few people
are on site and no real work is being done).

Brussels Airport - again!

A year later and I'm back here again. For slightly longer than expected this time though.

All was running smoothly. Lesley and I had seats together from Birmingham to Brussels and were patiently awaiting boarding for our onward flight to Dakar when we heard the dreaded announcement (actually only Lesley heard it as I was in the toilets). Our flight had been cancelled!

Apparently they'd discovered problems with the landing gear on the plane that was to carry us and it was not safe to fly.

Passengers for Dakar and Monrovia were split up and taken away for further information, in three languages of course, English being the final with the smallest audience (us and one American man).

We were told that they had found a solution to take us all on to Dakar. We would be flying on to Lisbon and then from there on to Dakar with TAP. The connecting flight is at 1700, we received this information at 1000.

Boarding passes were taken in and meal vouchers were handed out with the instructions to meet again at 1300 so we trundled off to find something to amuse ourselves for two hours before eating lunch.

At 1300 we were given new boarding cards for our onward flights and told to proceed to terminal A where we could pick up another snack voucher at the Brussels Airlines desk.

As the day has gone on we've been gradually descending into some kind of state just above sleepwalking. I tried to wake Lesley up by challenging her to a sudoku race using a puzzle on the back of a freebie magazine but once I'd won she seemed to lose any wits she had gained by the exercise and quickly started to flag again.

Having just awoken from a short semi-snooze we're about to locate our new gate number where we'll be hopefully boarding in half an hour or so.

We should arrive in Dakar at 0100 tonight all being well. It's a shame not to arrive at school in the daylight but the upside is we no longer need to worry about fitting both our luggage into a taxi as Bob is coming in with the minibus to pick up the De Souzas (new staff) who will be on our TAP flight.

Should really move now, Lesley's looking bored/impatient.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends...

Less than 24 hrs left in the UK!

For the last few weeks I've been looking forward to getting back to work, especially as I've been running out of things left to do on my little list. Now as it approaches more immediately I'm starting to realise more of the challenge of what lies ahead.

In one sense a year is a short time. Definitely as I look back on the last one I can see that it was not long enough and I feel the need to go back BCS for a while longer; but as I look ahead a year suddenly seems a much longer period of time. A long time before I return home and see friends again. A long time before another cup of tea with real milk!

I must devote some time today to drinking tea and making loud musical noise on various instruments.

One of the things which has been most on my mind recently about the next year is how our new team will fit together. It takes such a long time to really feel comfortable and efficient as a team. Only last term was I starting to notice that about some of the team relationships at school
and now many of those team members are gone and new ones on the way.

The first meeting with all the new staff will be strange. It's good that they will have mostly met each other first at the orientation course at UK HQ. I know that was a great comfort to me when I arrived last year; to see familiar faces at the first coffee break.

I'm not sure whether to brave a cup of tea this time around remembering the dire consequences last year. Luckily I have a few days before that particular coffee break to gauge my overall sweatiness and decide whether it's wise or not. (for context to these comments see my blog
from August 30th last year)

I should really start packing I guess. There are a lot of things I want to take that I mustn't forget. I probably will forget something but hopefully nothing major.

I'll leave the house just after midnight tonight heading to Birmingham airport arriving at the school hopefully between six an seven tomorrow evening (just in time to watch the football if it's on anywhere or listen to it otherwise).

Teen Camp

I returned home today from WEC Teen Camp where I've been for the past week.

For those that don't know, Teen Camp is a Christian holiday under canvas with a mission focus for teenagers between 13 and 18. I used to go regularly in my teenage years; from 1997 to 2000.

This was my second year as a tent leader, my first being the summer of 2005. We had a great week down in Charmouth, a sleepy Dorset beach town.

The weather was great for the majority of the week and I took all the opportunities I could to enjoy the English sea (a little colder than Popenguine though). We also went to Exmouth for 'trip day' where I made the most of the traditional seaside resort and treated myself to ice-cream, fish & chips and a cup of tea.

I was a tent leader in the second oldest boys village which meant guys aged 15 and 16. This isn't an agegroup I've had much experience with at BCS seeing as we only had one 15yr old and three 16yr olds and I was working in the youngest dorm. I was a little worried when I first met my campers. Three of the four in my tent struck me immediately as being from a very different social grouping to myself. They were the trendy kids who thought themselves 'hard', wore jewellery and listened to music I can't stand; or at least those were my immediate thoughts.

It's so difficult not to judge on appearances or to let first impressions affect long term interaction. I was however taught a lesson as these boys proceeded to surprise me with their respect and better than expected behaviour. They were by no means angels but they were also by no means the scallies I mistook them for.

I was very encouraged during the week to observe one of them in particular spending time reading his bible at night and obviously chewing over what he was hearing. In terms of group discussion and sharing, my tent remained fairly quiet all week but changes in other areas and their attitudes at the end of the week gave me hope that God was at work in these young men.

I very much enjoyed being part of the camp family and it was great to meet up with some folks who I'd not seen for a few years. There were also a lot of new leaders there this year and many of them have expressed a desire to return next year and obviously enjoyed themselves which is great. Just like at BCS, continuity is also very important for WEC Camps. If a leader is a regular and is known to the kids then they are often given greater respect and the campers feel able to be much more open about their relationship with God and the issues in their lives.

I'm now exhausted having hung around on site to help with the initial packing up process and then travelled to New Wine festival to spend the night in a tiny tent there before the long drive up north today.