Today is the start of SIPS, a big sporting competition for international schools from all over Senegal.
The whole of BCS has descended upon Dakar for five days. We have 41 staff and their families staying at the WEC guesthouse and we had all the kids here for lunch and siesta when we arrived today.
The first event was this afternoon. It was the cross country running and it was held in Hann park. Hann park is a lovely park in a Dakar suburb. It's very big and very green with a zoo and a botanical garden.
I was a steward for the races and spent my afternoon sat or stood on a corner of the route waiting for kids to come past. When I wasn't waiting I was encouraging runners and taking photos.
Tomorrow is an early start. Breakfast at 6:45; and I have to buy the bread beforehand.
I'm going out now to buy soft drinks for all the kids for tomorrow and then to get some some ice cream at the place round the corner.
I'll try and post again tomorrow evening.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Weekend Off & SIPS
Sorry for the recent lack of news. I wrote a valentines day entry but I haven't been able to get it up until now.
Last weekend was my weekend off for this term and I went to Dakar with most of the other new staff (as in those who weren't here last year).
We had a great time and it was really good to get away from the school for a few days. I ate a lot of good food and spent a lot of time on the internet (they have broadband at the WEC guesthouse in Dakar). Unfortunately I had my mp3 player stolen from my bag on Monday. At one of the boutiques we stopped at one of the men informed me that my bag was open and when I checked it I knew immediately that it was missing as it was the pocket where I always kept it and had put it that morning.
Nevertheless it was a great weekend and I'm adjusting to not having portable music; at least now I can play music on my laptop (I downloaded a lot of software on the weekend).
It's the Senegalese national elections this weekend so we won't be travelling off the compound at all just to be on the safe side. Some of our weekly borders have stayed over the weekend for safety's sake as their parents requested that they could stay here rather than being at home in Dakar/Thies.
Next week is SIPS, the major sporting event of the BCS calendar. We'll be travelling to Dakar on Wednesday where we'll be competing against international schools from all over Senegal in athletics, football and volleyball. We don't usually win much but it's great fun and an excellent opportunity to get to know parents better and to be a good Christian witness as a school. The kids get to run in the national stadium! They're all very excited.
We've had a lot of injuries over the last few weeks and still more people coming down ill in the last few days. Fortunately we received news yeaterday that one of my dorm boys will be able to run despite having a hand in plaster. He was delighted. We would all appreciate your prayers that no-one else gets injured and we all stay healthy over this exciting and important time in the BCS calendar.
Last weekend was my weekend off for this term and I went to Dakar with most of the other new staff (as in those who weren't here last year).
We had a great time and it was really good to get away from the school for a few days. I ate a lot of good food and spent a lot of time on the internet (they have broadband at the WEC guesthouse in Dakar). Unfortunately I had my mp3 player stolen from my bag on Monday. At one of the boutiques we stopped at one of the men informed me that my bag was open and when I checked it I knew immediately that it was missing as it was the pocket where I always kept it and had put it that morning.
Nevertheless it was a great weekend and I'm adjusting to not having portable music; at least now I can play music on my laptop (I downloaded a lot of software on the weekend).
It's the Senegalese national elections this weekend so we won't be travelling off the compound at all just to be on the safe side. Some of our weekly borders have stayed over the weekend for safety's sake as their parents requested that they could stay here rather than being at home in Dakar/Thies.
Next week is SIPS, the major sporting event of the BCS calendar. We'll be travelling to Dakar on Wednesday where we'll be competing against international schools from all over Senegal in athletics, football and volleyball. We don't usually win much but it's great fun and an excellent opportunity to get to know parents better and to be a good Christian witness as a school. The kids get to run in the national stadium! They're all very excited.
We've had a lot of injuries over the last few weeks and still more people coming down ill in the last few days. Fortunately we received news yeaterday that one of my dorm boys will be able to run despite having a hand in plaster. He was delighted. We would all appreciate your prayers that no-one else gets injured and we all stay healthy over this exciting and important time in the BCS calendar.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Valentines Day
Valentines Day at BCS; a rather different affair from that which I'm used to.
I spent the morning of my day off this week making 25 valentines cards (once I got out of bed). The ,ost I've ever sent before is one and that was only when I was sure it would be well received. I made one for each child in my dorm and a small handful of staff who I'm close to. A BCS valentines card is much more an expression of friendship than of any kind of romantic intention. It's commonplace for girls to send to girls and boys to boys (although obviously boys don't send quite so many).
Everyone placed their cards in a box in the dining room and they were sorted and set out on our plates at lunchtime. I received 11 cards, all of them anonymous. We also had a DJ over lunch playing dedications for various people.
The yr8s send a valentine on my behalf (without my knowledge) to one of the teachers who they're currently trying to set me up with. My dorm kids dedicated a song to me and Jacqui, our other dorm helper, the first line of which was the opening sentences of a traditional English wedding ceremony.
This evening we dressed up for dinner and set the tables out especially to make a dancefloor in the middle of the room. The boys and girls lined up outside and entered the room in couples. I was at the back of the boys queue and so walked in with four female staff members on my arm; I wasn't complaining.
After dinner the music continued and there was ballroom dancing on the dancefloor. I had seen Vinicius dancing in the dorm the previous day so I asked him to give me quick lesson before tea. He taught me to waltz which came in very handy tonight and then Fran taught me to cha-cha-cha so that I had no excuse for skipping those dances. Add to those the macarena and that's quite a lot of dancing for one evening (although the majority of my partners were looking me in the stomach rather than the eyes).
Definitely the best way of celebrating Valentines day I've ever seen. Everyone had a great day, even the boys.
I spent the morning of my day off this week making 25 valentines cards (once I got out of bed). The ,ost I've ever sent before is one and that was only when I was sure it would be well received. I made one for each child in my dorm and a small handful of staff who I'm close to. A BCS valentines card is much more an expression of friendship than of any kind of romantic intention. It's commonplace for girls to send to girls and boys to boys (although obviously boys don't send quite so many).
Everyone placed their cards in a box in the dining room and they were sorted and set out on our plates at lunchtime. I received 11 cards, all of them anonymous. We also had a DJ over lunch playing dedications for various people.
The yr8s send a valentine on my behalf (without my knowledge) to one of the teachers who they're currently trying to set me up with. My dorm kids dedicated a song to me and Jacqui, our other dorm helper, the first line of which was the opening sentences of a traditional English wedding ceremony.
This evening we dressed up for dinner and set the tables out especially to make a dancefloor in the middle of the room. The boys and girls lined up outside and entered the room in couples. I was at the back of the boys queue and so walked in with four female staff members on my arm; I wasn't complaining.
After dinner the music continued and there was ballroom dancing on the dancefloor. I had seen Vinicius dancing in the dorm the previous day so I asked him to give me quick lesson before tea. He taught me to waltz which came in very handy tonight and then Fran taught me to cha-cha-cha so that I had no excuse for skipping those dances. Add to those the macarena and that's quite a lot of dancing for one evening (although the majority of my partners were looking me in the stomach rather than the eyes).
Definitely the best way of celebrating Valentines day I've ever seen. Everyone had a great day, even the boys.
Monday, February 12, 2007
A Day of Two Halves
The end of another week. An eventful one as you'll no doubt have noticed from my last entry.
Today splits into two parts, pre-sermon and post-sermon. Today was my first time leading the adult ministry time for our Sunday meeting and I did a sort of cross between a group bible study and a sermon. That was a new thing for me. I led more bible studies than I can be bothered to count at uni but I never delivered a talk of any length.
I only realised on Wednesday night that this was the week that I'd been down on the rota to lead the adults section of our Sunday service. I half volunteered and was half pressurised into it when we put the rota together in our ministry team. I had thought of perhaps finding a recorded sermon to play as I have a few around but for some reason I sort of wanted to try and do something myself.
I was undecided having looked through the recordings I had available (most of which are part of series anyway). When thinking about what I could talk about I was equally unsure, perhaps something related to the book I'm reading at the moment (The Pleasures of God - John Piper) but what in particular and what was it's relevance to my audience?
It was only on Thursday evening in our staff meeting that I suddenly had an idea. Several people had made comments about the week's events and in particular used phrases such as 'fiery darts' or 'arrows of discouragement' which brought to mind Ephesians 6:16: "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one" (ESV- from memory).
On thinking about this more I realised this did in fact tie in with the book I was reading and some of the theme's I'm currently inspired by. Why is the shield of faith an effective defence against discouragement and attack? Because of the nature of the God in whom our faith is placed.
When our faith is placed in a God is passionate for his own glory, sovereign and in control of all things, and perfect in goodness, both in his character and towards his people, then even the worst of attacks can be rebuffed with the knowledge that God is good, in complete control and is at work for his glory. Sorry that was a long sentence but the three characteristics there were the main points of my talk, backed up with a lot of bible references (probably too many but there were plenty of people there to read them out for me).
This being my first time delivering such a talk I was a little apprehensive which made the first part of my day a little tiring and nerve wracking and was a great relief to have finished afterwards. I think the theology was a bit heavy for some and I felt sorry for the non-anglophones but we had some good discussion and I was particularly encouraged talking to Chris afterwards who was very interested in some of the thoughts I presented. He's someone who enjoys thinking about this sort of stuff.
Lunch was great today. I ate far too much. Four helpings of noodle-auf-lauf (pasta bake) and four helpings of chocolate sponge and chocolate custard. My siesta was a little uncomfortable as my stomach was trying to cope with the volume of food now being digested. It was a little shorter than I would have liked too as it was cut short for a birthday celebration for one of the yr7 girls but she liked the card I had made which made up for it.
I played 2 on 2 football in the sports hall afterwards which hopefully lessened the negative effects of my gluttony at lunch time. Aunty Tracey and I took on Ben and Philip (yr11 & yr8) and beat them 22 - 16 after nearly an hour's play. We were all then exhausted and I retired for a hot shower in our neighbours house as they're away for the weekend and have a water heater (showers are always cold in our house).
Now it's 9pm and Adam should get back from the dorm soon. We'll watch a movie as is usual on Sunday night in our house (the start of our day off really). Hopefully some of the girls will join us tonight.
Today splits into two parts, pre-sermon and post-sermon. Today was my first time leading the adult ministry time for our Sunday meeting and I did a sort of cross between a group bible study and a sermon. That was a new thing for me. I led more bible studies than I can be bothered to count at uni but I never delivered a talk of any length.
I only realised on Wednesday night that this was the week that I'd been down on the rota to lead the adults section of our Sunday service. I half volunteered and was half pressurised into it when we put the rota together in our ministry team. I had thought of perhaps finding a recorded sermon to play as I have a few around but for some reason I sort of wanted to try and do something myself.
I was undecided having looked through the recordings I had available (most of which are part of series anyway). When thinking about what I could talk about I was equally unsure, perhaps something related to the book I'm reading at the moment (The Pleasures of God - John Piper) but what in particular and what was it's relevance to my audience?
It was only on Thursday evening in our staff meeting that I suddenly had an idea. Several people had made comments about the week's events and in particular used phrases such as 'fiery darts' or 'arrows of discouragement' which brought to mind Ephesians 6:16: "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one" (ESV- from memory).
On thinking about this more I realised this did in fact tie in with the book I was reading and some of the theme's I'm currently inspired by. Why is the shield of faith an effective defence against discouragement and attack? Because of the nature of the God in whom our faith is placed.
When our faith is placed in a God is passionate for his own glory, sovereign and in control of all things, and perfect in goodness, both in his character and towards his people, then even the worst of attacks can be rebuffed with the knowledge that God is good, in complete control and is at work for his glory. Sorry that was a long sentence but the three characteristics there were the main points of my talk, backed up with a lot of bible references (probably too many but there were plenty of people there to read them out for me).
This being my first time delivering such a talk I was a little apprehensive which made the first part of my day a little tiring and nerve wracking and was a great relief to have finished afterwards. I think the theology was a bit heavy for some and I felt sorry for the non-anglophones but we had some good discussion and I was particularly encouraged talking to Chris afterwards who was very interested in some of the thoughts I presented. He's someone who enjoys thinking about this sort of stuff.
Lunch was great today. I ate far too much. Four helpings of noodle-auf-lauf (pasta bake) and four helpings of chocolate sponge and chocolate custard. My siesta was a little uncomfortable as my stomach was trying to cope with the volume of food now being digested. It was a little shorter than I would have liked too as it was cut short for a birthday celebration for one of the yr7 girls but she liked the card I had made which made up for it.
I played 2 on 2 football in the sports hall afterwards which hopefully lessened the negative effects of my gluttony at lunch time. Aunty Tracey and I took on Ben and Philip (yr11 & yr8) and beat them 22 - 16 after nearly an hour's play. We were all then exhausted and I retired for a hot shower in our neighbours house as they're away for the weekend and have a water heater (showers are always cold in our house).
Now it's 9pm and Adam should get back from the dorm soon. We'll watch a movie as is usual on Sunday night in our house (the start of our day off really). Hopefully some of the girls will join us tonight.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Olympic Flame
Just one of several photos now available on my Flickr account. This was taken at the "BCS Olympics" - one of the many fun weekend activities for the pupils at Boroufaye Christian School.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Danger, Danger! (High Voltage)
It's been an eventful few days.
Monday as usual was my day off and, as usual, I went to the dining hall for lunch. It was then that school life took a sudden and unexpected change.
The headteacher, Uncle Jonno, had discovered a fire in the medical room. Right next to the dining hall and the table football where there were the usual crowds gathered. The area was soon evacuated and, being the next adult in the vicinity, I was sent off to find fire extinguishers.
The fire was concentrated around the electrical distribution board that serves 90% of the school. This was completely destroyed and the room was significantly blackened but thankfully no-one was injured. We also lost a few crutches and a waste paper bin.
So, the school's been without electricity since Monday lunchtime and we've been living by candle light both in the dorms and in staff accomodation. I've also been teaching ICT without computers. I managed to juggle the order of my lesson plans to survive one day without too much disruption but I'm hoping we'll be up and running this afternoon as I don't know what to do otherwise.
I said we we're only out 90%, the 10% that still has power is the workshop and the sports hall as they get their feeds before the fuse box in the medical room. I'm currently sat in the sports hall charging my laptop listening to the sound of a washing machine which has been brought up here especially for the dorms.
Whilst this has been a major disruption in some ways it's also been amazing to see God's provision in the way it's being sorted out.
On Monday afternoon Uncle Jens drove to Dakar to get replacement parts for what had burnt. He made it in to the capital in record time, the kind of time you only get very early in the morning. He was then able to buy all of the parts we needed (something unheard of in Senegalese shopping trips) before the shops closed for the day (a small window). He arrived home safely that evening and the electrician has been working solidly here all day yesterday and today.
To add to it all, the same vehicle that was taken to Dakar broke down yesterday on the way home from a shopping trip in Thies (a mechanic showed up that evening!).
In the car was Uncle Chris, suffering crippling back pain since the weekend, he'd been to the doctor in Thies for an intra-muscular pain killing injection. He hopes to resume some dorm duties today and maybe teaching by Friday.
Also yesterday, I was on my own in the dorm for the majority of the day as Jacqui was unwell (Tuesday is Chris & Brianna's day off) and had to do all the washing for 13 kids alone.
It's been quite fun without electricity nonetheless, playing cards by candle light with the teaching staff once the kids are in bed.
It seems now that we've lost the power to the remaining 10%, oh, it's just come back, I can hear the generator. It must have been a power cut, they're normal.
Monday as usual was my day off and, as usual, I went to the dining hall for lunch. It was then that school life took a sudden and unexpected change.
The headteacher, Uncle Jonno, had discovered a fire in the medical room. Right next to the dining hall and the table football where there were the usual crowds gathered. The area was soon evacuated and, being the next adult in the vicinity, I was sent off to find fire extinguishers.
The fire was concentrated around the electrical distribution board that serves 90% of the school. This was completely destroyed and the room was significantly blackened but thankfully no-one was injured. We also lost a few crutches and a waste paper bin.
So, the school's been without electricity since Monday lunchtime and we've been living by candle light both in the dorms and in staff accomodation. I've also been teaching ICT without computers. I managed to juggle the order of my lesson plans to survive one day without too much disruption but I'm hoping we'll be up and running this afternoon as I don't know what to do otherwise.
I said we we're only out 90%, the 10% that still has power is the workshop and the sports hall as they get their feeds before the fuse box in the medical room. I'm currently sat in the sports hall charging my laptop listening to the sound of a washing machine which has been brought up here especially for the dorms.
Whilst this has been a major disruption in some ways it's also been amazing to see God's provision in the way it's being sorted out.
On Monday afternoon Uncle Jens drove to Dakar to get replacement parts for what had burnt. He made it in to the capital in record time, the kind of time you only get very early in the morning. He was then able to buy all of the parts we needed (something unheard of in Senegalese shopping trips) before the shops closed for the day (a small window). He arrived home safely that evening and the electrician has been working solidly here all day yesterday and today.
To add to it all, the same vehicle that was taken to Dakar broke down yesterday on the way home from a shopping trip in Thies (a mechanic showed up that evening!).
In the car was Uncle Chris, suffering crippling back pain since the weekend, he'd been to the doctor in Thies for an intra-muscular pain killing injection. He hopes to resume some dorm duties today and maybe teaching by Friday.
Also yesterday, I was on my own in the dorm for the majority of the day as Jacqui was unwell (Tuesday is Chris & Brianna's day off) and had to do all the washing for 13 kids alone.
It's been quite fun without electricity nonetheless, playing cards by candle light with the teaching staff once the kids are in bed.
It seems now that we've lost the power to the remaining 10%, oh, it's just come back, I can hear the generator. It must have been a power cut, they're normal.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Term 2 Week 1
I survived the first week back of term 2. It was a busy one.
Monday morning started with a teachers meeting at 9am followed by coffee and lots of notices with all the staff together. After that it was time to do all the last minute jobs I'd not yet done before the kids and parents arrived in the afternoon.
It was a little strange for me when the kids arrived back. I had been looking forward to it for the previous few days as I started to realise how much I loved and missed the kids in my dorm. On the other hand, the kids are saying goodbye to their parents for the next month and a half or longer. There's a very complex mix of emotions on these occasions here. For me there was joy and excitement at the return of the children. For parents there is the sadness and pain of saying goodbye to their young children for so long. For the children there are all of those emotions jumbled up. Sadness at leaving their parents, excitement at coming back to school and friends, joy at being reunited with the larger school community.
Tuesday is still a busy day for me in the classroom this term. It was good to be back teaching although, despite my preparation, I had lost track in places of where some classes had got to in work. My first lessons back had a feeling of settling back into the role but by Wednesday everything was vback to normal. I think in some ways it was good to have a break because I can now readjust some of my classroom relationships which were getting too informal or causing repeated disruption for other students.
We have three new kids in the dorm, a Nigerian family. So far they are settling in fairly well although it's early days. It's nice to have two more boys in the dorm; we now have two rooms to put to bed at night. Joshua and Jahaziel are pleasant boys although they still seem a little unsure of how to fit into the school culture. It has been good for Immanuella and Josephine to have some other Nigerians around, particularly as the eldest, Deborah, is Imma's age and she had been struggling last term having no particulr close friend to talk to.
We also have two new day students, Ada and Iza (Brazilian), who are of Eagle age. Although their English is still fairly poor they seem to be enjoying being at the school and are making friends. Florence, our other Brazilian girl is not back from her holidays yet. It will be interesting to see how her English is after a month without using it.
The weekend was a fun one. On Saturday I played football and went running with some of the dorm kids and in the evening I was in charge of setting up a big screen movie in the chapel. We watched 'Over The Hedge' which was great fun. On Sunday I had to get up very early as a group of us were going to Lac Rose, near Dakar to see the final stage of the Lisboa-Dakar rally (formerly Paris-Dakar). There were more staff than children on the trip as we had surprisingly little interest (absolutely no girls apart from staff) but it was a really fun day, although very tiring. The cars (and bikes and trucks) raced along the beach and we sat there, along with thousands of other spectators, watching them zoom past us in front of the crashing waves. I took lots of photos so I'll try and send a CD home soon so you can see them on Flickr.
Now it's Monday and my day off again, I'm sat in the treehouse with my laptop and I'm planning to sign up with a few online recruitment agencies when I finish writing this. It's time to start seriously job hunting (a year and a bit later than I should have), I wrote my CV last week and Tracey's checking it over for me in the school office. It's coming to the time of year here when everyone's talking about whether or not they'll stay for the next year, my housemate Adam was the first to announce that he'll be coming back. I'd love to stay but I feel the need to at least explore other options and hence the need to start moving on the job hunting issue.
Monday morning started with a teachers meeting at 9am followed by coffee and lots of notices with all the staff together. After that it was time to do all the last minute jobs I'd not yet done before the kids and parents arrived in the afternoon.
It was a little strange for me when the kids arrived back. I had been looking forward to it for the previous few days as I started to realise how much I loved and missed the kids in my dorm. On the other hand, the kids are saying goodbye to their parents for the next month and a half or longer. There's a very complex mix of emotions on these occasions here. For me there was joy and excitement at the return of the children. For parents there is the sadness and pain of saying goodbye to their young children for so long. For the children there are all of those emotions jumbled up. Sadness at leaving their parents, excitement at coming back to school and friends, joy at being reunited with the larger school community.
Tuesday is still a busy day for me in the classroom this term. It was good to be back teaching although, despite my preparation, I had lost track in places of where some classes had got to in work. My first lessons back had a feeling of settling back into the role but by Wednesday everything was vback to normal. I think in some ways it was good to have a break because I can now readjust some of my classroom relationships which were getting too informal or causing repeated disruption for other students.
We have three new kids in the dorm, a Nigerian family. So far they are settling in fairly well although it's early days. It's nice to have two more boys in the dorm; we now have two rooms to put to bed at night. Joshua and Jahaziel are pleasant boys although they still seem a little unsure of how to fit into the school culture. It has been good for Immanuella and Josephine to have some other Nigerians around, particularly as the eldest, Deborah, is Imma's age and she had been struggling last term having no particulr close friend to talk to.
We also have two new day students, Ada and Iza (Brazilian), who are of Eagle age. Although their English is still fairly poor they seem to be enjoying being at the school and are making friends. Florence, our other Brazilian girl is not back from her holidays yet. It will be interesting to see how her English is after a month without using it.
The weekend was a fun one. On Saturday I played football and went running with some of the dorm kids and in the evening I was in charge of setting up a big screen movie in the chapel. We watched 'Over The Hedge' which was great fun. On Sunday I had to get up very early as a group of us were going to Lac Rose, near Dakar to see the final stage of the Lisboa-Dakar rally (formerly Paris-Dakar). There were more staff than children on the trip as we had surprisingly little interest (absolutely no girls apart from staff) but it was a really fun day, although very tiring. The cars (and bikes and trucks) raced along the beach and we sat there, along with thousands of other spectators, watching them zoom past us in front of the crashing waves. I took lots of photos so I'll try and send a CD home soon so you can see them on Flickr.
Now it's Monday and my day off again, I'm sat in the treehouse with my laptop and I'm planning to sign up with a few online recruitment agencies when I finish writing this. It's time to start seriously job hunting (a year and a bit later than I should have), I wrote my CV last week and Tracey's checking it over for me in the school office. It's coming to the time of year here when everyone's talking about whether or not they'll stay for the next year, my housemate Adam was the first to announce that he'll be coming back. I'd love to stay but I feel the need to at least explore other options and hence the need to start moving on the job hunting issue.
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