Since I've not been able to go to the Gambia I've been stuck here at BCS all week doing the normal stuff. I realised on Monday after the girls left that I probably wouldn't have had time to get all my jobs done had i gone with them. That's a very bad situation actually as it reveals that I'm generally trying to do too much work during the holidays. I'm allowed to take two weeks of holiday over Easter and so far I've taken maybe 4 days in total. That leaves another ten days I could take but that would take me up to the start of term and I would arrive there with no lessons planned and several jobs still to be completed. That's a lesson to learn for the future!
Several people have taken pity on me and invited me to join them on trips out which has been fun. On Thursday night I went with the Baarsens (Falcon dorm parents) and their two young children to camp in our neighbour's mango plantation. We borrowed two of the school's new tents and went over there about 5pm to have a BBQ and then slept there in the tents. It was really good. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy camping and it was a good opportunity to get to know the Baarsens better.
In the morning we returned back to BCS and after showering and eating I headed down to Eagle dorm to start moving the furniture out of the bedrooms in preparation for the biannual anti-cockroach spray (a government requirement).
On Friday afternoon I was invited to join the Auers (Kingfisher dorm parents) going to a swimming pool in Saly for a bit of relaxation. If that sounds a bit too normal for you I can make it a little more Senegalese; when we set off I was told we'd be carrying two long pieces of metal down to the welder in Sindia on the way. We did this by putting them on the roof and then Jens and I sticking our arms out of the car windows to hold on to them so that they didn't fall off. When we set off from the workshop with the metal on the roof the car wouldn't start so we had to push start it. Then when we got to Saly Jens took a look under the bonnet to find that the battery connection had come loose. Spotting a guy walking along with some pliers he inquired as to his proffession to which the man replied that he was a mechanic. Jens then showed him the problem and he immediately offered to take a taxi to nearby Mbour and find the missing part needed and bring it back and fit it all for the equivalent of £5. Jens decided this was a good deal and so the mechanic went and did as he said. When he returned and fitted the part we tried to start the car again but with no success. The man then offered to take the car to his workshop in Mbour and fix it, bringing it back in two hours time. Being understandably hesitant about letting a stranger take his car away Jens had to think about this one. The man then introduced us to an old French guy staying at the hotel there whose car he had fixed earlier that day. After talking to this guy Jens decided to give the mechanic a chance and so he got the car started again and took it away. Meanwhile we went back to the pool and relaxed for a while and enjoyed a plate of chips on the beach. when the time came for the car to return we went back to the car park to see if it was there. The mechanic phoned to say he'd be there in 15 minutes. half an hour later he arrived and we inspected the work, payed him his money and gave him a lift to the Mbour junction on the way home. It was all a very strange experience that would of course never happen at home.
Jens and Coni's car is now with another mechanic that we know and trust, having failed to start again once we returned to BCS (£20 poorer).
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Easter Sunday
It's twenty past six on Easter Sunday evening and I've just finished clearing up after tea so I thought it seemed like time to share with the rest of the world what Easter's been like for me at BCS.
It' been very relaxed compared to last year. No MEng project and no BBC rehearsals here.
Good Friday was fun. I went to Thies in the morning with some others to do a little shopping. It was great to get off the compound. I found some biscuits which are a bit like custard creams. I'm eating some hazlenut flavoured ones right now, although they're not up to much; not even half as good as Aldi ones.
After lunch I did a little work on my current programming project before going to Bandia reserve for the afternoon. Bandia reserve is a nature reserve just down the road at which we ate for our end of term staff meal. Jacqui's family are here and Christine had some friends visiting so there was a large party of us wanting to go down and see what's there. We saw Rhinos, Giraffes, Gazelles, Impala, Warthogs and more; it was great.
That evening Bob and Dee invited a few of us round for a Senegalese meal at their house. They had invited the girl who cleans their house to come and cook a traditional meal for us and we all ate at a bowl on the floor.
During the day Bob and the kids had made little figurines to play out the passion in miniature. It was like a Christmas nativity scene but for Easter. They set it up outside their house on some of the large rocks and we got to see the taking down and burying of Jesus body.
Today we started with a sunrise service at 6:30 which was lovely followed by a wonderful breakfast together in one of the dorm lounges. I made fried potatoes and others brought eggs, sausages, crepes, waffles, fruit salad, bread, chocolate and more. It was lovely; a great was to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.
After breakfast I came home and fell asleep for two hours on the couch which was also wonderful. When I awoke I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon reading John's gospel; something I'd been meaning to do for a while but not made much progress on. It was really great, especially today, to read through one of the gospel accounts in one sitting. It gives a real flavour of the intensity of Jesus ministry and the tension surrounding it; the constant threat of those who would have rid of him and the effort of a loving and gracious God to reveal himself to a stubborn, proud people unwilling to listen and unable to understand. John in particular gives real insight into the uniqueness of Jesus relationship with his 12 main disciples.
I finished reading just in time to go and join some others for volleyball in the gym which was a good laugh as usual.
My friends leave for the Gambia tomorrow without me. Hopefully I'll get some good rest here and use my time well. I need to sit down and work out what I want to get done and try and work out when to do what whilst leaving time for a break.
I'm looking forward to some Attaya tonight (Senegalese tea, very strong and very (very) sweet), I'll have to bring some home with me in the summer to make it for others.
It' been very relaxed compared to last year. No MEng project and no BBC rehearsals here.
Good Friday was fun. I went to Thies in the morning with some others to do a little shopping. It was great to get off the compound. I found some biscuits which are a bit like custard creams. I'm eating some hazlenut flavoured ones right now, although they're not up to much; not even half as good as Aldi ones.
After lunch I did a little work on my current programming project before going to Bandia reserve for the afternoon. Bandia reserve is a nature reserve just down the road at which we ate for our end of term staff meal. Jacqui's family are here and Christine had some friends visiting so there was a large party of us wanting to go down and see what's there. We saw Rhinos, Giraffes, Gazelles, Impala, Warthogs and more; it was great.
That evening Bob and Dee invited a few of us round for a Senegalese meal at their house. They had invited the girl who cleans their house to come and cook a traditional meal for us and we all ate at a bowl on the floor.
During the day Bob and the kids had made little figurines to play out the passion in miniature. It was like a Christmas nativity scene but for Easter. They set it up outside their house on some of the large rocks and we got to see the taking down and burying of Jesus body.
Today we started with a sunrise service at 6:30 which was lovely followed by a wonderful breakfast together in one of the dorm lounges. I made fried potatoes and others brought eggs, sausages, crepes, waffles, fruit salad, bread, chocolate and more. It was lovely; a great was to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.
After breakfast I came home and fell asleep for two hours on the couch which was also wonderful. When I awoke I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon reading John's gospel; something I'd been meaning to do for a while but not made much progress on. It was really great, especially today, to read through one of the gospel accounts in one sitting. It gives a real flavour of the intensity of Jesus ministry and the tension surrounding it; the constant threat of those who would have rid of him and the effort of a loving and gracious God to reveal himself to a stubborn, proud people unwilling to listen and unable to understand. John in particular gives real insight into the uniqueness of Jesus relationship with his 12 main disciples.
I finished reading just in time to go and join some others for volleyball in the gym which was a good laugh as usual.
My friends leave for the Gambia tomorrow without me. Hopefully I'll get some good rest here and use my time well. I need to sit down and work out what I want to get done and try and work out when to do what whilst leaving time for a break.
I'm looking forward to some Attaya tonight (Senegalese tea, very strong and very (very) sweet), I'll have to bring some home with me in the summer to make it for others.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Holidays continue
Having been in Dakar on Monday I'd thought I might have posted something sooner but I didn't get round to it what with writing my latest monthly update and hanging out with others at the guesthouse.
The passport thing was a bit annoying. The embassy were quite good and fairly quick but I found when I got there that a temporary passport (my hoped for solution) was useless to me as it would only get me out of Senegal but not back in, or anywhwere else for that matter. Had I got a temporary passport for our Gambia trip I would have needed to apply for a full passport whilst in the Gambia from the embassy there. In the end I've applied for a full passport through the Dakar embassy but it won't come through in time to go to the Gambia so I'll miss out on my travel plans for this Easter.
I need to find something else to do because I know that if I stay here I won't rest properly.
I started on a programming project this week. I've been adapting one of my student's IGCSE projects so that it can be implemented at the school. It's an electronic library catalogue and borrowing system. I've made some good progress today although I've had some rather odd working hours (always the way with me and programming, hopefully not if I go professional).
We've also started filming our staff version of The Lord of The Rings. That's been great fun although it'll require some serious effort if we're to finish filming all three parts by the time school starts again. Our costumes are the best part, we wore them to staff coffee this morning and got some interesting comments.
Don't know what I'll do this evening; maybe see if anyone's interested in playing some cards. We played volleyball and watched a film last night so cards will be a welcome change.
There are quite a few people away at the moment. Fran, Jacqui and Tracey all have family visiting and have gone off to various parts of the country with them. Some are in Dakar and a large number leave for the Gambia and Mauritania on Monday.
It's going to get very quiet next week. Time to edit our film maybe :o)
The passport thing was a bit annoying. The embassy were quite good and fairly quick but I found when I got there that a temporary passport (my hoped for solution) was useless to me as it would only get me out of Senegal but not back in, or anywhwere else for that matter. Had I got a temporary passport for our Gambia trip I would have needed to apply for a full passport whilst in the Gambia from the embassy there. In the end I've applied for a full passport through the Dakar embassy but it won't come through in time to go to the Gambia so I'll miss out on my travel plans for this Easter.
I need to find something else to do because I know that if I stay here I won't rest properly.
I started on a programming project this week. I've been adapting one of my student's IGCSE projects so that it can be implemented at the school. It's an electronic library catalogue and borrowing system. I've made some good progress today although I've had some rather odd working hours (always the way with me and programming, hopefully not if I go professional).
We've also started filming our staff version of The Lord of The Rings. That's been great fun although it'll require some serious effort if we're to finish filming all three parts by the time school starts again. Our costumes are the best part, we wore them to staff coffee this morning and got some interesting comments.
Don't know what I'll do this evening; maybe see if anyone's interested in playing some cards. We played volleyball and watched a film last night so cards will be a welcome change.
There are quite a few people away at the moment. Fran, Jacqui and Tracey all have family visiting and have gone off to various parts of the country with them. Some are in Dakar and a large number leave for the Gambia and Mauritania on Monday.
It's going to get very quiet next week. Time to edit our film maybe :o)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Long Time No Blog
It feels like a very long time since I last wrote one of these.
Sorry I've not posted anything for a while.
I've had a very busy week. From Thursday to Saturday we had BCS' first ever 'open weekend'; two days for which we invited prospective students and their families to join us at the school and get a taste of what life is like at BCS.
On the Friday I was responsible for running an educational yet fun activity in the computer classroom for two hours while students milled around the school going from one activity to the next. Unfortunately the equipment I had planned to use stopped working the day before and I was up until half past midnight trying to fix it on Thrusday night. Even after an hour and a half the next morning I never got it working again so I had to come up with a last minute alternative.
On top of open day pressure and the general stress of having so many visitors around I was heavily involved in last night's dorm activity. It was an event we called 'A Night On The Town'. The most ambitious 'late night' we've done this year. The idea was that we set up various activities around the school site that a teenager might typically make use of when going out for the evening in their passport country and the kids are given money with which to pay for any activities of their choice.
The night-life included restaurants, a live music cafe, a disco, a cinema, a games arcade, a bowling alley, roller skating and a magic show.
I was running an Italian restaurant called 'I Calzini del Criceto' (try Google translate) selling spaghetti bolognese and spaghetti carbonara. It was the most stressful thing I've done all term. I turned our lounge into a restaurant seating 15 with mood lighting, candles and classical guitar music. My mistake was that I was running it on my own as both chef and waiter, at one point serving 12 people in one sitting. It was very tiring but also enjoyable and very satisfying to know that everyone enjoyed both the food and the ambience.
After putting the juniors to bed I played a couple of songs in the cafe and drank several cups of tea (Adam had brought over his personal supply of Tetley and had bought some cartons of UHT making this the best tea I was likely to taste all term and probably until I return to England). After the seniors had gone to bed many staff hung out in the cafe (the dining room) and we had a sing along with various songs which popped into peoples heads until gone 1 o'clock.
Now I need to get some sleep as I ate far too much for Sunday lunch as usual (Sunday siestas always come in very handy as sunday lunch is always very tasty and includes a pudding).
We're going to the beach this afternoon.
Sorry I've not posted anything for a while.
I've had a very busy week. From Thursday to Saturday we had BCS' first ever 'open weekend'; two days for which we invited prospective students and their families to join us at the school and get a taste of what life is like at BCS.
On the Friday I was responsible for running an educational yet fun activity in the computer classroom for two hours while students milled around the school going from one activity to the next. Unfortunately the equipment I had planned to use stopped working the day before and I was up until half past midnight trying to fix it on Thrusday night. Even after an hour and a half the next morning I never got it working again so I had to come up with a last minute alternative.
On top of open day pressure and the general stress of having so many visitors around I was heavily involved in last night's dorm activity. It was an event we called 'A Night On The Town'. The most ambitious 'late night' we've done this year. The idea was that we set up various activities around the school site that a teenager might typically make use of when going out for the evening in their passport country and the kids are given money with which to pay for any activities of their choice.
The night-life included restaurants, a live music cafe, a disco, a cinema, a games arcade, a bowling alley, roller skating and a magic show.
I was running an Italian restaurant called 'I Calzini del Criceto' (try Google translate) selling spaghetti bolognese and spaghetti carbonara. It was the most stressful thing I've done all term. I turned our lounge into a restaurant seating 15 with mood lighting, candles and classical guitar music. My mistake was that I was running it on my own as both chef and waiter, at one point serving 12 people in one sitting. It was very tiring but also enjoyable and very satisfying to know that everyone enjoyed both the food and the ambience.
After putting the juniors to bed I played a couple of songs in the cafe and drank several cups of tea (Adam had brought over his personal supply of Tetley and had bought some cartons of UHT making this the best tea I was likely to taste all term and probably until I return to England). After the seniors had gone to bed many staff hung out in the cafe (the dining room) and we had a sing along with various songs which popped into peoples heads until gone 1 o'clock.
Now I need to get some sleep as I ate far too much for Sunday lunch as usual (Sunday siestas always come in very handy as sunday lunch is always very tasty and includes a pudding).
We're going to the beach this afternoon.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
SIPS 2007 Day 4
Today was a much easier day. It was light this morning when I went out to buy bread and fruit.
Our first match was at 10:45 back at ISD again so we had breakfast at 8:30 and set off from the guesthouse at 9:30.
Today was just a few remaining football and volleyball games followed by finals and exhibition matches.
We won a volleyball match today, it was the highlight of the day. So many times we've come close to winning only to throw it away, but this time we managed to keep going 'til the end.
I also got to play a bit of beach volleyball in the morning on the sand court with some other staff and random kids who wanted to join in. It was great fun.
The morning passed very quickly having started so much later than the lst few days.
In the afternoon we played our final football ties and the intermediate team scored two goals (their first of the tournament) which was a great moment.
After our last games we were hanging around for quite a while as the closing ceremony wasn't until 7:00. There's an outdoor swimming pool at ISD so a few of the kids and staff went for a dip although my feet would have turned the water brown had I gone in. Several people made comments that I could be turning into a black man from the feet up, they were that dirty.
The best game of volleyball I saw all week was an exhibition match in the afternoon between the senior boys champions and the senior girls champions. The girls team were particularly spectacular to watch as they played a very unusual rotational strategy involving lots of positional swapping at the start of each point and they played very good three-touch volleyball. The last game went to 24-24 with the boys (who actually had a few girls on their team) taking it 26-24 in the end.
We had a good showing in the award ceremony at the end with four of our athletes winning medals for best in category and one girl breaking a SIPS record for the 3km cross-country.
This evening we had a staff meal out and I went to a very nice Thai restaurant and then we watched the lunar eclipse whilst eating ice-cream on the guesthouse roof.
Now it's time for bed. Back to BCS tomorrow. Check out SIPS photos on Flickr (link on the right).
Our first match was at 10:45 back at ISD again so we had breakfast at 8:30 and set off from the guesthouse at 9:30.
Today was just a few remaining football and volleyball games followed by finals and exhibition matches.
We won a volleyball match today, it was the highlight of the day. So many times we've come close to winning only to throw it away, but this time we managed to keep going 'til the end.
I also got to play a bit of beach volleyball in the morning on the sand court with some other staff and random kids who wanted to join in. It was great fun.
The morning passed very quickly having started so much later than the lst few days.
In the afternoon we played our final football ties and the intermediate team scored two goals (their first of the tournament) which was a great moment.
After our last games we were hanging around for quite a while as the closing ceremony wasn't until 7:00. There's an outdoor swimming pool at ISD so a few of the kids and staff went for a dip although my feet would have turned the water brown had I gone in. Several people made comments that I could be turning into a black man from the feet up, they were that dirty.
The best game of volleyball I saw all week was an exhibition match in the afternoon between the senior boys champions and the senior girls champions. The girls team were particularly spectacular to watch as they played a very unusual rotational strategy involving lots of positional swapping at the start of each point and they played very good three-touch volleyball. The last game went to 24-24 with the boys (who actually had a few girls on their team) taking it 26-24 in the end.
We had a good showing in the award ceremony at the end with four of our athletes winning medals for best in category and one girl breaking a SIPS record for the 3km cross-country.
This evening we had a staff meal out and I went to a very nice Thai restaurant and then we watched the lunar eclipse whilst eating ice-cream on the guesthouse roof.
Now it's time for bed. Back to BCS tomorrow. Check out SIPS photos on Flickr (link on the right).
Friday, March 2, 2007
SIPS 2007 Day 3
Day three was another early start but also an early finish.
Today was stadium day. We hired the Senegalese national stadium for day where we held all the track and field events.
SIPS track events are the 100m, 200m, 300/400m, 800m and 1500m races; field events are just shot put and long jump.
The stadium is large but not overwhelming. Most of the seating is concrete terraces, quite like English stadiums 20 years ago. There was more real grass in the middle but the football goals weren't set up so we didn't really get to enjoy it.
The races were very exciting. We did very well today with a few 1,2s and 2,3s. Some of the races were especially tight which meant we screamed all the louder.
There was a constant cluster of red shirts next to the finish line where a large group of BCS supporters were camped, cheering on our runners. Although we're the smallest school represented at SIPS we were definitely the most visible track-side and I think it made a big difference for our athletes.
I was so hoarse this morning that I started the day cheering through the school megaphone which was great fun apart from all the kids trying to play with it every 5 seconds and making horrible squealing noises.
At the end of the day we had relay races (they didn't count in the competition, it was just for fun). BCS entered about 6 staff/parents teams and Adam and I finished second and third in our race (despite being up against loads of sports coaches from the other schools). It was fun to run in such a grand setting (as much as running can be fun at least).
It's dinner time now so I should go and eat.
Today was stadium day. We hired the Senegalese national stadium for day where we held all the track and field events.
SIPS track events are the 100m, 200m, 300/400m, 800m and 1500m races; field events are just shot put and long jump.
The stadium is large but not overwhelming. Most of the seating is concrete terraces, quite like English stadiums 20 years ago. There was more real grass in the middle but the football goals weren't set up so we didn't really get to enjoy it.
The races were very exciting. We did very well today with a few 1,2s and 2,3s. Some of the races were especially tight which meant we screamed all the louder.
There was a constant cluster of red shirts next to the finish line where a large group of BCS supporters were camped, cheering on our runners. Although we're the smallest school represented at SIPS we were definitely the most visible track-side and I think it made a big difference for our athletes.
I was so hoarse this morning that I started the day cheering through the school megaphone which was great fun apart from all the kids trying to play with it every 5 seconds and making horrible squealing noises.
At the end of the day we had relay races (they didn't count in the competition, it was just for fun). BCS entered about 6 staff/parents teams and Adam and I finished second and third in our race (despite being up against loads of sports coaches from the other schools). It was fun to run in such a grand setting (as much as running can be fun at least).
It's dinner time now so I should go and eat.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
SIPS 2007 Day 2
It's been a long day.
I got up this morning at 6:15 to go out and buy bread for the day and 4kgs of bananas for lunch. Breakfast was at 6:45 as we needed to be at the International School of Dakar (ISD) by 8:30 ready to parade around the field there.
Today was volleyball and football. They have a grass(!!!!) football pitch at ISD and an indoor and an outdoor volleyball court. It was a really busy day for some of our students. Some were playing in three different teams and had six games over the day. The exhaustion was really visible by mid afternoon and it was agonising watching the kids trying to eek out just a little more energy for every ball that came their way.
We had some wins but in general we did pretty poorly points-wise. Despite a lack of points there were some very good team performances. I saw people playing to their best and teams playing better together than I've ever seen in practice at BCS.
It was quite an emotional day at times. Particularly when the midgets played. The 'BCS Midgets' is the name we gave to our youngest football team; a late addition to the events this year. They are all Eagle dorm kids and half of them are still at the stage of being scared by flying balls but they put in some great performances. I screamed myself hoarse and I'm hoping for swift vocal recovery overnight.
I should go to bed now as I've gotta be up early again tomorrow to buy more bread and fruit before breakfast.
Check out a few photos from the past 2 days on my flickr account (link on the right hand side).
I got up this morning at 6:15 to go out and buy bread for the day and 4kgs of bananas for lunch. Breakfast was at 6:45 as we needed to be at the International School of Dakar (ISD) by 8:30 ready to parade around the field there.
Today was volleyball and football. They have a grass(!!!!) football pitch at ISD and an indoor and an outdoor volleyball court. It was a really busy day for some of our students. Some were playing in three different teams and had six games over the day. The exhaustion was really visible by mid afternoon and it was agonising watching the kids trying to eek out just a little more energy for every ball that came their way.
We had some wins but in general we did pretty poorly points-wise. Despite a lack of points there were some very good team performances. I saw people playing to their best and teams playing better together than I've ever seen in practice at BCS.
It was quite an emotional day at times. Particularly when the midgets played. The 'BCS Midgets' is the name we gave to our youngest football team; a late addition to the events this year. They are all Eagle dorm kids and half of them are still at the stage of being scared by flying balls but they put in some great performances. I screamed myself hoarse and I'm hoping for swift vocal recovery overnight.
I should go to bed now as I've gotta be up early again tomorrow to buy more bread and fruit before breakfast.
Check out a few photos from the past 2 days on my flickr account (link on the right hand side).
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