Mooré 201: 15 Credits

So I have begun taking Mooré ¨classes¨ this week, racking in a total of twelve hours.  Unfortunately for me, it is not at all an ideal situation for me to learn the language, despite what all my fellow villagers tell me.  Allow me to break it down for you.  I have gone every day Monday through Friday for three hours to a class known as ¨alphabetization,¨ which is another big (French?) word for a school for Mooré-speaking women to learn how to read and write Mooré.  Thus, my class has about 30 women and me, the only one who doesn't speak Mooré.  There is no French spoken, so I don't have the benefit of having translations of what is written, and I honestly have learned practically nothing. 

Yet people continue to tell me that if I go, i will pick up the language eventually.  Ha!  I think I have studied enough languages to know that it is impossible for me to learn this way.  But I have continued to go because at least I get to interact with the community more, and it should help my integration.  But I am still on the look out for someone who speaks French in my village who can tutor me for an hour or two a week (with pay of course).  Even the women in my class think I am doing a great job because when it's my turn, I can stand up and read what the teacher has written on the board, despite not understanding a single word of it.  The only useful day was when they were learning how to write the numbers and do simple math problems because I was able to work on my Mooré numbers a bit.  But once they found, I could do four math problems in about a minute, everyone now tries to cheat off me!  Whenever our teacher gives us problems or an excercise to work on, I have women in every direction trying to see what I've written down.  One woman even passed me a blank sheet of paper so I could do the work for her!  

But at least it's something to do, and people seem impressed by the way I can fake some Mooré.  But faking is not helpful to me in the long run.  I can't be as useful as I could be to these people if I can't communicate.  And while most volunteers seem to rely on other people to translate for them, I would really like to master the local language as much as possible.  I think when my boss (my APCD) comes to visit soon, I will talk to he about the tutor and maybe she can help me figure something out.

Other things that have happened this week:

• I was sick for a day and a half.  I don't know if it was something I ate or dehydration but whatever it was, I didn't feel good.  I will spare you the details, but I will just say I slept very close to my friend, Mr. Bucket.  I am 100% better now, so don't worry.
• Some PCV friends came out to my village to lunch and we visited the crocodiles again.  We saw maybe four or five.  The dam is drying up, so I think they are getting a bit more nervous.
• We had vaccination campaigns in my village and the surrounding villages, which meant biking in crazy amounts of wind.  It literally feels like some gusts are of tropical storm force, blowing dust everywhere.  One morning it felt like I was biking through water it was so strong.  But at least we vaccinated 100 plus babies against polio, measles, yellow fever, and other illnesses. 
• They are suppose to finish my latrine and shower today, so I will finally have one to call my own.  It is kind of embarassing having to walk all the way across my compound, passing by all the other people sitting around, to my major's toilet with my toilet paper in hand.  I might as well announce it: ¨Attention everybody, just FYI, yes, I am going to the bathroom now.  If you were wondering where i was going with this toilet paper, yes, I am going to the bathroom.¨