Liberia wins again!

This week seems to be going by faster than usual. I had a good weekend, kept busy and relaxed all at the same time. I think that that made the beginning of my week seem less stressful which has in turn made the rest of the week go by more quickly. Also, today was the first day this week that I had a full class. Many of my students are Muslim, so with the end of Ramadan they either took a day off or left early on Tuesday. They were all back today, though, chipper as ever. Like I've said, my kids are very sweet and generally kind, but they are a handful. Why none of them try to be mean out of ill-will, they are sometimes rude and have trouble following directions and listening. Oh the joys of five and six year olds. I put a math problem on the board on Monday that was a word problem. It was the first word problem I've introduced them to so far. My kids are still non-readers, so I wrote it out and then read it aloud to them, trying to make them more comfortable with words while working in math. The trouble with the problem was not the fact that they couldn't read it or that they weren't used to working with word problems in math, the trouble was in the fact that the problem used they hypothetical you. "You are six years old and tomorrow is your birthday. How old will you be?" The biggest concern all of my kids had (and I do mean all of them) is that their birthday was not tomorrow. "But Ms. Lewis, my birthday's not tomorrow. Ms. Lewis, my birthday's not till March." This and that half of my kids aren't six yet. "Ms. Lewis, I'm only five." "Ms. Lewis, I'm only five and my birthday's in April." I eventually changed the problem to read, "Mary is six years old and tomorrow is her birthday. How old will Mary be?" Then came, "Is Mary real? I don't know Mary. Is her birthday really tomorrow?" To which I answered, "In math, Mary is real." Then, "Like Mary had a little lamb?" I must give them credit for being persistent. I eventually just gave them the answer so they could see how word problems work and how the problem of the day would be set up for the rest of the year. Things very rarely seem to go exactly as planned in my classroom, but that's what makes my job very un-boring and exciting.

In other news, the debate evening was an experience that defines life in Liberia. I went out with some friends to dinner beforehand, arrived and it was raining. We got there around 10:30ish maybe, though the debate wasn't starting till later as we were watching live and what with the time difference and everything... Anyway, it was a bunch of ex-pats sitting/standing around drinking and talking, waiting for the Presidential debate to begin. Not all of us were American, either. There is an intense interest in the American elections by those from all over the world. The rain, however, tends to thwart even the best laid plans here. The tv was hooked up to a projector, showing the screen large on a blank wall in the living room with chairs and couches set up around it. The feed to the tv was the problem. It went out about an hour before the debates were scheduled to start. When it didn't look like it was coming back on, a few people started leaving. It flashed back on right when the candidates were being introduced, everyone was happy. We caught maybe the first 30 or 40 minutes of the debate, and it went out again. It came back, went out--this time in between even less now. Basically, Liberia wins again! I should be happy we were able to see as much as we did. If nothing else, it was a great night to hang out and meet a few new people. What I'm really hoping for is a strong enough internet connection to catch part of or watch the recap of the VP debate. Now that should be interesting.