So, this is hot season.

Crazy to think that, later this week, I'll have been in Mali for 10 whole months. Time is not moving slowly. It is, however, moving hotly. This is, after all, the peak of hot season and temperatures have been hovering around the 110 level for the past week or so.

I went to the Peace Corps bureau once this week to print some things out for my classes. I was only in the IRC for a moment, but the difference air conditioning makes is considerably noticeable. For those who may not be aware, I do not have air conditioning in my house, and because transportation can be spotty at best (and would never be air conditioned anyway), I ride my bicycle pretty much everywhere (or walk). My classrooms are also not air conditioned. That means I'm pretty much always covered in sweat. I have a micro-fiber towel that was given to me before I came to Mali, and I always keep it in my backpack now to "wipe down" before teaching. I also keep my "work shirt" in my bag as well--so that it's at least not covered in sweat when I begin teaching.

This week, there was a brief strike by the teachers. Said strike was yesterday and today, but classes resume as normal tomorrow.

I've had a temporary roommate for the last couple of weeks. One of the Madagascar volunteers. For those outside of the loop, there was a coup in Madagascar (which is an island on the way, far other side of Africa--near South Africa). As such, Peace Corps pulled out all of its volunteers from there. Most of them are back in the US now, but some took other volunteer positions in other countries. I believe we took in 5, which has given me a temporary roommate, though said roommate will be moving to the other side of Bamako to be closer to work--which will, yet again, make me the only volunteer in this giant villa.

As per my norm, I've been keeping exceptionally busy. The month of April, which is also known as Script Frenzy, is a month in which writers are supposed to write a 100 page script. Not being one to take such challenges lightly, I wrote two. That's right, two scripts. The first, I finished in 10 days (then took 5 days to edit and relax while also teaching and grading papers), so I decided that I really had no reason not to write a second. That puts my total number of screenplays written up to 4--effectively doubling my pre-Peace Corps number (in a month, no less). The first of the new screenplays, I actually submitted to a contest after being pressured by a good friend/former teacher. I won't hear anything about that until sometime in August.

Speaking of noise.. There's a lot of noise and cheers outside on the street right now. My assumption is that there were good results from a soccer game. I didn't realize there was a game tonight. My guess is that it was for the Mali national team (speaking of, I'm hoping to see the Mali v. Ghana game here in Bamako next month). That should be extremely exciting, a World Cup qualifier match!

More on the actual work thing though.

I've decided to start creating podcasts for my university students. It'll probably just be one episode per week focusing primarily on my conversation classes--offering additional study/listening opportunities. I think that's important. Technology is also important, and getting my students to use technology in a productive and useful way is always a good thing. As of right now, the podcasts will focus on three basic areas: vocab, grammar and culture. The lessons will likely be somewhere between 5-10 minutes each in length.

I still need to create an "opening theme/theme song" to lead in the podcast, and I've begun to play around with GarageBand on my mac, but I can't quite figure out exactly what sort of tune I'd really like to have.

In other news, the semester apparently ends this month. Midterms will start sometime around the 16th. What I don't know is if those midterms will include the freshmen. I hope not. I've only had 2 classes with my current class (and three classes with the group before that). I haven't even gotten to Columbus yet...

I also questions as to what will happen with the 2nd semester. While talking with colleagues the other day, they were saying that I'd have entirely different classes for the second semester--which makes sense, but there's still so much info in this truncated semester that I simply haven't even begun to approach with my students. That's at least part of the reason I've decided to start making podcasts

I was told that the second semester is supposed to last for June and July with exams sometime in August.

What would an update be if I didn't mention the LSAT at least once? I'm still studying regularly, but my most recent practice score wasn't nearly as good as I'd like (155). Basically, I'm considering anything under 160 as bad. My goal is to get up above 170 before I take the test in September. Speaking of, I've all but decided to take the test in the US instead of Ghana. I just need to clear it with some people first (and make sure that it doesn't conflict with my teaching schedule).

Seriously, it's 9:40pm, and I'm sweating like crazy under my shirt.