A year and change

The school year is actually almost over. August 1st is the last day of class. That's incredibly hard to believe. That won't, of course, be the end of my school work for the semester. The week after will be exams. Then, there's grading. I still haven't had time to finish grading the previous semester's exams, either (we started the 2nd semester the week after exams--so there was no down time to do things like... grade papers). Some of that semester's done, just not all. Then, after I miraculously finish all the other papers that I'll need to grade, we'll eventually retest the people who didn't pass the exam on the first go (for both semesters).

Hopefully, these retests happen at a point that's either before I leave for the US or after I return--not during my departure (though it really wouldn't matter too much since all tests are proctored and they'd have copies of my test papers to give out to the students anyway).

I've been here in Mali for over a year now. Soon, I'll reach the "official" halfway point. That'll be in August. At times, my service has gone incredibly fast. Other times, not so much. Right now, I think it's mostly somewhere in the middle.

This semester, in particular, has been tough. Teaching 6 days/week has proved to be a challenge. More so because I've been sick more than I'd care to share this semester, and I've developed the most awesome heat rash ever (looking up treatment for heat rash, it says to stay in an air conditioned environment and don't sweat. Right, like either of those options are available to me).

The new stage of trainees (they won't be volunteers until they're sworn in) arrived earlier this month. I haven't had the chance to meet any of them yet, but I imagine I will after I'm done with my classes (I'm going to try and get out to Tubaniso at least once during training to meet and talk with the new university ed volunteer they have). So far, I've heard good things about the new stage.

Hashes. I've actually helped to set the last two hashes (though I still don't yet have a hash name). One of them was a "live hash" meaning the hares (those who set the hash) had only about a 15 minute head start on the hounds (runners). 15 minutes may sound like a lot, but in that time, you've got to create a path, set false trails and somehow make sure the path gets to the destination spot (usually the start). Ours was about an 8k hash.

Magnambougou Hash: A couple of Malians who decided to join us in the hash.

The second hash was in a beautiful area that required the runners to more or less climb up a giant hill and then wind down following a cliff line. The toughest part was the beginning (the climb). That and as a hare, I get to run the 5k route twice nearly back to back (okay, we had an hour or two between). Once to set, once with the runners.

Moribabougou Hash 1: View of the ridge line.

Moribabougou Hash 2: While starting the hill near the beginning of the hash.

Didn't do anything special for the 4th of July. I chose to be responsible and teach instead (that is, of course, why I'm here. To teach).