its getting hot in here!

It is starting to get really hot here. I know the heat is really coming in December and January but November has been pretty sweaty for me so far. Along with the heat November has brought a formidable fly and mosquito population into my room. I finally gave up and put up my mosquito net. Now I fall asleep listening to the high hum of mosquitoes who I imagine are pretty pissed they can’t get to me. The roaches are starting to show themselves too... especially in the pit toilet. They’re spectacularly big, the smallest are usually the size of two quarters next to each other. My friend Erin has implemented a policy of killing the big lizards in her room and adopting the small ones as insect eating pets. I have adopted a seven-legged spider as my pet... although I must admit he has only seven legs because of an early skirmish where he narrowly survived my swat. My tolerance for all things creepy crawly has grown exponentially. So, seriously, who wants to come and visit me??
Every week I feel a little more settled here, a little more at home. Some of the surreality of a new lifestyle on a different continent is wearing off. At the same time at least a small amount of the novelty of having a white girl living in the village seems to be wearing off which is a relief. There is something pretty exhausting about being stared at all the time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still regularly causing a stir. Last weekend I was running through the village and a driver was so busy staring at me he didn’t realize he had stopped his car in the middle of the road blocking another driver’s way. The little ones still yell “la kgoa” (“white person!”) when I walk down the road. The bus and taxi drivers still refuse to believe I live in my village and not somewhere in town. Maybe I’m just getting used to being a novelty.
Last week my supervisor came to see me at school. She was having a hard time finding the school so I told her I would walk out to the tar road so they could spot me and then we could take the dirt road back to the school. I told her, “I’m wearing a black sweatshirt and a black and white skirt”. She laughed so hard. Apparently I forgot I was the only white person in the village and I’m pretty easy to spot.
I’m giving a workshop on encouraging critical thinking in the classroom tomorrow. I’m pretty excited about it, and I’m hopeful it goes well. I’ve worked pretty hard to make it practical and interesting for the teachers at my school. It will be nice to step back into a teacher role. I really miss teaching kids but language is such a barrier between me and the students at my primary schools.
I’ve been reading with small groups of forth graders after school which has been really fun. Literacy is a huge problem here. It is compounded by huge class sizes, incredibly high adult illiteracy rates (which means parents often feel they can’t help their kids learn to read) and the fact that students are supposed to be literate in both their mother tongue and English by the time they are in fourth grade. I’m doing my little part by reading with kids, helping them sound out words and praising them for their efforts.
I only have two and a half weeks of school left before the December break. It’s hard to believe I’ve already completed training and almost an entire school term! I suppose time flies when you’re disoriented, stressed, excited, homesick, learning, and adjusting.