Laughing at or with me?

Ya, today I had one of those moments experienced by most foreign travelers, as well as most teachers. If you're both a teacher and a traveler (as many of those in my field are), you've definitely experienced it. It was one of those mornings during which you have a decent lesson planned (or so you think), but when you start giving the lesson, somehow it doesn't quite go as planned. The biggest problem I had, really, was that I had difficulty understanding the pronunciation of the word 'parallel' by one of my students. For some reason, it sounded a lot like "pilot." Within the context of our discussion, "pilot" would've worked, too (as in "pilot" project), but it just turned into one of those downward spirals, as the students roared with laughter at my attempts to understand the student's pronunciation. I then went into this long explanation about being new in the country, and still getting used to the accent (one of the biggest issues being the way syllables are stressed, which was the problem in this case, along with an 'l' vs. 'r' distinction which is very different here than back home..). I'm not quite sure how well my message got through, but eventually I did apologize for misunderstanding the student, and stressed how glad I was that everyone was entertained by the incident. That also drew a few laughs... with me or against me? Only time will tell.

Of course, I'm getting used to 2 things in terms of the teaching here: culture/ language issues, and age issues. I'm actually used to teaching students who are a bit older than these kids (I call them kids because they're mostly no more than 20 years old.) Sometimes I feel like I'm in one of those huge high school classes often portrayed in the movies, in which the teacher is floundering, trying to get everyone listening and participating. Often students here don't seem all that focused, and it's clear that not too much is expected of them in terms of homework or preparing for class. Of course, there are a few who are motivated, and do work hard, but there are several who are not. This class has 36 students in it. I wonder how it will be when/if I'm given 70-100 of them. I shudder to think. I'll save that worry for another time. In any case, this class should "warm me up" for what I may face down the road, and hopefully in the end, they'll be laughing with me, at least. If not, perhaps I can manage to compose a publication-worthy short story out of it. Ya, that's it...This blog's not the end of my writing ambitions, but merely the beginning. Feel like guinea pigs? He he... my poor 3-5 readers. Let's see if the numbers grow, and whether you're laughing at me or with me. Hmmm....

On a lighter note, Deliwe cooked a lovely dinner last night, featuring "jambo" fish, which she bought at the market. This is the most popular fish here, and can usually be found in the nearbye lakes. I really enjoyed it, and since she served it with nSima, I did attempt using my fingers. Keep in mind that this is not fish fry... it's steamed and pan-fried, so not finger food at all. I think my biggest problem with the using the hands thing is that I feel like I'm scooping up mashed potatoes with my hands, and then using that to pick up the rest of the food. It's really against everything my mother tried to drill into me as a kid, but as a kid I would've loved eating this way. I've realized too that I have little tolerance for greasy fingers/hands. Here, people just dig in, and worry about cleaning up later, while I'm always looking for a napkin, while dropping pieces of food all over the table, and sometimes on my lap or the floor. I think Deliwe does this just for a few laughs. And she's definitely not laughing with me. Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of our meal. Mwa Swela for now!