W-w-w-w-work?

The dust has finally settled from this crazy whirlwind week. The trainees were scheduled to arrive on the afternoon of the 28th, but apparently the bus didn’t work so hot and they crawled from Nouakchott to Kaedi. You should have seen their knees when they got here. Ha! So, the other trainers and I spent the day bouncing off the walls and having inappropriately loud sing-alongs. Finally around 9:30, the bus lumbered up to the school gates and out tumbled the trainees. The whole training staff lined up on the basketball court (the training center is in a high school) and each trainee came down the line, shaking hands. I can’t imagine what was going through their heads. I never thought this would be the case, but I guess it’s just been too long since I went through it for me to be able to put myself in their position. They were so clean and shiny in their cute American clothes and new Chacos.

I seriously have not worked this hard in about three years. I was running around from 6:30 AM to 9 PM, preparing flipcharts, doing sessions, answering questions, helping trainees figure out how to use the latrines. What?? Work?? Seriously. A total shock to the system. But it was fantastic. It’s so great to be doing work that I thoroughly enjoy and find stimulating. The sessions during this phase were mostly introductions and overviews, but it was fun to try and make them interesting. It was so great to be in front of interested, engaged adults who speak English and get my jokes.

I work with my asisstant director, who is a short Moorish guy named Bahena. It was Bahena who first took Greger and I to our sites and helped us find houses and counterparts when we first arrived. He has never been anything but helpful and dedicated and funny and amazing. I’m very lucky to be working with him. We are the Education Dream Team. I also work with 7 other PCV coordinators, one for each sector (AaronArianaAmandaKeithMikeDMikeTMaryMe) We live in a tiny house on the training center grounds. I am delighted to be spending the summer with this quirky, hillarious, enthusiastic, dedicated crew.

Apparently you can tell how excited I am about something by the number of adjectives I list to describe it.

All this preparing, presenting, facilitating, and ice-breaking has gotten me thinking about school again and has reminded me of how much I love this education stuff. Work in Bol and Magtalahjar was great, but it’s been a long time since I’ve felt so jazzed up about work. I spent yesterday afternoon looking at a Peace Corps Fellowship Masters program at the University of Arizona in bilingual/multicultural education. Peace Corps Fellows programs include an internship in an under-served community and since my two favorite things I’ve done with my adult self have been college and Peace Corps, this program seems like a pretty sweet combination of the two. I got nervous excited goosebumps thinking about going back to school and studying things I love.

AND I just got my birthday package that Mom sent back in April, which consisted of a CD that she MADE of HERSELF playing the piano! Holy crap! When did my mom learn how to record and make CDs? I been a long time gone.