Stories from Class

I have to say that I am really enjoying teaching the classes that I am because I think that the women might be getting something out of them. There's always some things though that really just make me chuckle... so here's a few...

Story 1 from Accounting class: I'm teaching the women how to elaborate a simple family budget. You have to plan ahead, what am I going to make, what am I going to spend on food, clothes, school, etc. So we're trying to estimate how much money we're going to allot for food in the coming month, and no one can tell me a ballpark figure on how much to allot for food. They said, you know we don't keep track of that. So I ask, how much money do you spend for food on average a day? They didn't know that either. So my translator (French-Hassaniya) stops to say to me, you know Kate... we Mauritanians don't like to plan ahead and do this budget stuff because we always spend more money than we make. I'm pretty sure that my mouth dropped to the floor trying to see the logic in that. But so we spent the rest of the time trying to convince them that it was not only a good idea to do the budget, but that you could control your spending better if you did it, allowing you to save money. At the end of the class, I think they got at least a little out of it, and they did say wow, that's a really good lesson. So now we're going to do Budgeting round 2 today.

And math class... This story has nothing to do with math, only that it was one of the women in the class who told me this story. She's telling me about how she was so sick (this class is in Hassaniya... so some pictures were drawn and acting and such of course to get the point across). She had a cold with sore throat, and couldn't swallow. So... she took a kitchen knife and put it in the hot coals until it was red hot. Then took the knife and touched it to her neck. She showed me the scabs. I said, I don't think that's a good idea. Did the doctor tell you to do that? why would you do that? why not just drink some hot tea? So she says, oh Kate, you don't understand, let me tell you again... But the women next to her looked to be as confused as I was and said, oh no.... she understands completely. Well... at least I wasn't the only one that thought it wasn't the best idea.

And just a little tip for those any of you who like to know random things about languages... I was just chatting with the women, and they were counting from 1-20 in English. I think it's one of the favorite past times here... especially for kids because the word 20 in Hassaniya has a slightly different meaning. It is the possessive singular form of a woman's reproductive organs. Yes, little kids LOVE to count to 20. And in English class... you can never get past 20 without a ton of smirks and giggles... even with adults. Poor Tessa wasn't aware of the whole 20 thing when we were giving a test in English class. So she was walking up and down the aisles very seriously saying 20 over and over again so that they would write the number out as part of the test. Oops.

This group of women is really great, and they've really taught me a lot about their culture and language. Even on days when I'm just like, oh I don't feel like going to class, it's so hot, and long, and making excuses. They're always smiling and happy to be there that makes it all worth it.