4 times: I hit the snooze button
87 F: In my room at 7:30 am.
8 seconds: The average period of our rooster’s crowing
10 minutes: The duration of his crowing
2 rocks: thrown at him by me
62 students: My biggest class today
32 students: My smallest class today
12 years: age of my youngest student
22 years: age of my oldest student
2 minutes: time a student who misbehaves in my class has to wall-sit for.
6 classes: In my schedule today
16 computers: working computers in my lab
7 computers: computers working when I arrived
373 MHz: their average processor speed
12 GB: their average hard disk space
154 MB: the average RAM per computer
3 hours: time the youngest class spent raking up rocks with their hands in the sun
105 F: temperature in my room during the afternoon break
3 seconds: time on average to turn on the fan after entering my room
6 liters: water I drink per day on average
2 days: time left until I leave for vacation
20 hours: length of the bus ride to get to the beaches in Benin
5 days: time I will be spending on the beach
9 months: time I have spent in Burkina as of Saturday
5 months: time since I’ve seen rain.
2 months: time until it’s expected to rain in Toma.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
International Women's Day
Today is international women’s day and this year I’ve never been more acutely aware of the world’s need to celebrate women and promote women’s rights.
Conversations that I’ve had in the past month in no particular chronological order (all participants renamed to John and all conversations translated into English, poorly):
---
John: So Bovard, I hear in America that there are some men who can’t sleep unless they have had sex.
Me: I haven’t heard that. I think there are some people who need to have sex very often, but I don’t know if they need it to sleep, and they might not be able to have sex every day.
John: What do you mean they can’t have sex every day? Don’t they have girlfriends?
Me: Yeah, but sometimes their girlfriend might not want to have sex.
John: What!? How is that possible? Here the girls always have sex with us if we want to.
John 2: Oh man that would be terrible. How do you live like that?
Me: Well sometimes they want to do something else or they don’t want to, maybe they are too tired from working.
John: Are you serious? Why would you want a girlfriend like that?
Me: Like what?
John: One that you can’t have sex with whenever you want.
Me: Well having a girlfriend isn’t just about having sex.
John: You Americans are odd.
---
Me: So you are telling me that you have girlfriends, but you don’t want to be seen in public with them?
John: Yeah.
Me: So what do you do together?
John: Well usually they come over and they sweep my house, do my laundry and cook for me and then we have sex.
Me: But you don’t ever want to be seen in public with them?
John: Of course not! If we were ever seen in public they might start thinking that I would want to marry them or something. It would be too complicated. I like it the way it is.
---
Me: But you guys are glad that the number of excisions (read: female genital mutilations) has started to decrease, right?
John: No! Everything was fine until you white people came and started telling us that it wasn’t right to do that.
Me: What? So you think excision is a good thing?
John: Let’s just say that if I were to become king tomorrow I would clip all women in Burkina Faso.
Me: Why? Are you serious? You know that would kill a lot of people right? Why would you want to do something like that?
John: Well take pornography, for example. Have you ever seen pornography with a girl that is clipped?
Me: Have you ever seen a guy with no balls in pornography? Do you want me to cut off your balls?
John: Sure go ahead.
Me: Alright. (Pull out my key ring). Which key do you want me to use?
John: Laughs
Me: But that’s your choice. Why force this on hundreds of women and only women?
John2: It’s not just women that are circumcised, men are too!
Me: But that’s not the same, men can still enjoy sex after being circumcised. And there are much lower risks associated with men being circumcised and health benefits. There is no reason to circumcise women.
John: But that is a reason why we want to do it! It calms them down.
Me: It calms them down? So you want all women to be docile?
John: Yes
---
I find that as I discover that more and more men in Toma have attitudes similar to those held in the conversations above, the less chance I think I have at finding a male friend whose attitudes toward women I respect. I try the best I can to put it in perspective and imagine myself talking to male Americans in the 19th century. I imagine that a century and a half will bring change similar to that seen in the US. I hope that it doesn't take that long.
In any case, happy International Women’s Day! Here’s to all the women around the world and to all that they do to make it a better place to live in.
Conversations that I’ve had in the past month in no particular chronological order (all participants renamed to John and all conversations translated into English, poorly):
---
John: So Bovard, I hear in America that there are some men who can’t sleep unless they have had sex.
Me: I haven’t heard that. I think there are some people who need to have sex very often, but I don’t know if they need it to sleep, and they might not be able to have sex every day.
John: What do you mean they can’t have sex every day? Don’t they have girlfriends?
Me: Yeah, but sometimes their girlfriend might not want to have sex.
John: What!? How is that possible? Here the girls always have sex with us if we want to.
John 2: Oh man that would be terrible. How do you live like that?
Me: Well sometimes they want to do something else or they don’t want to, maybe they are too tired from working.
John: Are you serious? Why would you want a girlfriend like that?
Me: Like what?
John: One that you can’t have sex with whenever you want.
Me: Well having a girlfriend isn’t just about having sex.
John: You Americans are odd.
---
Me: So you are telling me that you have girlfriends, but you don’t want to be seen in public with them?
John: Yeah.
Me: So what do you do together?
John: Well usually they come over and they sweep my house, do my laundry and cook for me and then we have sex.
Me: But you don’t ever want to be seen in public with them?
John: Of course not! If we were ever seen in public they might start thinking that I would want to marry them or something. It would be too complicated. I like it the way it is.
---
Me: But you guys are glad that the number of excisions (read: female genital mutilations) has started to decrease, right?
John: No! Everything was fine until you white people came and started telling us that it wasn’t right to do that.
Me: What? So you think excision is a good thing?
John: Let’s just say that if I were to become king tomorrow I would clip all women in Burkina Faso.
Me: Why? Are you serious? You know that would kill a lot of people right? Why would you want to do something like that?
John: Well take pornography, for example. Have you ever seen pornography with a girl that is clipped?
Me: Have you ever seen a guy with no balls in pornography? Do you want me to cut off your balls?
John: Sure go ahead.
Me: Alright. (Pull out my key ring). Which key do you want me to use?
John: Laughs
Me: But that’s your choice. Why force this on hundreds of women and only women?
John2: It’s not just women that are circumcised, men are too!
Me: But that’s not the same, men can still enjoy sex after being circumcised. And there are much lower risks associated with men being circumcised and health benefits. There is no reason to circumcise women.
John: But that is a reason why we want to do it! It calms them down.
Me: It calms them down? So you want all women to be docile?
John: Yes
---
I find that as I discover that more and more men in Toma have attitudes similar to those held in the conversations above, the less chance I think I have at finding a male friend whose attitudes toward women I respect. I try the best I can to put it in perspective and imagine myself talking to male Americans in the 19th century. I imagine that a century and a half will bring change similar to that seen in the US. I hope that it doesn't take that long.
In any case, happy International Women’s Day! Here’s to all the women around the world and to all that they do to make it a better place to live in.
In which I do battle…
Warning: The following post may contain strong nerd language which may be unintelligible to the average reader.
There is a lot of dust in Burkina Faso and it seems a lot of it tries very hard to make a home in my apartment. There is constantly a layer of dust on every surface in my house except maybe my bed. And even there after a couple days you can shake the mosquito net hanging over my bed and a shower of fine dust particles go showering down. I’m sure that’s healthy for my respiration system.
To counter this I do my best to dust and sweep my apartment whenever I can, which varies in frequency from a couple times a day to a couple times a week depending on the week. Luckily I don’t have too much floor space and do my best to make sure I keep things off of the floor. When it’s all said and done I have a nice collection of dust in my dustpan which I throw outside, just begging the wind to blow it back in my house over the course of the next couple days.
I was planning to dumb the dust in one of the small gardens at the base of my porch. As I emptied the pan over the small wall I jumped back as a fury of brown and red shot straight up in the air from below with a loud “BAACAAAACK!” A mother hen with feathers puffed out to the max, wings locked in attack position and a crazy look in her eyes came straight at me.
Luckily from my many days spent collecting Crushbone Orc Belts in gfay (Greater Faydark) and crush the shock of aggoing a mob quickly wore off and I assumed battle stance. I was a little bit worried because I was only wearing cloth, was OOM, and my Fine Plastic Dustpan and Brush weren’t exactly fear-inspiring but I didn’t have too much time to worry about it as she attacked.
I blocked the first attack, using the dustpan as a sort of shield and in combination with the brush tried to push her back gently. I felt that she was one of those stupid mobs that if you actually killed would cause you to lose a lot of hard earned faction, in this case probably with the Frères. As she attacked again my mind began to try and think of the nearest place to zone. I guess I usually did stop in place for a while when entering the compound, but that was too far away and I didn’t have SoW. I decided to try walking into my house and closing the screen door.
I quickly realized the folly of my action as she banged head first into the screen door, which I felt probably wasn’t able to hold up to much punishment. Opening the door again and staving off another attack I prayed that she was more like a WoW mob – limited aggro range – and ran toward the kitchen. Looking back I was relieved to see that she wasn’t following me.
I waited a while, watching from out of aggro range as she moved away from the house, taking with her 12 peeping little chicks. If a mother hen gets this defensive about her chicks I would hate to get between a mama bear and her cubs!
I copied my chat log here for your enjoyment.
Bovard has dropped 8 ounces of dust.
Mother Hen becomes enraged.
Mother Hen uses Battle Cry! Mother Hen’s Attack Power is increased!
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/w Bubs Dude I aggroed one of the stupid chickens, you want to send me a port?
Player ‘Bubs’ not found.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/who friend
0 player(s) found.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/y “Where is the nearest zone?”
No one hears you.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/con
Looks like a reasonably safe opponent.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
Bovard tries to use Hide. It fails!
Mother Hen attacks a screen door for 2 dmg!
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
Bovard uses sprint.
Battle Cry fades from Mother Hen.
Mother Hen is no longer enraged.
There is a lot of dust in Burkina Faso and it seems a lot of it tries very hard to make a home in my apartment. There is constantly a layer of dust on every surface in my house except maybe my bed. And even there after a couple days you can shake the mosquito net hanging over my bed and a shower of fine dust particles go showering down. I’m sure that’s healthy for my respiration system.
To counter this I do my best to dust and sweep my apartment whenever I can, which varies in frequency from a couple times a day to a couple times a week depending on the week. Luckily I don’t have too much floor space and do my best to make sure I keep things off of the floor. When it’s all said and done I have a nice collection of dust in my dustpan which I throw outside, just begging the wind to blow it back in my house over the course of the next couple days.
I was planning to dumb the dust in one of the small gardens at the base of my porch. As I emptied the pan over the small wall I jumped back as a fury of brown and red shot straight up in the air from below with a loud “BAACAAAACK!” A mother hen with feathers puffed out to the max, wings locked in attack position and a crazy look in her eyes came straight at me.
Luckily from my many days spent collecting Crushbone Orc Belts in gfay (Greater Faydark) and crush the shock of aggoing a mob quickly wore off and I assumed battle stance. I was a little bit worried because I was only wearing cloth, was OOM, and my Fine Plastic Dustpan and Brush weren’t exactly fear-inspiring but I didn’t have too much time to worry about it as she attacked.
I blocked the first attack, using the dustpan as a sort of shield and in combination with the brush tried to push her back gently. I felt that she was one of those stupid mobs that if you actually killed would cause you to lose a lot of hard earned faction, in this case probably with the Frères. As she attacked again my mind began to try and think of the nearest place to zone. I guess I usually did stop in place for a while when entering the compound, but that was too far away and I didn’t have SoW. I decided to try walking into my house and closing the screen door.
I quickly realized the folly of my action as she banged head first into the screen door, which I felt probably wasn’t able to hold up to much punishment. Opening the door again and staving off another attack I prayed that she was more like a WoW mob – limited aggro range – and ran toward the kitchen. Looking back I was relieved to see that she wasn’t following me.
I waited a while, watching from out of aggro range as she moved away from the house, taking with her 12 peeping little chicks. If a mother hen gets this defensive about her chicks I would hate to get between a mama bear and her cubs!
I copied my chat log here for your enjoyment.
Bovard has dropped 8 ounces of dust.
Mother Hen becomes enraged.
Mother Hen uses Battle Cry! Mother Hen’s Attack Power is increased!
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/w Bubs Dude I aggroed one of the stupid chickens, you want to send me a port?
Player ‘Bubs’ not found.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/who friend
0 player(s) found.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/y “Where is the nearest zone?”
No one hears you.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
/con
Looks like a reasonably safe opponent.
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
Bovard tries to use Hide. It fails!
Mother Hen attacks a screen door for 2 dmg!
Bovard blocks Mother Hen’s attack!
Bovard uses sprint.
Battle Cry fades from Mother Hen.
Mother Hen is no longer enraged.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Festima
The green leaves of the mask rippled in waves to the sound of the drum beat as the dancer’s feet flew, pausing only momentarily to strike the ground. Kicking up clouds of dust he made his way across the field, sometimes floating, sometimes bouncing but always embodying the pure rhythm of the eight drum players playing nearby. This is my first night at the mask festival in Deadougou and I’m blown away.
Hearing the words ‘mask festival’ I’m excepting to see someone wearing a mask parading around for everyone to see. I wasn’t expecting this – mask troupes from eight countries, hundreds of dancers, a wide variety of drums and whistles and of course a staggering variety of intricate masks and consumes.
The dance floor is a dirt patch about the size of a soccer field which is surrounded by people. The event offers three types of seating. For about $.25 you can stand in the sun and watch, $.50 buys you a seat under a shaded hanger while a dollar buys you a seat in the shaded, makeshift risers. We had decided that since this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing we’d splurge and get a weekend pass for the stadium seating.
What started out as a small group of people talking about going had surprisingly grown into a group of about twenty from all across the country. We were all staying together in two very crowded bunk house style rooms – two rooms each with sixteen beds, four windows and nothing else. The spoilt volunteers, such as myself, who were accustomed to a blasting fan all night long complained about the heat while the truly “HardCorps” volunteers had no problem.
The heat of the midday sun was an equalizer, drawing complaints from everyone. But mostly we watched. The masks costumes were made from everything from leaves and straw to reeds and leather. There were dancers on stilts, dancers doing back flips, dancers spinning for minutes straight. It was an awesome experience.
Taking pictures was supposedly forbidden without first buying a photo pass. We all chipped in and got one, giving it to the person with the best camera, Leslie. You can check out the pictures she took here.
Hearing the words ‘mask festival’ I’m excepting to see someone wearing a mask parading around for everyone to see. I wasn’t expecting this – mask troupes from eight countries, hundreds of dancers, a wide variety of drums and whistles and of course a staggering variety of intricate masks and consumes.
The dance floor is a dirt patch about the size of a soccer field which is surrounded by people. The event offers three types of seating. For about $.25 you can stand in the sun and watch, $.50 buys you a seat under a shaded hanger while a dollar buys you a seat in the shaded, makeshift risers. We had decided that since this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing we’d splurge and get a weekend pass for the stadium seating.
What started out as a small group of people talking about going had surprisingly grown into a group of about twenty from all across the country. We were all staying together in two very crowded bunk house style rooms – two rooms each with sixteen beds, four windows and nothing else. The spoilt volunteers, such as myself, who were accustomed to a blasting fan all night long complained about the heat while the truly “HardCorps” volunteers had no problem.
The heat of the midday sun was an equalizer, drawing complaints from everyone. But mostly we watched. The masks costumes were made from everything from leaves and straw to reeds and leather. There were dancers on stilts, dancers doing back flips, dancers spinning for minutes straight. It was an awesome experience.
Taking pictures was supposedly forbidden without first buying a photo pass. We all chipped in and got one, giving it to the person with the best camera, Leslie. You can check out the pictures she took here.
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