So we meet again...in Dakar. In-country orientation!

After what seemed like a chaotic and packed few days (I swear, I suddenly had all of these family gatherings and last-minute things to attend!  It was great to see family though...), I arrived at SFO on Monday early afternoon -- weary from lack of sleep and intense packing...where the issues only began to arise.

Turns out there was some miscommunication between the airline's policy for a visa to Senegal and what we've been told.  Long story short, the 7 other Fulbrighters had some degree of trouble getting through the airport because of the visa.  We all have our return tickets for 9 months later (July 2016) but airlines see that if you are staying in Senegal for more than 3 months, you need a long-term visa to go through.  Not gonna sweat the small details here, but I was booked for a flight the next day (Tuesday) through Delta instead of Air France and luckily, had another fellow Fulbrighter on my New York to Dakar flight (Kaylin; the 6 others were able to make their flights).  We laughed so hard because of the many issues that arose and the delirium that comes with constantly being at airports/planes/on-the-go.

Arriving in the airport in Dakar was surprisingly easy, as well as getting through customs and arriving at our (air-conditioned) hotel.  Thanks, U.S. Embassy Dakar!  There's a very familiar smell that comes with arriving in a country like Senegal (I've realized it's the humidity) and it was just so...comforting.  To be back in a French-speaking country and to be back in West Africa.

View of Dakar from up in the air. Amazing to be on the westernmost tip of continental Africa! Literally had butterflies in my stomach just looking at this view and thinking, "Wow, I'm back!" 

Our three-day in-country orientation was very close to reliving our time during the Pre-Departure Orientation in D.C. this past June.  Very grateful to be placed with 7 other Fulbright ETAs who just get it and all think in a very similar way!  We also met the two English Language Fellows who will be placed in universities.

The Fulbright ETAs and English Language Fellows pointing to our various sites throughout Senegal. 

Met Eran and Safi, the RELO/Assistant RELO (Regional English Language Officer) for West Africa and various English language partners in Senegal.  What an incredible group of colleagues!  The desire to learn English is alive and well in Senegal.  Overall, a very informative orientation on Senegal, the education system, cultural nuances, and even getting the chance to do a little teaching with the ACCESS English classes! (Note that a few of the pictures aren't mine; they were taken by Eran, the RELO for West Africa.)

We did a quick lesson on verbs in the present progressive to get them speaking more.  I look crazy here...I assume this is one of my many teaching faces, lol. 

We ended our three-day orientation with a reception at the U.S. Embassy Dakar's Public Affairs officer's residence with the key English language professionals throughout the country.  Great way to cap off a productive three days, and send us off to our respective schools/institutions.  I was able to also finally meet Ngouye, the Head of the Office of English at Senegal's Ministry of Education and my boss for the next 9 months.  She has impeccable English and seems like a great person to work with!  I start on Tuesday and am definitely looking forward to it!  

With Ngouye of the Office of English at the Ministry of Education.  Looking forward to working with her and other English language professionals to help train English teachers throughout Senegal! 

Group picture! 

I realize I'm a little dated with this blog post -- will update with host family description, getting acclimated to Dakar, work, and other discoveries soon!  

Ba benneen yoon! ('See you next time' in Wolof!) 

First things first, a recap of life these past few years.

WOW.

To think the last time I wrote in this blog was in 2011. Here we are in 2015, nearly 4 years after my last blog post.  Since then, a number of significant things happened that have led me to this current point in my life (get ready for my typical long and detailed posts):

• 2011-2012: I worked a number of jobs in education to see if this was truly my passion. 
• St. Joachim School (my old elementary school) as an Instructional Assistant for 4th Grade.  It was wonderful working with my old teachers and being back to what I considered 'home' for so long!

Halloween 2011 with these crazy kids and Mrs. Bristol, the head 4th Grade Teacher (who coincidentally was my science teacher when I was a student back in the day!). 

• Sylvan Learning Center as a Remedial Math Instructor for students in various public elementary schools in Hayward. 
• Boys Moving Forward as a Lead Tutor & Mentor at Melrose Leadership Academy in Oakland; specifically in a weekly, after school reading and mentorship program. 
• IES Language Foundation as an after school French Teacher at Warm Springs Elementary School in Fremont. 

• 2012-2014: Was accepted into the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) dual teaching/Master of Education (M.Ed.) program.  Over the summer, I took classes at Notre Dame with those in my cohort (ACE 19!).  During the school year, we were each sent to our respective schools throughout the country and lived in communities with 1st and 2nd year teachers in our program. 

With two of my favorites, Maria and Miguel. An inseparable trio! 

ACE Summer wasn't all work.  Lots of fun was had.  This was when some of the ACE 19 guys decided to be cheerleaders during our annual PowderPuff football game.  Miss the crazy shenanigans with these folks! 

The people I'd be living with in my community down in Biloxi (technically, Pascagoula), Mississippi.  A good mix of 1st and 2nd year teachers!  This was during my first year of teaching. 

My community members for my second year of teaching.  So different from my first year, but loved them just as much! 

• I was sent to St. Patrick Catholic High School in Biloxi, Mississippi, having taught French I, II & III as well as a quarter-long enrichment course titled Introduction to World Languages.  I also served as the Assistant Girls' Volleyball Coach, Assistant Junior High Boys' Soccer Coach, moderator for the Junior Class/Prom Committee, moderator for Youth Legislature/Junior Youth Assembly, and moderator for the French Club as well as the French Honor Society. 

First home football game at my school.  Beautiful field! 

Fr. Ubald, survivor of the Rwandan Genocide, spoke to my first group of French III students about his experience surviving the tragedy, losing a majority of his family, and ultimately growing from this to help heal himself and others. Very touching experience. 

With my second group of French III students.   They were a riot.  Had so much fun with them, and all of them were such hard workers that wanted to learn the French language.  What a blessing! 

Mardi Gras in the South is unlike any other experience. So appreciative to have been a part of this for the past couple of years! 

For a Spirit Week, there was one day where students were asked to dress up like a teacher.   Naturally, a few of us teachers decided to dress like the students! 

In addition to teaching, it's almost an expectation that you'd be involved in other extracurricular activities.  I was very fortunate to be involved as Assistant Head Coach for the Girls' Volleyball team.  Granted, I knew very little about volleyball but it was great watching them grow, win some games, and ultimately -- laugh a ton!  

• In July 2014, I graduated with my Master of Education (M.Ed.) from the University of Notre Dame.  It was particularly special because my immediate family made it out to Notre Dame and were able to witness the beauty and specialness of this place.   And to celebrate with those in my cohort (ACE 19!) for one last time before we all went our separate ways. 

At the end of our second summer, each second year teacher has to create a visual display of a specific unit we've done during our first year.  A lot of time was spent on this -- detailing all the lesson plans, discussing the context of the unit, assessments, how we took differentiation into account of our planning, educational psychology, etc.  

Special thanks to Maria's Tita for taking the above two pictures! Captures the weekend so well. 

• 2014-2015: I stayed for another year at St. Patrick Catholic High School in Biloxi, Mississippi, having taught French II and French III, as well as a couple of upper division English elective classes (World Literature, Creative Writing & Speech).  I was also able to mentor the new ACE French teacher, Leo!  

• As well, for the summers of 2014 and 2015, I worked as a summer teaching fellow at Ensemble Scolaire Père Basile Moreau in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  Notre Dame has had a strong partnership with the school after the 2010 earthquake, providing infrastructure and monetary support to rebuild the school (which was badly damaged, and luckily, the kids were out of the building as the earthquake was happening).  After, the school identified needs to improve their English curriculum and incorporate more technology into the classroom.  

• For my first summer (2014), I was the first fellow and conducted the primary, secondary, and teachers' English classes in a summer camp-type setting, as well as trained the first primary school English teacher at this school.  

For my primary school kids, on July 4th, they learned a little about the U.S. and create American flags in celebration of this great holiday.  =)

Throughout the summer, I had a little help from people that would visit for a week or two.  In this picture, there were two American high school students that accompanied their mother (who works for Notre Dame) and helped me out for a day. 

• For my second summer (2015), things changed a bit.  I helped coordinate the fellowship program and now had 2 American fellows and 2 Irish fellows -- all teachers back in their respective countries.  Not only did we conduct the English classes, but we had two other projects: use the tablets at the school and the Library For All eBook database to further reading comprehension skills for primary students; and use Khan Academy to better improve the math skills of students, all the while collaborating with math teachers to ensure that they could use this resource in their classes to track individual student progress and provide more individualized help.  Lots of trial and error, but a great learning experience!  We were able to meet a variety of people -- Haitians and expats alike -- who were here to make some positive changes in Haiti (orphanages, USAID, different NGOs, etc.).  And unlike last summer, we were able to visit many places (Jacmel, Cap-Haiïtien, around Port-au-Prince, and hiking in Kenscoff/Furcy) as well as meet various organizations, orphanages, and NGO workers in Haiti. 

The top photo is with students from our literacy class. This year, I was a little more focused on the English class for the teachers. A must smaller class but definitely dedicated, hilarious, and we just had a great time. 

We also had many opportunities for weekend excursions.  Of course, one of my favorites being Cormier Plage in Cap-Haitien! 

• Of course, I can forget to mention a few important events that happened along the way to some of the most impactful people in my life: 

August 2012: Our LMU FamBam gets a little bigger. Pam is the first to get married and it was such a beautiful celebration! 

September 2012: My cousin Michelle gets married. Not only was it so personal and emotional, but it was beyond elaborate and elegant. Wedding ceremony at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco, followed by their reception at the Gold Room in the Fairmont Hotel. They even had a second reception (Vietnamese) the following evening! 

December 2014: Our St. Mary's College High School 10-Year Class Reunion! No wonder our class left such an impact on the school -- what an incredible group of individuals. Looking forward to the next reunion! 

December 2014: A onesie de Leon Christmas. I post this because as much as we're all growing up, I love that we can still start new traditions. 

May 2015: David's graduation from San Jose State. Another engineer in the family! 

September 2015: Grandma's 89th Birthday. Four generations (Olivia Isla!) in one picture, and I couldn't be any happier. Looking forward to Grandma's 90th Birthday Celebration next year! 

The humidity, insects/mosquitos/bats & thunder are out...Girls' Club to the rescue!

Okay, clearly I've hit a dry spot with blog entry titles. Oyy! But I think the blog entry title perfectly sums up my life right about now.

No doubt, the month of April has been pivotal for me. I feel like I've adjusted to a comfortable degree and that I'm finally doing some work. Meaningful work. Working with the kids is exhausting but so much fun at the same time! Hooray...a sense of purpose again! Haha.

Aicha and Farida drawing at my house. They're so good -- I hang their drawings on my walls. Great decor, yo!

Jon and his sign language tutor, Siaka, at our usual hangout in Gaoua.

Demetrius returns!

Funny, funny kid.

Me helping my neighbors remove the shells of the neere. I don't quite know how to explain it. It's a fairly sweet snack and has the consistency of Cream of Wheat without water (Gwen's interpretation).

Holy crap, Rachid can JUMP! Look how far that is.

With CP1, the Alphabet and Literacy Project continues. With CP2, I've continued the Math and Numeracy Project which started off kinda rocky but now seems to be working well with the students. I just finished a Reading Club/Competition with CE1 and hope to replicate that with CE2. With CM2, they have the CEP Exam (Primary School exit exam) coming up and if they want to continue to middle school, they need to pass this! So I've been doing Jeopardy-like review exercises which have been so much fun!

Me conducting the CM2 Jeopardy Review. Divided the class in Rouge (red), Jaune (yellow) and Verte (green) teams...the team with the most points wins! Thanks to Jon for taking pictures!

Using Clay's World Map, I've been able to practice geography with the CM2 students. Really happy I replaced a Volunteer because you can build on what they've already done...in my case, a world map.

My CM1 Girls' Life Skills/English/Soccer Club is perhaps the highlight of my week. Seriously, we've only had a few meetings thus far but I can already see some changes in the girls. Most of them aren't as shy/timid anymore and attendance has been very consistent (all of them show up and it's not even a school day!). They're slowly (but surely) getting used to my French and are starting to understand the Life Skills activities a little more.

The girls doing soccer conditioning exercises before heading out to the field!

Cool action shot with Ali. So glad he can help me out with soccer!

Last club meeting, I discussed the different types of amour (love) -- with friends, family and your significant other. But I also mentioned another type of love: amour-propre (literally translated as love of self, but really, it's self-esteem). I created sample stories and asked the girls to identify any key adjectives that describe the girls in these sample stories. Example: "Fatimata loves math and history, and does very well in school. She always raises her hand when the teacher asks a question. When her class has tests, she always gets some of the highest grades and studies very hard to do so. She is usually one of the highest ranked students in her class." I would ask the girls, "How would you describe Fatimata?" and they would usually give some good responses, which surprised me. "Intelligent, hardworking, obedient to the teacher" and the list continues.

In the end, I compiled all of these adjectives on the board and wrote above all of them "Je suis..." (I am...). I went through the list aloud and asked the girls if they believed they were, say, intelligent, and asked them to raise their hand if they believed they were. Few girls did because of timidity, so I asked some of the bolder girls to say it: "Je suis intelligente!" (I am intelligent!) aloud in front of the class. After a few adjectives, most of the girls got the courage to say this, saying things such as "Je suis intelligente/belle/puissante/gentille!" (I am intelligent/beautiful/powerful/nice!) and yelling them out loud! Such an empowering feeling to hear these girls say these things amongst each other. It may seem like such a simple activity but having these girls come out of their shells and realize their true potential had me smiling for ear-to-ear all week!

A little bit of English and a little bit of Life Skills activities.

Being in the classroom many times each week has helped me realize one of my true life passions: teaching. It may not be the most glamorous job, and definitely not the highest paying. But if you want a country/society to develop, educating the youth is absolutely key. It led me to think about my future plans after Peace Corps...but I think I'll save that for a much later blog entry. =)

Well, the school year's almost coming to a close (or so it feels like). Rainy season is upon us and before I know it, the new group of trainees will be here. April -- you went by so quickly! I can't believe May is already here!

I realize that while I have my life here in Burkina Faso, life continues on in the US. Today (May 8) marks a number of special occasions. My Ate Maye (cousin on Dad's side) and Kuya Lester are getting married today in SF! So congrats! And some of my dear friends are graduating soon. From undergrad at LMU, my Ading Felicia, Robert/Daligs, Ben, Trisha, Carina, etc. etc. I'm so incredibly proud of you and am there in spirit. One of my other good friends is graduating tomorrow (May 9), Allyson, getting her Master of Arts in Education from LMU, too...Holla! Aaaand next weekend, one of my best friends, Melanie, will be graduating from Dominican as a Registered Nurse (RN). Seriously, I am blessed with the most amazing and inspiring family and friends!