Chapter 9: RLJ to Jay’s and AME Friday

Chapter 9: RLJ to Jay’s and AME Friday

Thursday and Friday
July 11 & 12, 2019

On Wednesday afternoon, I moved from room 402 at the RLJ to the guest room at Jay’s villa. A short drive separates the two. I spent much of Wednesday afternoon getting moved into my new digs. As nice as it was to be at a hotel, there are plenty of benefits to now be staying in a home. Most notably, the house is much more cosy and personal. Since the last time I stayed with Jay he has upgraded the guest room with a nice, wide screen TV with a host of channels that seems to be broadcasting out of the Middle East. That said, the selection of

entertainment choices are international: African, Indian, American, Far East, and of course Middle Eastern. Sports (soccer, soccer, soccer!), movies, TV shows, news, talk, it’s all there. So far my channel of choice has been NBA TV, broadcasting summer league games. The reception is fair, during the storms it’s choppy.

My first night of sleep at Jay’s was uneven. I was on the losing end of a battle with a single mosquito for much of the night. By the morning it was gone. I figure it gorged itself with so much of my blood, it couldn’t lift itself anymore and fell to the floor with a final splat. Alternatively, it flew out the door in the morning to find more blood. Another reason for my night of interrupted sleep was the unending rain that pounded on the tin roof all night — and all morning, afternoon, and evening. It’s rainy season in Liberia! The rain was a blessing in the morning. Jay’s well pump is currently out of order. This means the house water is brought in from the well. Rather than fuss with a bucket in the bathroom for a shower, I stepped outside clad only in shorts, stood next to the big, blue, plastic rain

barrel, and bathed in the rain. Floating in the barrel was a handy ladle for this specific purpose. Very refreshing!

Being hosted by Jay also means eating food freshly prepared by his housekeeper. And when I say fresh, I mean FRESH. Each day she buys rice, greens, peppers, and meat from the local market and that becomes the day’s meal. It’s like the longest label at Whole Foods: locally grown and harvested, direct from the farmers, organic, raw, unprocessed, free-range, wild caught, hand-prepared. All those adjectives cost you dearly at Trader Joes or Nature’s Food Market. Here they’re part of life. A comment on the peppers. I am pretty sure she prepares her dishes with my very delicate (wimpy!), super-sensitive, “My god that’s hot!” tongue in mind. Much appreciated, by the way. I still have to pile on extra rice to

offset what I consider to be the smallest portion of spiciness. And even then, I follow that with copious amounts of liquids.

Speaking of food, for today’s lunch after the class at AME, we dined at a place called Evelyn’s Restaurant, Bar & Grill. Turns out, this seems to be the kind of place where the locals eat. The bulk of the menu is devoted to Liberian dishes: cassava leaf, fufu, palm butter, tugborgee, dumboy. I tried but Jay and his two friends would not let me order a plain old chicken sandwich. I ended up with one of the Friday specials, Mama’s Dry Rice (pork included). I was not disappointed. Every bit of it was tasty. A giant pile of rice mixed with ham and pork sat at the center of my plate, to the side was a chunk of fish, smoked, and cooked to perfection. Two sauces completed the meal: palm oil and a very mild green, leafy sauce. I am sure there is a better word to describe my fish than “chunk”, I just don’t know the word. It was a cross-section of a whole, large fish; skin, bone and all. I scooped out the tender, flavorful meat around the bones and mixed it into the rice. As good as the food was, the drink was even better. Ginger beer! Surprisingly, this concoction was not what you’d expect. It was not like ginger-ale or beer. It was not carbonated. To me it tasted like lots of fresh ginger mixed with mango juice and water. It was very tasty, refreshing, zesty. Loved it. This drink was special to the patrons — our friend Kofi ordered a glass the moment we arrived and he left with a bottle to go. They sell it by the bottle at the front of the restaurant. Very memorable! To top it off, I have a baked, in-house, single serve, coconut pie in a to-go bag waiting for me for a snack later tonight. Full report and review forthcoming.

Of course the highlight of today, Friday, was the morning class at AME. Today was the day to introduce the concept of the skipped gradient, what it is, how it relates to trouble with study, and most importantly, what the student can do about it. Based on previous experience with my workshops on this concept, I spent a lot of time yesterday adding to the presentation. I threw in a number of examples and illustrations that I felt would drive point home well. I included a time lapse video of a man building a cabin by himself from the ground up. I think the presentation was a success.

At the core of my newly amended visuals was the step by step curriculum sequence by which one learns algebra. Obviously, the point wasn’t to teach algebra but to show how from

preschool to your last years in high school, you learn mathematics gradiently, culminating in proficiency — or not — in algebra. (One student, at the end of today’s class, was excited to say he figured out what gradient he skipped in his mathematics, better understood algebra, and now felt revitalized in the direction of being an engineer. Win!)

The sequence I used was this.

Numbers and counting
Addition and subtraction
Multiplication and division
Fractions and decimals
Positive and negative numbers
Exponents and roots
Order of operations
Algebra

I stacked them in a logical, gradient fashion to really make the point.

This made it a very practical discussion. A student who didn’t really get fractions and decimals, the fourth step in my sequence, would find algebra confusing. Further, it was easy to show how you backtrack to the end of where you thought you understood it well. Of all the presentations I’ve done for skipped gradient, I thought this was the best. Near the end of the class, Calvin had the great suggestion of having different students come to the front and be “professors”. Each explaining to the class, in their own words, skipped gradient and its solution. Nice touch.

The essays the students submitted today were in answer to these questions: 1. If you were in charge of education in Liberia, what would you do to improve it? 2. What changes would you make? There were many great answers. Some I really liked. One essay I pulled aside so I can show Jay and possibly speak to the student directly. I found it quite honest, yet responsible, and useful.

Finally, below are successes from today. This weekend promises to be adventurous. Don’t know what Jay has in store, but I know it will be fun. See you next time.

Successes:

“I learned the second barrier to study with all the pictures (mass) and explanation from Colin and I understood it well. The most helpful to my studies when it comes to the second barrier (skipped gradient) is to go back to the step I missed before going further. I like the class as always, the interaction between the students, the fun we play before starting the class makes it more enjoyable.” - Patience A. Ogwcehe

“I like the way we are given the go ahead to speak out what we understand in the lessons.” - Faith Angel Doe

“I like for example, if you want to be an engineer and you skipped some maths you will find it difficult to be an engineer. Unless you go back and learn what you skipped in the past, that’s the only way you are going to be a good engineer.” - Vivian E. Koruah

“Today’s lesson had a great impact in my life. Once in my life, I experienced a skipped gradient. I had a dream of becoming a politician but I was not good at

English, so I had to change my dream to become a medical doctor. From what I have learned today, I will make sure to correct every gradient in my life. And I am going to help my friends who are facing such problems. Thank you so much Colin for helping me.” - Varney Dunor