I went on my usual weekly walk with Blaise and this time I was voicing my concern over the impact that Colin and I were having on the community. And after a few bowls of Tchuc and a few hours of chatting I came away feeling much better about my situation, although still somewhat skeptical and unsatisfied.
Among the little tidbits of information that I came away with was the fact that Colin and I each are saving the monastery at least 300,000 CFA in terms of salary. As I may have mentioned before, the monastery pays the wages and helps create special situations that will make working at the school more attractive to teachers from Kara (one of which being fronting the 600,000+ CFA for a motorcycle for one professor to commute, providing lodging for others and providing meals). Colin and I ameliorate the financial situation, but we are far from a fix. But it is somewhat nice to know the tangible/financial worth of our work at the school. The feeling of being a burden on the school and monastery is now gone. But there is still something left to be desired.
Also, at mass tonight a cockroach flew into a light. I giggled. But that giggle turned into laughter. Try and imagine a 6’5” linebacker built monk get up from his chair, reverently bow towards the alter, and then proceed to boot the little sucker out the door before calmly proceeding to prepare the alter for the priest. OMG, I lost it. The only thing going through my mind for the rest of mass was “GGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!” Even Colin had to hang his head a little to conceal the laughter.
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