I go to class...?

Just so you know, I actually am taking courses in a classroom this semester (it doesn’t seem like it according to my other blogs, but I digress…) The three classes I am taking at UNGE (National University of Equatorial Guinea) are Society and the Environment, Natural Resource Economics, and African Literature and Spanish Culture. I’ve only had a couple weeks of classes so far, but I’m pretty sure how the next couple weeks of the semester are going to fair.

Society and the Environment

Before coming to Equatorial Guinea I had a feeling that this was going to be my favorite class. Learning about how society views and interacts with the environment is one of my favorite things to learn about. This class is shorter than the other classes, mainly because our professor leaves early. (We are trying to correct this, but it happens) Most of what we are learning is the presentations we compose ourselves, which is pretty interesting. Some of the chapters are a tad redundant, but the basic we learn is interesting. We also have to write journals about certain topics like recycling, hunting, and creating policy. This class is extremely easy, I wish we did more in it, see as how it’s the class that applies to my major the most out of the three we are taking at UNGE.



Natural Resource Economics

I was a bit nervous about this class, but I wasn’t too worried since I took Macro a couple of semesters ago. I find this class to be very interesting and informative, but writing a 10 page paper about water scarcity was a bit challenging. I think its good, but we’ll see when I get my grade. I’m glad we were able to write about something we were interested in, or that paper would have destroyed me. After writing a 60 page paper with Cait about acid rain, a 10 page paper wasn’t so bad. I like this class a lot because I am able to apply the things I learned in Macro here. Our teacher understands that some of us have taken some econ classes, but doesn’t expect us all to be economists, which leads me to my next class.


African Literature and Spanish Culture

I knew before I came to EG that this class was going to destroy my brain. And I was right. We met with our professor before classes started and we all thought we are on the same level concerning our proficiency, but the first day of class mentally destroyed us. Since our classes started after our time in Moka, our teacher was pretty sure we would be all speaking rather fluently… yea right. We had a couple of classes at the US Embassy, but now we are back at UNGE. Cait, Sarah and Tristan are all pretty good, but my mental block always freezes my foreign language skills up. I’m not fabulous at speaking Spanish, but I’m not horrible. And I’m sorry, I’m from Philly and I’m a chronic mumbler, of course my pronunciation is going to be a tad off. Saying ‘aprender’ 50 times isn’t going to change how I say it, sorry. It has gotten a little better, but depending on the day it can be pretty cool or horrible.



All in all, my classes aren’t bad, and I’m learning a lot. The experiences outside the classroom, however, will stay with me longer and give me a greater understanding about my life and life in EG.

What I've Learned in Malabo

As I'm reaching the final third of my journey here in Equatorial Guinea, I ( some of my housemates too) composed a list of some of the things I have learned in Malabo... Definitely not a complete list

What I have learned in Malabo:

Traffic signals are optional
Puddles are more dangerous than you think
If you want to receive Communion, cover your shoulders
Having water or power is a perk
It isn’t unusual to hang out with Scotsman during the week
Getting called blanco is normal
It’s perfectly acceptable to call an albino kid ‘fake white’ as a term of endearment
If you didn’t almost get hit by a car, you aren’t walking across the street
Oil compounds are a little slice of suburbia
BBQs make up most of your dietary requirements
Directions get creative because of the lack of street signs
You need a guard to open the gate
There is more than one way to get into your house
If you aren’t squeezing into a car meant for half the people going into it, you’re missing someone
Going to a primary school for 3 hours a week can be the highlight of the entire week
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand Mass, Church is Church
Every white guy is John McCain
It is normal to be congratulated on your new President by random people and nuns
Children love to be in pictures
Taking pictures can become a covert operation
Military check points are optional if you are in a car
Hanging out at the pool is normal in November
If you are in trouble, call Sally
Being tanner than your friends in other places abroad is something to take pride in
You can go outside your house and pick mangos off a tree
Don’t get sick
People will use any excuse to get together and eat
Being a ‘monkey girl’ is the best way to identify yourself
You don’t need a prescription to get more malaria meds
You need more bug spray in your house than you do in the jungle
Hormigas no son nuestros amigos
Hearing a squeak means that Bina has seen a bug
It’s normal to see lizards everywhere
Your UNGE ID is more important than your passport
No one is named Amanda, so my new name is Imelda
Kids here are cuter than American kids

TBC……