The Funny Lakgoa!

   Today I was having an awful morning and felt extremely discouraged and upset by something that a staff member where I am placed did. This afternoon I was really looking forward to going to the Junior Secondary School here (JSS) as a way to get out of the office/ clinic and because I get along really well with the head of the guidance department there. The plan was for me to meet some students, introduce myself and explain what I'm doing here in the village, and hand out some surveys. From the discussion I had with the guidance counselors earlier in the week, I was expecting to be talking with about 30 students. About two minutes before I was supposed to be meeting with them, I  found out that I was  going to be speaking to the entire student body, which is a few hundred students! I was a bit shocked of course, but I took a deep breath and just introduced myself to them and explained why I was here and invited about 30 of them to come outside after the meeting to help me by filling out surveys. They were very quite for the most part , except for a few times when they giggled at the way I pronounced certain words. I made jokes like "haha yes I know I sound funny huh?". Then the guidance counselor I've been working on this with says "Yes, she is a lakgoa but you better get used to it if you want her to come back!". It that  made me laugh even more. The students were arguing over who got to fill out surveys after, and I felt badly that I hadn't known that I'd be meeting all of them or I would have brought more. I told them I'd be back, and that they could still stick around after the meeting to talk to me if they wanted to, and a few of them did. They were great, and even though the experience was different from what I expected, it still made my day. I'm looking forward to going back sometime soon.