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1. How much is the monthly stipend? A: In 2009/2010, it was a little over $1000 per month. I hear that it also depends on where in the US you’re posted to. If you are on the coast, you get a lot more (but then spend a lot more as well for food, and rent).

2. Is the stipend ever sufficient? A: Yes. With very prudent use, you would usually spend about half of the whole stipend monthly on food, housing and books. At the very worst case scenario, you would still be able to save about $300 every month.

3. Can relatives visit me from home? A: Technically, they can, but that is not what the program is about, so it is not encouraged. Believe me, the last thing you want is carrying the home baggage with you. But then, it’s up to you.

4. Can I date my students? A: No. Bad idea.

5. Can I date other students on campus? A: Yes.

6. If any of the people I date at #5 ever become my student in another semester, what should I do? A: I have no idea. But the fact that you know that such scenario is possible should make you re-think #5. You’ll find very many opportunities to meet other new people.

7. Will I need a mobile phone? A: Yes, but you don’t have to bring it along from your country.

8. Will I need a car? A: Not usually. You’d be able to get by without one on most campuses. Many FLTAs however often apply for, and obtain, a driver’s licence before they leave the US. It could be a worthwhile endeavour.

9. How cold is a cold weather? A: Very cold. If you have never seen snow before, chances are you will start needing to buy winter clothes and boots as soon as late October. Right now, it is 6 degrees Celsius.

10. Can I stay in the US after the program? A: No. There is a mandatory “return policy” which you’d sign on your way in. As soon as you’re done, you are required to head home first, before you do anything else.

to be continued…

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How are you doing?

I have missed you. Well, I haven’t technically left, so what exactly could that mean? In any case, I have actually been enjoying my time here at home. And that’s why you haven’t heard too many complaints.

There are no mosquitoes here. (I think that Lagos has patented their presence ) Heat is bearable, sometimes. But yesterday while it was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit here in Ibadan, I heard that it was almost 90 in Edwardsville. See? I can’t complain. I still miss it though. Edwardsville, I mean.

Now however, I have just found out that I now have more time on my hands than I originally bargained for. No classes to teach in the morning/afternoon. No Chris to hang out with in the evenings, or Catherine to disturb in the department. No youtube videos to make, and no bicycles to ride. Well, I still have that stack of outstanding translation works to do. But that’s too boring. What else should I do with this time?

All comments welcome!

And have a nice week.

PS: On June 3, I will be speaking to a group of new departing Fulbright FLTAs at the US Consulate in Lagos. I’ve been invited as a “resource person” by the Consulate. I wonder if what I can tell those nervous grantees about the experience can ever be exhaustive at a three hour lunch meeting. But try I will.

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• Oh Fulbright. Tue 07 Jun 2011

In lieu of promises of things I would do in the new year (which had, by this morning, included dropping the abbreviation LOL from my 2010 vocabulary, getting a better camera, making more savings, kicking my Papa John’s pizza eating habit, and drawing up new itineraries of new places to visit in the US), I now present my new year resolutions, which are in fact however resolutions from 2009, courtesy of my Canon Powershot SD 1200 IS camera. Some of the photos I’ve shared here before. Some not. For those interested in my photography, let’s catch up on Facebook. But note that I will not confirm friendship with people without profile pictures themselves, except we have known mutual friends. Sorry. .

With these, my 2009 is done at last. I may not have been the best Fulbright FLTA this year, but I sure had the most fun.

Enjoy.

(Move mouse over the photos to see their descriptions. Thank you for readership)

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Now that I have spent the whole of Thursday holed up in the hotel attending one workshop to the other, I am beginning to think that these photos from my solo walk around the little town yesterday might be the only ones that I have of its interesting sites. Or not. Let me check. Yes, I’m right. This conference is all I have come here to do.

Meanwhile, the conference itself is very warm gathering of 409 Fulbrighters from 49 countries teaching hundreds of languages all over the country. I have met old friends who remember me, and those who don’t. I have also met new ones who had heard about me and those who hadn’t. There will be more conference sessions tomorrow, and more feeding sessions too, until Saturday when the conference officially ends. We have learnt about Social Networking for the Foreign Language Classroom, Writing for Publication in Foreign Language Journals, and Scenarios & Strageties: Addressing Individual Student Concerns. Tomorrow, there will be more… Before this conference ends, we will meet with some representatives from the State Department. No, I don’t think that there is a chance to see the Secretary of State, so that’s that, already crossed out.

But this was my lethargic Thursday put into good and productive use of my time, although now, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the tiredness I feel at the end of the day. I however learnt many things in the conference sessions today. One that stuck with me was a fact that forty Fulbrighters from eleven countries have been awarded the Nobel Prize since 1952. They include Jean-Marie Le Clézio (France, and Nobel Laureate for Literature in 2008), Henry Kissinger (USA, and Nobel Peace Prize 1973) and two time winner Linus Pauling (USA, and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1954).

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Two hours later, the plane was at a stand-still and a queue had formed in the aisle for those who wanted to disembark, so I reached over the unfriendly looking man and broke the ice.

“Hi, how are you.”

“Fine,” she replied. “And you?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry, but do you attend SIUE?”

“No,” she said.

Oops.

“Oh, ok. Really? You look really familiar. Is it Principia University then?”

“No.”

“Carbondale?”

“No, I attend Webster University.”

I’d never heard that name before in my life. And then I think I saw the man beside me giggle.

“I’m really sorry then,” I said. “You look really really familiar. I know that I’ve seen you somewhere before. That university that you attend – Webster – is it in Illinois?”

“No, it’s in Missouri.”

“Oh, alright.”

Damn! Right then, I could have just disappeared under the seat because I had successfully made an ass of myself not once or twice, but many times in the presence of about a dozen people within earshot of the curious conversation. All of them were white, and grown up, except the object of my tenacious attention. Not that it mattered much that they were white, but with their silence, I began to wonder what they must think of me. And then it hit me.

“Are you a Fulbrighter?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God. Of course you are! What a relief. You were in Providence, Rhode Island in August with me?”

“Oh yes.”

“Oh whew! That explains it then. Of course that was where I first saw you. I still have you in my photo albums. I know that I’d seen you somewhere before. I don’t usually forget faces. How silly of me to have forgotten to mention Fulbright.”

“Yea. I’m so sorry I couldn’t remember you.”

“No problem. I know I am not crazy!”

Now the man beside me, who was still on his seat because the airplane’s door hadn’t been opened and nobody had left the plane even though everyone else was on their feet, began to smile and looked at me with a look that finally seemed forgiving. It was such a relief.

“So how is the experience so far?” I asked.

We went on and on right there in the aisle talking about what we had done, and how stressful, fun, enjoyable, interesting, etc the experience had been for us. She’s from Germany, and she is the only Fulbright FLTA in her university. She teaches seven students and takes a tutorial for about forty more, she said. At some point, our hitherto unfriendly passenger joined in and shared his love for the museums in Cahokia and the Gateway Arch as well. It turned out that we were both heading to the same Conference, and we were both looking forward to meeting over four hundred others.

It was my first memorable welcoming into the nation’s capital, and when I left the plane, I couldn’t tell whether it was meeting someone familiar, or being absolved of that suspicion of stalking that made me happiest. But it was a happy moment of warm welcoming.

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Dear friends,

I cannot resist this urge. And since we are in the mood for rejoicing,
I urge you to kindly do so with me as well. A few hours before Barack Obama
got his own ticket to the White House, I got news of mine to his great
country. Well, not a flight ticket just yet, but a confirmed selection
as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant. It is a one-year
teaching grant to a post-secondary American institution to teach my
language in the 2009/10 session.

As much a great news as well as a great challenge, I am now beginning
a new extensive re-immersion into the culture and ways of my people. I
would not be going there only to eat hamburgers, right?

Greetings on Obama’s victory. It’s a new day.

Thinking back, I cannot almost believe that it’s already one year. What this means, of course, is that a set of new Fullbrighters have already been chosen now as well. By this time next year, I will be back home, or wherever else the wind of life blows me, and this university would have got its replacement scholar just trying to find his/her feet. Two years ago, they had Busola from Ibadan, last year, there was Tola from Lagos, and now Kola from Ibadan. If the trend of names are anything to go by, I won’t be surprised if the next person to come over here is a “Sola”, “Demola” or “Bola”. For one thing, they are easier names for Americans to pronounce.

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