Today was our first day at
school. When we arrived, we entered the
“teacher’s lounge” and sat around a large rectangular table with about 8 other
teachers. The principal introduced himself, the other teachers, and after we
introduced ourselves, he then proceeded with a faculty meeting. He reminded the
other teachers that it was mandatory for them to bring their lessons plan books
every day, and that they should have a lesson planned before they walk into the
classroom each day. He told them that they were to arrive 15 minutes before the
assembly began, and most of them stated that they were unaware of the expected
arrival time. Did I mention they tried to marry us off to one of the teachers
in the first 5 minutes? Awesome.
assigned us each to a grade. I was given grade 5, but unfortunately there was
no one teacher specifically in charge of grade 5. Therefore, this was now my
job. There was no schedule as to when the other teachers should come in and
teach, but I supposed they at least knew when to come in. (I was sadly
mistaken.) I spent the day getting to know some of my students and observing as
the other teachers came in to teach. The math teacher came in, introduced
herself, taught, and then handed me the math book and asked me to teach from
then on out. Apparently it wasn’t her job either. I was paired up with another
teacher (lucky for me it was the same man they tried to offer my hand in
marriage), and he handed me the science books and told me to get started on
lesson plans.
after break. Emily and I needed to use the restroom, so we asked the teachers
where it was, but no one really gave us a clear answer. We finally asked one of
the older girls from the orphanage, and she pointed us in the general
direction. All of the students were standing around enjoying their break when
we walked up to the tiny cement building that reeked of waste. The kids laughed
and told us the girl’s bathroom didn’t work…and then we were introduced.
Giggling, they all pointed to what I like to refer to as, “the green rocket.”
In order to spare some of our
dignity and respect from the students, we opted out of a visit and decided to
hold it until the end of the day. From that day forward, I stopped enjoying my
morning cup of coffee.
By
the end of the day, I knew I was teaching at least two subjects. I was
surprised by the comments in the morning meeting, but I was sure it was just a
reminder. Things seemed pretty simple the first day, and as we walked back up
the hill to the orphanage I thought to myself, “This won’t be so bad – probably
pretty easy actually. In fact, I’m pretty excited about it!
I wonder if God was laughing.
