Some Tidbits

The best news I can share this morning is that I've had my third consecutive night of sleeping until 6 a.m.! Getting my sleep adjusted is a huge step toward "normalcy," whatever that might be!

My students are really interesting. They come from all over and are fairly well traveled. I've only spent time with my 22 grade 10 students, but they seem to be good listeners and good workers. They've done a lot of writing these past few days (worksheets, woo!), so I look forward to more interesting/diverse lessons where I can see their unique spirits come out more.

A new grade 11 boy joined the school on Thursday. We were told about him at staff meeting on Wednesday. I saw him walking the hallway with some boys and then noticed a huddled group of girls watching him and TOTALLY checking him out/rating him. They knew he was the new guy. Hahahaha it was hilarious. Girls will be girls wherever you are. Hahaha

I'm teaching grade 10 some short stories right now and I started Shakespeare's "The Tempest" today with my one lone grade 12 girl. She actually is one of the Muslim students at the school. She's REALLY into English/reading/writing, so her energy is fantastic. Next week I'll start with grade 11 (less than 10 students ) on "Jane Eyre," which I am reading for the first time and absolutely LOVE.

The house is great. The girls, the space, the amenities. Each room has it's own bathroom! Sink and shower! It is amazing. My room isn't really a room, it's more like a upstairs den off the hallway. But I don't mind at all. It's got two curtains I can pull closed for privacy, but I never do that except to get dressed in the morning. I am using Marie's bathroom since she's closet to me and, tahdah!, has the best water pressure. What I love about the showers here are that they are silent. It just feels like a waterfall b/c there's no noise. Cooking (by others) at the house has been good. I made myself my own lunch twice this week after being shown how to make something. I put a frozen chapti (tortilla-esque bread) on a skillet, flipped when ready, then put cheese and chopped veggies (courtesey of Kate) on it and ate it like a taco. DELISH.

I get along with all the girls. They're all very nice and extremely supportive.

Erin - K-12 art teacher; bedroom across the way from me; she's been here since August. Came from Texas but has been to some other African countries before. This is her first year.

Marie - K-12 special ed teacher; godsend in sharing her bathroom with me; one of my two main ambassadors for the house/life in Dar; she worked in Alaska for three years but is from Minnesota. This is her second year.

Crystal - Grade 3 teacher; my other main ambassador for, um, everything. Her bedroom is down the hall. She owns a little van that Marie drove to go get my lost luggage from the airport. She's from Kalamazoo, Michagan. This is her second year.

Kate - Science teacher (9-12?); she's busy with online classes for a degree (Bible?) but she is nice and very animated. Her bedroom is the only one downstairs. This is her fifth year here--yeah, an expert!

I don't know what I'll be doing over the end-of-term break we have next week (Oct. 14-24). Well, moving into the other house with Erin, I guess. Duh. I haven't seen the inside, or really looked at the outside really, but Erin has. We are going to make a list this weekend about items we'll need for our house and put it up in the staff lounge incase anyone wants to donate or have a best offer. :)

I haven't inquired about a student newspaper yet. With four grade levels to prepare for ("preps"), I'm just trying to get a handle on the curriculum/UK/exam standards for now. I am excited (and nervous) to see what this first weekend brings. I like the week so far because I love school, so I hope I don't have too much time (aka worry time) on my hands during this weekend. I'll have some homework from my grade 10 to grade, so that will be fun. We'll hopefully go to a restaurant. We went to a chill one and had beef skewers (YUMMM) on last Sunday. It's a place called T Square. IDK LOL

I will be writing more this weekend, more about my first seven days in-country. Should be interesting to divulge.

Keep praying for me, for everything.

L