Conversations at Bo Grinnell

are sometimes very short.

February 17, 2012

I’d like to talk a little about the two subjects I’m teaching here at St. Rodrigue High – maths and agric. My maths classes far outnumber my agric – currently thirty maths classes to agric’s seven (reminder: each class is 40 min.). Although the reason I have so much maths is really coincidental (as I mentioned before, I’m covering for a teacher who’s on maternity leave until at least Easter) I’m really glad it worked out that way.

One of the challenges of teaching in Lesotho is that we’re trying to prepare our students for standardized exams – Cambridge International Exams in the cases of Forms C and E. This means that we don’t have much latitude to stray from the nationally approved curriculum, which can sometimes be very frustrating, especially in agric. I’m frequently caught trying to choose between teaching what I know to be true (or at least more nuanced) and what I know will actually be on the exam.

For example, the A1s learn in agric that small-scale diversified/mixed farming is less efficient and productive than large-scale specialized farming. Do I explain to them that there are severe consequences to industrial monoculture, and the optimal model is probably a mid-sized farm that uses a mix of crops and livestock to balance nutrient cycles while sustaining specialized production, but a complex interaction between environmental regulations, economic incentives, and the political climate often limits this option’s viability? Well no, I don’t, because that’s not going to be on the exam.

I’m exaggerating a little – it’s not as though I expect to touch deeply on these topics with 8th graders. But I do frequently feel anguish over whether the material I’m teaching is really the most helpful thing they could be learning. It’s not always the content – the organization of the material is often puzzling to me, but my team-teachers expect to give the students notes that closely mirror what is in the textbook, chapter by chapter, even paragraph by paragraph.

Sometimes I’m relieved to go from my agric class to a maths class just because I know what I’m teaching is 100% true. Math is exactly the same* everywhere in the world. This is extremely comforting to me as a teacher. I have concrete evidence of my students’ progress as I watch them learn how to solve a certain type of problem consistently.

However, both maths and agric have a common obstacle – the textbooks are appallingly bad. They contain no evidence of careful consideration over how learning should progress from year to year. The order of chapters appears to satisfy an arbitrary list rather than a grouping of concepts that build off each other. The ag textbook is even more bewildering. Form A learns about monoculture, then waits a whole year to learn about crop rotation and intercropping. Apparently no one took the time to proofread them either – one paragraph on chicken diseases contained the same sentence twice, and all the books have copious spelling errors. The books are published in Lesotho and despite their mediocrity bear a badge of approval from the Ministry of Education on their covers. (Appraising them it’s easy to understand local lack of confidence in the government.)

The typos are annoying in agric, but dangerous in maths, where some examples and exercises are downright wrong. As a result I’m always careful to work out the problems I use in class myself ( or make up my own). I’m happy to see the examples I I write on the board in my students’ notebooks when I grade homework, and I hope that’s what they’re using to study.

Speaking of studying, coursework exams (mid-midterms?) were this week, so I had to write exams for the A2s and both Es. It was actually a pretty fun exercise. The A2 exam was fairly straightforward. (They’ve mostly been learning about angles, so they had several exercises where they needed to name, label, measure, and/or dram angles.) When I wrote the exam for the Es, on the other hand, I was careful to include problems that presented situations they hadn’t seen, but which they had all the skills to solve (if they remembered what they learned in class).

I was pretty happy with the result – the only things I’ll try to improve next time are shortening it a little (I underestimated the amount of time they’d need on this one) and doing a better job writing it on the board. (St. Rodrigue doesn’t have the resources to print/copy the test for all the classes, so teachers write the questions on the chalkboard and the students write the answers in the test booklets.

I haven’t finished grading them, but a cursory glance tells me there’s a wide range. Even if few of them passed, it doesn’t affect their grade (only includes term finals), so I’m really more interested in this as a good exercise. I want to make sure they understand why their answers/processes were incorrect. If that happens I’ll count it as a success.

Mentioning the exams reminds me of another challenge in teaching maths here. Although the Es theoretically attain a skill level similar to that of many American high school graduates (trig and a bit o’ precal), the As definitely do not begin at the same level as an American 8th grader. As I said, we started this semester teaching the As about angles (most had never used a protractor) and the next lesson introduces the Cartesian coordinate system. I honestly don’t remember when I first learned these topics, but I do know it was long before 8th grade.

So part of the struggle is just against time. We ask these students to learn a lot in five years, more than really seems fair. I suspect the answer to that problem lies in improving the primary schools and I may write more on that subject later.

I’m afraid I’m sounding very whiny, and I don’t mean to give the wrong impression. Most days I enjoy my classes, and I celebrate small victories with my students that I hope will culminate in high exam scores. The maths classes, as I said, have the advantage of providing clear progress, and my agric lessons often lead to interesting and unexpected sidenotes when I present them to my students.

For example, on Monday I was lecturing the A1s and said,

“This method was developed in the 20th century… say, when was the 20th century?”

(silence)

“…What century is it now, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd…?”

(silence)

“…What’s a century?”

So this led to a fun mini-English lesson in which I explained that a century is 100 years and –cent means 100 (centimeter, percents, cents, etc.). (‘20th century’ was in the textbook, so I know it was something they needed to comprehend.)

Friday I spent ten minutes with the B1s explaining the difference between a freezer and a refrigerator, which came up in a lesson on poultry production (HA – I can think of at least three people in my immediate family more qualified to teach such a class than myself). After all, no one has electricity in St. Rodrigue (except the nuns) so why would they know the difference? Sometimes I enjoy these tangents more than the actual lesson material, because I feel I’ve filled a gap in their knowledge that will assist them both in their exams and practically, and I can leave class confident that they’ve learned something useful.

This week I visited the computer lab for the first time (they’re run off a generator, and when that room is packed with students it gets SO HOT in there). The librarian had asked me to help her type up her resume and cover letter for a job application. Doing so might be an unfair representation of her office skills but so what – she’s a good friend and I’m happy to help.

There was a class going on at the same time (A1) and I’m afraid I distracted the girls next to me with my typing – they were mimicking my quick finger movements over their own keyboards. In contrast, when I helped them complete the task the teacher assigned (learning to use the shift key to type the symbols above the numbers) they squirmed in their chairs with glee. The teacher told me after class, sighing, that it was a long haul to take the students from scratch to typing their own letters and resumes, but I think it’s good that they’re gaining even a little familiarity with computers.

In all, it was a productive week, and very enjoyable, even if I make it sound otherwise. Valentine’s Day was a bigger deal than I expected. I’m sure I would have forgotten if someone hadn’t mentioned it. People here remembered though – many teachers were wearing red and pink, there were hearts on the board in the staff room, and it was fun hearing the students wish me a happy Valentine’s Day when I left class. (Will St. Patrick’s day also be celebrated? It will if I have anything to say about it.) A belated Happy Valentine’s to all my loved ones back home! Here is your conversation heart from me: ‘email me’!

*There’s definitely distinctly different ways of thinking about certain mathematical concepts, and a lot of these are dependent on the language of instruction, interestingly enough. But for my purposes here, the math is the same.

Stray thoughts:

• Saturday morning we didn’t have water, but luckily it came back in about 2 hours.
• I used my solar chargers to recharge my phone and my kindle, and they both worked beautifully!
• Successful meeting of the Theater club on Monday – 19 students attended. We cancelled Wednesday practice because they were supposed to pick the head girl, but that’s been postponed til next week.
• Made it farther up the mountains, but still haven’t quite reached the top.

February 10, 2012

Last weekend I took my second trip to Maseru – I left on Friday morning because I needed to go to immigration with the principal to get my residence permit – I entered Lesotho on a 30-day visa. So at 5:30 am my co-fellow hopped into our usual taxi van (known around here as ‘Platoon’ which is plastered in all caps across the front so you can’t miss it). I stayed at the house to wait for the nun truck which would take the principal and me directly to the immigration office. My co-fellow only went on the Platoon because he drops us off right at our house (so we don’t have to lug two weeks’ worth of groceries up the hill) So we have a vested interest in supporting the Platoon guy’s business whenever we can.

My ride was very luxurious (plenty of leg room, no pounding stereo, no one’s arm in my side) and I enjoyed it thoroughly. We also made a stop at the place where the nuns pick up our mail – and I had my first letter from home! (It took about two weeks to arrive, for those who are curious. But that depends not only on the postal service but also how often the nuns manage to get the post. I’m not positive, but I think it took us about 30 minutes to get there.) Anyway it was lovely to get mail, and I’m greedy for more! (My address is on the about page).

At immigration I received my visa without a hitch, and I can now legally stay in Lesotho until March 2014 (because I’m a service volunteer they gave me the standard Peace Corps duration). I met my co-fellow at the post office and we proceeded to have a wonderfully chill day, treating ourselves to sushi and cold drinks and even a movie (Mission Impossible IV). The only glitch was that the internet we were hoping to have at the hotel didn’t work with our Macs (which is why I’m posting the last 2 weeks late). Otherwise the Foothills Guesthouse was great, a good option for when we can’t stay with Uncle.

I did have some success with other electronics – my co-fellow’s card reader allowed me to upload my pictures onto my computer, so those will be up soon. And I purchased a new cell phone with a USB charger, so hopefully I’ll be able to use my solar chargers to keep it juiced. We bought groceries on Saturday (highlights were Cadbury hot chocolate mix, basil, and new sponges) and made it back to St. Rodrigue by mid-afternoon, thanks to our solid relationship with Platoon guy. Even though he couldn’t take us in his own van (had a mysterious special chauffeur order), he somehow arranged another guy to take us all the way to our house, even though we were transferred to another van mid-trip. It was a good thing too, because the handles on our cloth grocery bags ripped (we clearly need to invest in sturdier ones) and we were so thankful we only had to carry them from our gate.

On Sunday we finally went to church at the right time. (The mass times depend on which week of the month it is, and whether the priest is here, which led to some confusion the last two weeks.) Our neighbor forewarned us there would be a blessing of candles, so we came prepared with a couple from home. I was a little worried the holy water would extinguish my candle, and I wasn’t sure what that would mean sacrament-wise, but luckily I didn’t have to confront that particular religious quandary. It wasn’t as magical as a Christmas Eve service, but still quite pleasant. The best parts were, of course, the songs, accompanied by drums and dances with horsehair plumes. The whole service lasted 3 hours, so I’ll probably keep attending, but I doubt I’ll stay for the whole thing (unless I’m seated directly in front of the principal again…).

My co-fellow and I hosted a little dinner party at Bo Grinnell Monday night. We invited our two main team-teachers over for pizza, as they had both mentioned it as a favorite and wanted the recipe. They’re both really fun to talk to, and our conversation ranged from the antics of their kids to the unappetizing appearance of prawns.

We also discussed the upcoming Lesotho elections (May), and it was really interesting to hear their perspective and general lack of faith in the government. Lesotho still faces significant corruption, and one of our guests lamented the fact that even though the current majority party is pretty incompetent, the opposition is probably just as power-hungry and as likely to waste/embezzle government funds.

I can’t speak to the various merits of parties or candidates, but there does seem to be a large disconnect between the central government in Maseru and the (larger) rural population scattered in hamlets across the mountains. There’s a stunning idfference between the standard of living where we live and that just a few hours away in Maseru. I’m told there’s also an obvious difference between Maseru and Ladybrand, just a few minutes across the border. Hopefully I’ll be able to comment on that first-hand in the next month or so!

Our dinner party was much less gloomy than I’m making it sound – we didn’t dwell on politics – we probably spent more time on where the best fish & chips are in Maseru. Monday was also the first meeting of the Theater Club. Nine students showed up, and we spent the hour learning names and playing games that would encourage the girls to speak up and get to know each other. I had high hopes for Wednesday, but unfortunately almost all the students forgot, so I’m going to give a stern reminder at assembly on Monday. We’ll also be meeting in an unused classroom instead of the library from now on, which is great because it’ll give us a lot more space and a place to store projects.

I started teaching the Ds maths this week, and I squeezed in more than I initially thought would fit in my schedule. My total class load is up to 37 (40-min.) classes per week, but I doubt it’ll stay there. I’m just filling in because there’s a shortage of science teachers. Either the principal will find a substitute or the teachers on maternity leave will return. But I’d be happy to keep the Ds – they’re an interesting group (including one nun) and several are in Theater Club.

However the Es were the highlight this week – I’ve been drilling them relentlessly on finding slope and equation of a line using info from coordinates, and on the latest quiz nearly all of them solved the problem correctly. But as proud as I was of them it was even more gratifying to see how proud they were of themselves. When I announced the results of the quiz (how many got 100%, etc.) both the E1 and E2 classes immediately applauded for themselves. One girl in E1 blurted out “We are hot!”

There’s an earnestness in the way they all view success in school, regardless of their own academic abilities. They don’t have that affected, blasé attitude toward school that I had in high school. They are not ‘too cool for school’ as it were. Sure, they have days when they’re bored or tired or just wish it were the weekend already. But when I was in high school academics were never in the spotlight the way they are here. Everyone wanted good grades, to be sure, but if you really won praise from your teachers and peers and community it would be through extracurriculars, especially in sports and the fine arts. We certainly didn’t burst into (literal) song and dance when we heard that upperclassmen had successfully completed graduation requirements. There may be conclusions to draw here about the relative value of a high school education, the availability of public education, or the rigid environment the nuns create, but I’m not going to settle on one right now. I’ve only been here 4 weeks, after all, and two anecdotes make a wobbly foundation. But these are some things I’ll be mulling over in the months to come.

We had our first big thunderstorm this week. It started Thursday afternoon and didn’t fully stop until Friday evening. (I know because huge cracks of thunder kept waking me up in the night.) It brought a beautiful mist over the mountains. The total amount in the rain gauge was 2 3/8 in., which brings the February total up to 3 ¾ in. A stormy end to an otherwise cheery week!

Stray thoughts:

• The peaches will be ripe soon!
• Best Afrikaans word I’ve seen so far: snotkoppie, meaning little kid, obvs. As in, stop stealing our peaches you little snotkoppies!
• Full moon this week – watching it rise over the mountains was gorgeous.
• Successfully baked bread despite the high altitude! It goes stale really fast though.

February 02, 2012

I thought that celebrating my birthday outside the US for the first time would be the most exciting thing that happened this week, but that turned out to be far from the truth. I did have a wonderful, relaxing birthday on Sunday (23 feels like a good, prime age to be). I spent most of the day cooking with my co-fellow – we made a delicious feast of falafel with tomato & cucumber, hummus, pitas, chocolate cupcakes, and popcorn. But it didn’t feel much like my birthday due to the warm air and sunshine outside instead of the deep drifts of snow that usually accompany my birthday.

However, if my birthday was subdued, the past few days have been anything but. Monday’s classes went as planned, and after school we visited the priest (he gave us some freshly picked apples from the convent’s orchard!). But in my first class on Tuesday (B1 agric) I was sitting quietly as my team-teacher wrote notes on the board for the students to copy (classes at St. Rodrigue are not always terribly interactive) when I began to hear girls whooping and shouting in distant classrooms. Some teachers have been known to punish classes by making them run laps around the school buildings.

(Although sometimes I wonder if the girls aren’t relieved to get some fresh air and a break from their classrooms – I neglected to mention in my last post that it’s the teachers who move between classrooms when the bell rings, not the students).

So when I saw a few students sprint by our door I thought it was discipline for a rowdy class. But the commotion continued, seemingly from different parts of the school, and as the numbers of girls running around outside grew, the B1s became increasingly restless. Finally, when the business-like head of the science department paraded past our door with her arms in the air and a gaggle of girls behind her my team-teacher and I released our students (who were visibly squirming in their seats at that point) to go see what all the excitement was.

Soon the corridor outside the main building was filled with a throng of students singing and dancing (video here), and after a few minutes’ bewilderment I learned that test results of last year’s Form Es had come in, and the results were excellent. The Form had produced 3 first classes, 3 second classes, 18 3^rd classes, and an overall pass rate of 85%. Apparently it’s the best results the school has had since 1996. This was cause for jubilation among students, teachers, and nuns alike, and there was really no way anyone could return to class, so the rest of the day was reserved for celebration. As one teacher exclaimed, “The most disadvantaged students in the most rural area had three first classes! Let them play!”

Everyone soon made their way to the steps of the church, where the students who practice in a drum and dance line (known as ‘cadets’) performed, with a wide periphery of other students dancing alongside them. After awhile the teachers convened in the priest’s office, where we snacked on suckers (not just for little kids in Lesotho) and apples, and the Sesotho-speakers sang some joyful songs. A strong, confident singing voice seems to be the birthright of everyone around here. The priest gave a general blessing over the school and the work accomplished and took a picture of the staff. Then we were off for the rest of the day.

Naturally, this gives me a lot of motivation to prepare my own classes as thoroughly as I can before they take their exams in November. The principal has mentioned several times, in both speeches to the students and private conversation, then need to maintain a positive trend and continually improve our results. It’s a good aspiration and I hope I can meet the challenge.

In the evening I made my first real attempt to hike up the mountains to the north of St. Rodrigue (check out the map and you’ll see what I mean). I haven’t felt the high altitude here (~6,000 ft compared to southern Iowa’s 1200 ft) much on a daily basis, but as soon as I start walking uphill I become breathless very quickly. All the more reason to keep hiking so my body can adjust. I made it at least halfway up the mountain, high enough to get a beautiful view of St. Rodrigue and a peek of the sky to the west, but a thunderstorm rolling in forced me to turn around sooner than I would have liked.

My co-fellow and I think we need to start from a different point anyway, to avoid some steep rock outcroppings, so we’ve been watching the path some students take to cross the mountains on their way home. (Their bright white hats make them easy to spot on the green slopes.) If we’re quick enough after school we might as them to show us the way.

Classes weren’t quite back to usual on Wednesday – we had a staff meeting in the afternoon, so classes were shortened to half an hour so they would finish by 1:30. My first staff meeting was enlightening, if a little long at 3 hours. I learned that no matter what country you’re in, no one wants to be on a committee. One of the concerns we discussed was that the teacher of the Bs and Ds maths won’t arrive for at least another month or two, and it’s difficult to find a substitute for that short of a time. Currently they have no teacher at all, so I volunteered to take on the Ds where my schedule would allow, which unfortunately looks like only about 3 classes per week. But it’s better than nothing and I’m happy to do it – especially because I enjoy teaching the Es so much.

The other main topic of discussion at the meeting (besides my welcome party, haha – coming in a few weeks and may involve braai) was orientation for the students on Thursday afternoon. My co-fellow and I don’t have any responsibilities related to this – it looks like all the instruction is in Sesotho to ensure the youngest students understand everything. As far as I could tell the orientation covered things like uniform specifics, dorm rules, expected behavior in class, etc. So classes on Thursday were also only half an hour each.

Despite that the morning was pretty productive. I made my first announcement at assembly to notify students about the first meeting of the Theater Club (which my co-fellow and I are leading)! A student approached me a few days prior anxious to know if I could start a drama extracurricular, much to my delight. It’ll be fun to see what I can remember from my high school forays into drama. The student I mentioned would want me to explain to you that the name is ‘theater’ club to encompass both girls who want to perform and those who would like to stay in the writers’ room.

There was a good turnout at the meeting – 15 girls, all in Forms D and E. We’ll start next week meeting after school twice a week for an hour and see where it goes from there. I think it should be a lot of fun, and the girls are already excited about the prospect of performing/publishing their work – which are wonderful goals to have from the beginning.

Believe it or not, classes are also short on Friday, this time the reason being that the first Friday of every month the students and teachers attend church at 11:00. However, my co-fellow and I won’t be there because the principal is taking us to Maseru to get my residence permit (I currently have a one-month visa). Uncle ahs gone back to India for the month, so we’ll be checking out the Maseru Foothills Guesthouse. It probably won’t be as luxurious as staying at Uncle’s house, but I’m sure it will suffice. There will be showers, and that’s reason enough to be excited!

Hopefully next week will be a little more predictable, schedule-wise, and I’ll report on the progress of the Theater Club, as well as all the other news from St. Rodrigue!

Stray thoughts:

• The soil is SO red here – it must be iron oxide, right? Agronomists, let me know.
• There are more trees here than I expected but I’ve yet to seen one that’s not within spitting distance of another that’s been chopped down.
• All my skirts passed the giggle test! (Western fashions are quickly taking hold in St. Rodrigue, but women still usually wear long skirts – knee length or longer. Short skirts are seen as little girls’ wear. So we’re free to wear them to work, but they may cause the students to giggle uncontrollably.)
• On the van ride into Maseru I noticed “Humped Zebra Crossing” signs and became very excited, expecting to see some bizarre camel-zebra hybrid. I was a little disappointed when I realized the signs were just indicating bumps in the road painted with white diagonal stripes.

January 27, 2012

I’ve completed my first full week of teaching at St. Rodrigue high school! It was great to plunge right into teaching and start getting to know the students in my classes.

Before I get into my experiences this week, I should explain a little about the school. St. Rodrigue is the name of the Catholic church and convent (although the surrounding homes and shops have picked up the name, so St. Rodrigue also refers to the general area). The high school is located within the grounds of the convent (enclosed by a six foot brick and iron fence that contrasts sharply with the ramshackle barbed-wire constructions prevalent everywhere else. The high school employs 18-20 teachers and enrolls around 300 girls (my best guess – enrollment is down this year).

The policy of the school is to accept even the most impoverished students and those with the poorest grades. So the girls we teach range in background from farmers’ daughters with extremely spotty primary education to relatively well-off teens from Maseru who just haven’t had much success in school. Dorms are available for girls who board, but some walk several hours each day between school and home. Those in the dorms cook their own meals over small paraffin burners. The nuns run something of a free/reduced lunch program for girls who don’t have access to much food otherwise.

Grades are the equivalent of 8^th-12^th in the US, except they are called Forms A-E here. Each Form is divided into 1-3 classes, depending on how many students are in the Form. Currently they’re split as follows: A1, A2, A3 (eliminated after I wrote this post), B1, B2, C, D1, D2, E1, E2 with 1 denoting students with the highest academic performance, and 3 indicating those with the lowest.

At the end of each school year Forms A, B, and D take standardized exams created by the Lesotho national Ministry of Education to determine whether they will pass on to the next Form. However, these tests are graded by St. Rodrigue teachers, whereas the Cs and Es send their exams (the Cambridge International Exams) to Maseru for specially trained teachers to grade impartially. As a result, the school invests more resources in Forms C and E, and there is a disincentive to pass students in Forms B and D who are unlikely to pass Forms C and E.

The school day is divided into 10 40-minute periods per day, with a 20 minute break mid-morning and an hour for lunch. The exception is Friday, which has only 7 periods and lets out at lunch. The day begins at 7:40 with assembly – the students say some Our Fathers and Hail Marys, listen to a reading from the Gospel, and then nonchalantly burst into jaw-droppingly beautiful song. They begin with the Lesotho national anthem, then sing a hymn, and end with a pledge of allegiance to the Catholic church. If teachers have any announcements, they’ll make them at the end of assembly. This could be anything from changes in a club meeting time to the principal scolding violators of a rule, to the Religious Knowledge teacher relating the loss of a student’s parent to HIV/AIDs and leading a few prayers of mourning.

The Catholic church is also very visible in the classroom. Pictures of Jesus hang on the walls, and the students begin each class with this exchange:

 

Students (standing): Good Morning ‘M’e Varley!

Me: Good Morning.

Students: How are you ‘M’e Varley?

Me: Fine, how are you?

Students: We are very well, thank you ‘M’e Varley!

 

And then the students say a few quick prayers and I tell them to please sit down already. At the end of class the bell rings (meaning a student manually rings a bell outside – which is equally as charming as it is inconsistent) and the girls stand again for prayers. It amuses me to follow up assigning homework with “say your prayers” which always has a hint of the ominous.

As for my schedule, I’m currently teaching 27 classes per week, although they’re not distributed very evenly. Monday through Friday I have 7, 9, 3, 4, and 4 classes, respectively. In Agric I teach the A1s and B1s, and in Maths I teach the A2s, Cs, E1s, and E2s. Also, while I attend all these classes, I may not deliver the lesson in every single one. With the exception of the Es (which I teach by myself) I team-teach all my classes. This means that I meet with another teacher (always Basotho – my co-fellow and I don’t team-teach any classes) to discuss the syllabus and divide the teaching load. As I’m sure you can imagine, this set-up comes with both benefits and frustrations, but it varies a lot with each partnership.

I’ve taught more maths classes than agric so far, and my favorite classes seem to be dependent on the size (they range from 19 to 50 students) and lack of geometry (transformations are boring, slopes of tangents are fun).

This week has been such an education for me, just getting used to the schedule and the girls and my co-workers. But I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of explaining new concepts and the extreme gratification that comes from even the smallest amounts of progress. I’m getting better at maintaining a teacher-y demeanor without feeling like a fraud – it mostly requires that I speak in my best Basotho accent (lower register, longer vowels), avoid smiling, and for crying out loud try not to get so much chalk dust on my clothes.

It amazes me when I remember I’ve barely been here 2 weeks – and only really taught 1 full week of classes. But I feel like I’ve learned so much already, and I’m much more confident preparing lessons for this coming Monday.

 

Stray thoughts:

– rain for the month of January: 1.25 in.

– Orion IS UPSIDE DOWN. That will never not freak me out.

– Funny British words: anticlockwise, oesophagus, zed. (Lesotho was a British protectorate, and sometimes it shows up in the textbooks.)

– All the eggs sold here are brown, which is awesome.

– Mice population has decreased, but they’re still hanging on.