school

Monday, April 14, 2014 was a productive day. I went to school in the morning for a few hours, then to meet Deborah for lunch. After lunch we went to a lukso (sp). It was a friend of ours that pasted away. The place we normally frequent for coffee, the woman passed away. She was a friend and a sister of a friend. So we wanted to pay our respects, however we had no idea how to do that. We went with two Ethiopian friends. We walked in the house and sat down. It felt strange. We only stayed for a short time. After leaving, I headed to the post office, you see I’m waiting for several packages and they are taking longer than normal. I then had a meeting at one of the high schools to discuss how to get books donated. Deborah and I have decided that we are going to do a community book donation, 2 high schools, the public library, the college library and my library (many a few other primary schools also). The meeting went well. I meet the director, the head of the PTA and the English teacher I have been in contact with. I was able to see the current library which consisted of maybe 250 books, all text book material. The group of us talked about potential projects I can start next school year and what was currently being done at the school. To end the day I made lential hamburgers and chips for dinner. I invited Deborah over and we enjoyed a homemade meal. All in all a good day.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014 began English day on my school compound. I arrived at school around 7:45 to find out I missed flag ceremony, but that is okay. I posted a sign outside of the teacher room that said “today is English day, please try and communicate in English.” So I talked with teachers and some of the administration staff. I had one teacher sign up to be observed during third period, which I enjoyed. It’s always nice to get into the classrooms and see the teachers teach, plus it gives me something to do. Around 11:30 I left for lunch. I returned to school around 2pm and saw another teacher signed up to be observed on Wednesday so that got me excited. I sat in my office due to rain for about 40 minutes now. The thunder roared and the sky grew grey. It kept raining and I didn’t see a stop to it. There is a slow leak in my ceiling; every once in a while I would hear a drop of water hit the floor. I was excited that, that afternoon I was able to share a Tedx video with a teacher who missed the Tedx program on Saturday. I enjoyed the records keeper, John, telling the teachers and staff that today is English day they need to try to speak English. It was a pretty comical day, along with an English day. Some teachers have tried to speak English and some have not. Early that morning someone said if you can’t speak English then don’t speak, which lead to someone else saying it should be a silent day then, because not many people will speak English. I noticed more people speaking in the morning (cycle 2) than in the afternoon (cycle 1). I don’t know if it is because grade 7 and 8 are in cycle 2 and more of those teachers speak English or if they are just more eager to learn. No matter what, it has been another good day. I received grade 6 English club roster to go with grade 5, which I received last week. Wednesday I have a short meeting with the students to figure out the best day and time to meet. I tried to talk it over with a teacher, but I don’t think the teacher understood/comprehended what I was saying. So I guess it will be figured out at the meeting. At school I sat, freezing, the wind blowing, the rain drizzling, children’s laughter outside, the ceiling dripping, and the thunder roaring. I don’t know when I’ll get to leave, but for now, I’ll stay at school in hopes that once person will walk through the door and ask me a question or want to speak English with me, however with the rain my hopes and expectations are low.