"First" Day

School has begun!  Well sort of.  The date given by the Ministry of Education for school to start was January 10th but as we were previously warned this really isn't the case.  It's not like in the states where teachers begin preparing their classroom weeks in advance.  No, here most of the teachers didn't even know what subject they were going to teach for the year until Tuesday.  So Monday really nothing happened, I went to school for a while, some of the students began arriving and I met most of the staff and that was it.  Yesterday (Tuesday) I was at school at 8:30 and waited until about 2 for a staff meeting (not quite the respect for time like in the states either) where we received the schedule of classes.  I found out I was teaching Senior 2 Biology as I had expected, as well as Phy Ed which I had not.  It's only one hour a week but I'm going to have to get creative since the only equipment we have is a soccer ball and volleyball.  Any and all ideas are welcome!  I have to say though, I have a pretty sweet schedule with Fridays off which will leave me more time to work on secondary projects.  

So I was told that today (Wednesday), classes would begin and I was to teach 2 classes of biology and one phy ed.  I had all my lessons prepared and got to school early to find only a few teachers there.  The students were all out doing chores around the school and when 7:30 rolled around they continued to work.  Eventually they all were all told where their classrooms were but they all just sort of milled about.  There are supposed to be two S2 classes but since not all the students have arrived they were combined for today.  I was told that I should go to class and "converse" with the students but that was all I needed to do.  I think I was the only one that actually did this though as I never even saw many of the teachers at school today.  So I went into my class and introduced myself and had the students do the same (learning all of their names will be quite the challenge, let me tell you!) and then that was it.  I didn't bother teaching my 2nd biology or phy ed class because there wasn't really anything to do with them since half the students weren't there and I would just have to repeat myself later.  So I ditched school and I went shopping instead! (I did have permission though of course) I went to town to pay for the furniture I ordered and to the market to pick up some odds and ends I still needed and some work clothes.  This is the first time I've had to wear "real" clothes to work and not just scrubs.  Luckily Rwanda is a place where it is perfectly acceptable to wear the exact same outfit 2 day in a row and where you can buy a perfectly good Banana Republic shirt for $0.15.  No lie.

 Tomorrow I'm hoping there will be a little more structure but not really counting on it.  Until all the students are all here, which will likely be next week, I really don't think much is going to happen.

Sending love from Rwanda!
Annie

p.s. I updated my address and here is the link to some more pictures!  Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/AnniePexa/TheLastDaysOfTraining?authkey=Gv1sRgCN3skcTh5e3geg&feat=directlink