Jen's email #4

Today was my first day with the kids and let me tell you how the day started. Last night was basically a windstorm that seemed to shake everything in our house. All the windows were open and I couldn’t sleep. Grant couldn’t sleep b/c I couldn’t sleep so in order to help me sleep, we got up in the freezing cold that was like a blast of wind each time you passed an open window, and closed all the windows . Didn’t help. Then outside of our bedroom window a fuse blew and it was like 4th of July fireworks. It woke me up again and then the electricity went out so no sound machine, just silence and dogs barking and wind. I was wide-eyed and so tired, and I think I finally got about 2 hours of sleep. Then we woke up and tried to run the generator so we could take showers and turn on lights, but to no avail. It wouldn’t work b/c a fuse had blown. So I am not clean and the wind is freezing and there is gloomy weather. I made us eggs on the gas burners and off we go, a little stressed and leaving much later than we wanted to. So we get here and there is a peacock standing by my door.
*Side note-Yesterday, the same one sat on the table outside my door and while I tried to put stuff on my door for the parents the next day, he just sat there and stared at me. I would run out and tape something, then run back in. I have no idea why I am letting these animals get the best of me. When I close the door they just sit outside my door like they want to come in. So freaky.*
Anyway, we get to school totally frazzled..Long story short….I was a mess this morning, one of my students took a huge number 1 in his pants while sitting on my carpet and no one came to clean it up until now (6 hours later), my room spelled like pee all day, a peacock tried to come in my room and we had no power in our house until just now, and my scavenger hunt with my students to learn about the campus went totally wrong b/c it was so cold and they all wanted to go home. Fun day.

Positive note: I have extremely smart kids, 14 students, so cute and funny. They made me laugh all day. I had 2 straight hours of break. Apparently the entire elementary school stops teaching from 9-9:30 for a tea break and so the kids can play outside. So each grade level has assistants who watch the kids, and all the teachers have morning tea together. Weird. Grant and I both are now drinking tea. Then they have 2 specials in a day and my schedule today had them back to back right after my tea break. Rough life. At lunch the assistants eat with them so we have a 45 minute lunch break too where we all sit at tables outside. Jealous teachers???
I traced my hands , cut them out and put them on my calendar area for reminding them of left and right. One of kids said “Ms.Hdjadsa (b/c they can’t quite pronounce it yet), you have tiny hands.” Hilarious.
So here are some of their cute little names…let’s see if you can pronounce a few….Enyonam, Big (that shouldn’t be too hard and he is the cutest thing I have ever seen), Bersabel, Tadiwa, Emelon.
All in all the day started out like my room smelled today…not good. But it ended great. All the parents wait outside your room right before dismissal and pick their kids up and talk to you and hang out. It’s fun. I have great parents.
I hope you enjoyed my story.
P.S. The bird I mentioned in my previous email with the cool African beat for a birdsong….yeah…it’s a dove. So that’s a let down.