I think it’s safe to say that first days of school are intimidating
for the majority of us. Whether you’re a teacher or a student, no one is safe.
Now, imagine you’re teaching at a new school in a new country for the first
time. Your stomach is in a knot as you glance down the hallway. Squinting into
the light bouncing off the floor, you see them: All 400 high school students
coming your way. It’s not so bad, until you notice the mullets. Yes. I mean business
in the front, party in the back. That’s when it hits you and you realize you’re
in over your head….okay, come back to the reality of reading my blog. Luckily
for you, the mullets have disappeared. For me, however, I get to go back and
face them again tomorrow! Seriously, I’d say over half of the boys have
mullets. So that’s the first shocker of the day.
The next observation I make is that everyone has dark hair
/dark features. Its strange looking into a sea of faces and realizing that most
of them look like each other. Not only are their physical characteristics similar,
they are all in a school uniforms. Khaki pants with a white shirt. Both have
the Liceo Ingles logo on them and look extremely comfy. I’m going to try and
get my hands on some. Anyways, this makes name memorization quite challenging.
Its not like, “Oh yeah, Juan Pablo likes to wear black.” Or “Alejandra always
has the cutest necklaces”. Nope. Good ‘ol face recognition. Then we throw in
Spanish names. Ha! Reading off roll is nearly impossible. After first period, I
quit and had them say their names. Like that was much easier…”ad;lsajs;dfljkooo
jfas;lkfj;sez.” Excellent, I’ll mark that you were here. Ha!
On to the evil bus attendant. So in the afternoon we ride home
on a bus with the students. Not only the students, I shall add, but a bus
attendant. Some veteran North American teachers from my school told me she is
evil. She treats the kids like angels but all other staff like garbage. One
time she made one of the teachers give up their seat because they were sitting
in, “the seat the student usually sits in.” Come on lady, there is no such
thing as assigned seating on the bus and we are teachers. She has very little
respect for us. Thankfully she’s wonderful with the kids though; that alone
covers up all iniquities. I’m lucky I haven’t had a run-in with her yet. After
a long day of school, she might just make me cry. Ha! You probably think I’m
joking.
Overall I’d say the day was a success. Yeah they probably
think I’m crazy and want to test the new teacher – but that’s okay. They are
stuck with me for the next 2 years as I honor my commitment…that is unless something
utterly awful happens (mullets do not justify this…although I considered it)
More on teaching tomorrow…I’m wiped out and need rest for
the circus tomorrow!
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