Ruler shock

Ah…pause…smile…ah! I survived my first half week of teaching and this morning I get a few moments to just sit here and take it all in. I’ve got a wonderful cup of Colombian coffee, the windows are open, and I can hear the sounds of Pereira. (okay…so I may have led you stray on that last line…yes I’m drinking “Colombian coffee” since I bought it here, but really it is instant Nescafe…also, the “sounds of Pereira” refer to the constant traffic and construction sounds of the city…but yes, I’m still smiling!) Ha!

                                                                                                                                                                                              

So Friday was an absolute joy teaching. No, all the boys didn’t chop off their mullets, BUT I am started to learn names of my kiddos and they are mostly wonderful. I’m being careful to remain extra firm, however, so they don’t walk all over me after the “honey moon” period at the beginning of the year wears off. They definitely have shown me how chatty/un willing to work they can be – so I can see how things could get challenging really quickly.

I have an image stuck in my head from Friday at school that I have to share. In my 9^th grade science classes we reviewed the scientific method using a quick and easy lab on thumb wars. Before I let them start we went through the steps of the scientific method and how they related to the “experiment” we were going to conduct. We got to the step of “collecting data” and I asked them to draw a chart with 4 columns and 4 rows. I hastily drew mine on the board as an example of what I wanted theirs to look like. Within seconds, every student pulled out a ruler and made perfectly straight lines for their chart. Yes, you read that right, they ALL used rulers and no I didn't ask them to. What? Lol.  As they drew up their charts I just stood at the front of the room with my head tilted and eyebrows scrunched in confusion. If you don’t know the nature of 9^th graders, they typically aren’t the ones most concerned with neatness. Yet, there were my 9^th graders drawing away. I chuckled as I looked at my chart on the board…ha! Maybe I should take some tips from them!

Lunch time is always interesting at my school. First let me explain the procedure. 7-12 grade is released into the cafeteria area and it gets incredibly loud and awfully crazy. As I watch them I noticed how quickly they manage to get their set tray of food (there are no choices) hit up the salad bar and then sit down. Easy as pie? Well, kind of. In order to do this they are also dodging other trays, sliding by students pushing in line, and managing to hold a full out conversation with the person next to them. It is unbelievable really. A choreographed dance? Naw...but it's pretty cool.

 Also, teachers eat at the same time in the cafeteria with the kids. We get our meals in a separate line though which is really nice. We waltz right to the front, grab our trays and sit down. Now these meals are ENORMOUS. Let me tell you a sample meal we had last week: large bowl of soup, some sort of salad, fried plantains, grilled chicken, grapes, avocado pieces, watermelon, a piece of chocolate, fresh fruit juice and there is ALWAYS rice. These people can’t have a meal without rice. Okay – how the heck am I supposed to eat that all? Yes it is really yummy, but no my stomach just can't fit it all. At first I just got in the habit of telling the lunch ladies to give me really small portions (solo un poquito por favor...no no no..mas poquito....gracias", but then I had a brilliant idea: Why not bring a Tupperware container to school for my left over’s and I’ll just eat them for dinner? So that’s what I do now, I take half my lunch home and eat it for dinner. These meals are WAY better than my standard tuna on crackers or hard-boiled egg salad that I’d been living on.  Score! …oh yeah, and this is all for less than $40 a month. Sweet!

Now here is another incredible part about the lunch process. When anyone (both students and staff) is done eating, they file up to another window at the cafeteria, dump their paper garbage in a trash can, put any food they didn’t eat in a different one, place the silverware in the correct bin and then slide one of the lunch workers the tray and dishes. We have all metal trays, plates, and silverware that gets reused every day. When we take care of emptying our trays it immensely helps the cafeteria staff. It is surprising how well trained the kids are to do this. I try to picture cafeterias at other schools and I’m not certain the kids would do this. Yes, my school has great students. (Disclosure: Next week I may be saying the exact opposite. But we’ll have to wait and see.)