This Fish Finally Found Some Kids!

Today was interesting.

We woke up, got breakfast, and then were led to the bus stop by Dr. P.  He leaves us and he drives off to the bus drop off spot.  I guess he wanted to see if we could make it on our own.  We waited for a while and then we see our bus off in the distance so we all get ready.  As the bus approaches we suddenly realize that the bus is going too fast to stop.  We were right, the bus blew right past us.  We then though maybe we have to flag down the bus for it to stop.  We wait some more and flag down the next bus, it stopped, so we do have to flag down the bus or it won't stop.  None of us know exactly where to get off, so we keep an eye out for every stop.  Eventually, we see Dr. P pacing at a bus stop and we know that we should get off there.  He told us that he got worried when we weren't on the first bus.

I honestly don't know what gives it away, but everyone knows we are Americans, without even talking.  It could be the deer in the headlights look, carrying large backpacks on our backs while everyone else has satchels, or traveling in a group of 11 girls who have both of the other qualities.  Literally everywhere we went this morning, everyone commented.  Some naughty middle schoolers were throwing starbursts on the bus, on hit Karli, so she said something about it.  As they walked off the bus, the muttered, "Stupid Americans."  Well then!  As we approached the school, people were honking, waving, and pointing at us, like we were a traveling circus.  Once inside the school, we passed a room which held all of the students before the school started.  We then hear the children start screaming, "The Americans are here!"  I guess we make quite an entrance.

The lovely walk on the way to school.

We get a quick tour around the school and then we are whisked away to our assigned classrooms.  I am placed in a Year 4 classroom, which is roughly Third grade.  Apparently, my class starts Thursdays in PE, so I went to gym class.  At this point, I haven't even met my classroom teacher yet, but I met the PE teacher.  I introduce myself and for some odd reason no one can say my first or last name.  We chat for a little bit and then I have to help him with the high jump and sprints the children are doing.

After PE, there is a 15 minute break where the entire school just shuts down and has a break.  All of the children run outside and the teachers flock to the teachers lounge.  Since I had no clue who my teacher was or where to go I just kinda wandered around like a lost puppy in the large and very confusing school.  The PE teacher eventually found me wandering and set me in the right direction.  My class then had what would be an equivalent to a health class.  Before the class even got the chance to start, a little boy threw up.  We discussed loss and what was important to us.  All of the kids were given a chance to answer the question "What is most important to you?"  The answers ranged from my family and friends to finding a girlfriend and being the first person to play basketball on the moon.  Thats when I knew that I was going to have a really interesting group of students.

After that, the children were off to lunch, but not without a prayer.  Since it was a Catholic school they did Catholic prayers.  Needless to say, I was entirely lost and all of the children were staring at me.  I tried to act like I knew what I was doing.  Lunch is 1.25 hours long.  All of the grades eat at the same time, which means that I got to eat with all of the others from my group.  We all discussed our adventures so far over our lunch.

After lunch is when I finally get to meet my classroom teacher.  She seems a bit scary.  She was telling me that today was a mad (crazy) day because there has been construction in her classroom.  Now it was in the classroom next door so we had other students and thank goodness a fellow Ball State member join us for a movie.  While the kids were watching a movie, both of us Ball State students were asked to make a display over Egypt.  I think we did a pretty good job.

After that, it was time for another break.  All of the kids begged me to come outside with them, so I did.  We played some playground games, then went back in, finished the movie, and left.

All I can say is that this school is extremely different from American schools.  I can't even wrap my head around all of it quite yet.  But there is no time to process everything that has happened because I have to prepare myself for my first weekend trip starting at 5:00 a.m tomorrow!

Sorry about the long post, it was a long day!  Ta and Cheers!