Email 1- 3/4 day

Hi everyone!
Okay so I am going to write sort of a mass email to everyone just so I don't have to say the same things over and over again! In general everything is going really well. I am completely loving it and honestly have been having an amazing time. Mum, KEEP THIS IN MIND WHILE YOU READ THE REST OF THE EMAIL.

Okay so the planes getting here were honestly the best flights I have ever had. Even the rwandair flight. The pilots were all amazing and on two of them I did not even notice that we had taken off, it was actually really odd. Rwandair is a smaller plane with one row of 2 seats on each side but it doesn't feel that small and again, best flights ever. When I got to Naorobi I had a minor, MINOR, freak out in the morning where I was like, I have no internet, no phone, im in fucking Kenya, what the fuck am I doing with myself?? And I tried making myself go back to sleep so I didn't have to deal with leaving the room, but alas, I could not. So I got up, went outside and explored a little and then everything was totally fine and amazing. I walked up to this raised patio where you could see 360 around you and it was amazing.
The house that Lauren, Claire and I are living in is really nice. It is about 1-2 miles all uphill pretty much from the school so we get quite the workout walking home after school. Its all really safe though and completely fine to walk home alone regardless of the time of day/ night.
The school has been pretty interesting. I got here on Saturday I think and was expecting to be teaching To Kill a Mockingbird to grade 9 and romeo and Juliet after that. Wellll as many of you know, I have been MUCH busier. I met with Alpana, this abrasive little Indian lady who basically runs everything and she told me that not only am I teaching 6 different classes, but I also cant teach the two books I came with. I ad not read any of the books that were available for reading so that was the two major shocks. I am now teaching 10CB and 10 CA and we are reading shakespears Much Ado About Nothing, 9CB and 9 CA with the same book. The CA and CB is what level they are. So CA is a higher level than CB based on the second letter. Basically one speack better English than the other. The C stands for Cambridge Institute I believe ad you can look that up online. It is just a pre set curriculum that lays out exactly what you have to read/ teach/ are tested on etc. It is because of the Cambridge list that I couldn't teach the other books. I am also teaching 7CB and 7CD. D barely speaks English so that is an interesting class.
The classes and how they organize the schedule is unbelievably archaic. They literally have a huge bulletin board with tiny handwritten/ colour coded labels stating where everyone is supposed to be during each period. Therefore it is extremely unorganized and no one is ever in the right places at the right time. It is truly insane. But everyone says that in a few weeks everything will have worked itself out. An example of how this ‘method’ does not work is that I meet with 7 B 8 times a week and 7D only 3? Go figure.
I am literally a teacher though so it is quite odd. But Im really starting to enjoy it. As you may have figured Im writing this over a period of time so by now it is about 8 oclak at night here on my second day at work, fifth day in Kigali. I had a really gooda day of classes. My 10’ were really into the discussions and worked really well, im starting them on thesis essays tomorrow which shld be fun. I had a double period of 7th grade of the same section and they spent most of the time working on prompts that I had given. Im basically trying to figure out what their reading and writing skills are at this point and we’ll figure the rest aka teaching the books, out later! In my advanced 9 class there is a kid who literally cant write any English and can barely speak or understand it so I think he is going to get moved to another class. There are a few other students in the same position, none quite as bad. My 7 D class is a 50/50 english French group. So last year they were taught in both and then this year they are learning just in English so we go pretty slow.
I think once I am done with the English I am going to start do college counseling type things for the 10/11/12 grades as well as art and volleyball. At the moment though I don't have time for anything else. I am teaching a totally of 25 (the maximum) classes a week, so there is noo free time.
Im opening a bank account tomorrow, just have to bring my passport down to officially open it.ummm what else… I think the food thing is the hardest so far. I have never had to go and buy my own groceries and then cook a meal and since I had sooo many home cooked meals at home I am lacking ideas. And they dont have like frozen premade things which is annoying. Ill figure it out eventually.
Oh and ash asked how the students are. My first day and my first class was grade 10 a class of about 23 boys and 2 girls so that was interesting. They basically just stared and laughed, much of the rest of the day went like that but then today was one hundred times better. They are like typical students, some participate some don't the usual. I officially feel bad for every teacher I ever gave attitude to aka all of them. Anywho karma I suppose? So ya classes went amaingly well today and hehe my students told me they like me except that I give a lot of homework I think but its not actually that much just more than they are used to. Who woulda thunk id like being a teacher??

K have to go scrounge around for food.

Love you allll

BYE