school...

so i have to say that the first day of school was pretty uneventful. we had a faculty meeting in the morning where i was introduced to all the teachers by the principal. after that it was on to the whole school forum. here i got to see all of the students. the school really isn't too large i think bout 240 students or so. (but class sizes are pretty large. the policy here is that the largest a class can be is 40 people, no breaking into smaller classes until you hit 41 people. so most classes are about 38 students.)

after the forum, the day was pretty uneventful, as students were only there for half the day, and i was left sitting in the teachers office for most of the day to work on my self intro, and look at future lessons. we did a fire drill, which was interesting. the alarm went off and i asked if i should be doing something? and was told no its ok, you can just stay here. well i decided to just venture out with the students, and i'm glad that i did. all of the students were litterally running out of the school but in a VERY organized fashion, and completly silently. then outside they formed perfectly straight lines, teachers counted to make sure that everyone was there, and then the stop watch was stopped! yes, they were litteraly timing the whole thing, one teacher stood with a stop watch over her head the entire time. it was so unbelievably organized.

eventually in the afternoon, i had a meeting with the principal and vice-principal, to review my contract basically. everyone seems pretty nice and helpful.

today i have done more sitting around and entertaining myself. actually had some work to do, preparing some games and worksheets. but all the students are taking some type of standardized test, so there are no classes. then i ate lunch with the third year students. there language level is pretty low, but it was nice to get to interact with the students a bit. and the whole way that school lunches are served here is quite interesting. there is no cafeteria, a few students go and pick up the food to bring it back to their classroom. the food is still in pots and the plates are empty. but within minutes the food is served to all 40 students in the classroom with amazing organization again. and the students change into 'steril' clothes and wear masks when serving the food. and the clean up process was just about as organized.

anyway i have a few things to get finished before the end of the day, so i should get back to work. tomorrow i'll actually be in the classroom, which will be nice. i think im going to head to the basketball club practice after school is out as well today.