First week of school!

And second week, too, I guess! Well, Monday October 4th, we finally decided to get around to having school :) I met both my classes (I only teach classes in the 4th and 3rd grades, and there is only one class per grade at that level) that day, but spent most of the first day introducing myself and explaining a little about the Peace Corps. Unlike the US, class schedules here aren’t the same every day, meaning that my daily schedule varies as well. At my school, most of the classes take place in the morning, 7-12, we then have the lunch break/sieste from 12-15 and classes again from 15-18. Yes, that’s right, 18 or 6pm. To be honest, most grades don’t have class that late, and if they do it’s only one day a week. I had one afternoon class this week, and you can really tell that the kids are tired. 15 (3pm) is also about the hottest time of day, so to be stuck inside can be brutal. Luckily, most classes fit into the morning.
Friday of the first week, we had a teachers’ meeting where we found out that we were getting another professeur for math and physics/chemistry. With only the 4 original professeurs, we didn’t have enough people to cover all the hours. I feel kind of bad, because if I was able to take a full course load, we wouldn’t have needed the other prof, but I also know the school is really growing, so they would’ve needed someone next year anyway. The new prof took one of my P/C classes, meaning I now only teach 4th Math and 3rd P/C. I definitely feel like I could be doing more, and offered to take an English class, but the other teachers are paid by how many hours they teach, so they want to have full schedules. And I get paid the same regardless, so I feel bad taking classes away from them. But we’ve already talked about having an English club, and I hope to offer a sort of study hall/tutor session for both 3rd and 4th grade, hoping that I can help with math, physics/chemistry and English questions.
I also mentioned to my health center that I have quite a bit of free time and could help out there, but after talking to a health volunteer realized that I could do more giving mini health lessons to my students at the school. The nurses at the health center also mentioned that last year they talked to the school about how to stay healthy and avoid pregnancy. Right now, I think I will try to work that in as a mini lesson at the beginning of some of my study hall times.
Now that school’s started and the professeurs are back in town, I’ve hung out with them a few times in the evenings. We never really do much, just sit and chat, but it’s nice to be able to hang out with people who speak French well, and can even help with translation when I don’t know the French word :)
I also bought a light/battery combo, so I have light in my house now!! It was getting really hard to make dinner with a flashlight, and to be honest, that’s all I’ve really used it for. I will probably have papers to grade at some point coming up, so I know it will be nice then, too