Back to School

School has begun again, and with it come the sounds I haven't heard since October -- students laughing and joking as they go to and from their classes, schoolkids playing clapping games every morning in the football field, and my next-door neighbor Morais shouting out P.E. drills to reluctant high schoolers. ("Up! Down! Up! Down! You call that a push-up!? Up! Down! Up! Down!")

While so much has stayed the same here, my teaching experience this year is completely different. Most importantly, I'm only teaching tenth grade two afternoons a week. "Two afternoons a week!?" I can hear you thinking to yourself, "What on earth are you doing with the rest of your time?" Well, this year I'm teaching....

Night school!

Night school is very different. "Don't teach night school, whatever you do!" people warned me, "The students never show up, and when they do, they're drunk!" Well, so far, I'm actually really enjoying it. I haven't had any problems with drunk students -- or at least, not that I've noticed. The students who do come are motivated enough that they paid the matriculation fee and came to class, so they actually learn. (Imagine that!) Plus, most of them are my age, so I can joke around with them a bit while I'm teaching. And finally, the girls in night school are usually girls that got kicked out of day school for being pregnant, so it feels good to be able to give those girls at least part of a decent education.

The downside of this teaching schedule is that sometimes I end up eating dinner close to 22h when I get home.