Finally Friday

Funny Kids, and Accusations

It was our first full week of school. It went better than either of us could have ever imagined. I started "jobs" for our students this week. Being new at this, I also completely forgot about them. But no worries, the kids actually remembered :).

I found two of them, Miguel & Maria Elisa, staring at each other this afternoon as I was heading out for duty at the end of the day. They stood frozen at the door, staring at each other.

I asked, "What's wrong?"

They both looked at me with a semi-panicked glance. It turned out to be a "chicken or the egg - which came first" scenario. Miguel was the Light Monitor, Maria Elisa was the Door Monitor. Who should leave first? Miguel had to turn off the lights, but couldn't until everyone left the room. Maria Elisa had to close the door, but couldn't until everyone left the room. Oh, the dilemmas of a second grader! I couldn't stop laughing as they shut me in my own room and left me in total darkness.

The fun didn't stop there though. Being the school that it is, we have been blindly figuring out things. So I showed up for duty (this being the second time). And is it like duty in Canada? Of course not! This is Mexico. Basically, after school, we become traffic attendants and crossing guards. Parents drive in to pick up their kids. Names are announced over a PA system as cars line up for miles. Kids are crossing left and right, and our job is to make sure they don't get run over. This is extra fun when it's 43 degrees Celsius outside.

So, dripping with sweat, I enter the school. Only to be confronted by my boss, who accuses me of not showing up for duty. Want to feel my sweat-soaked shirt? I thought. Apparently, another "superior" accused two other foreign hire teachers of not showing up for duty, even though all of us had been there. She later changed her story to "Oh, maybe they were there, but they were late." Hmm... maybe if someone had told us what time we should be there...

Fun times in Mexico. I'm sure there'll be more stories!