Yesterday was great. Grace, the housekeeper, and I have gotten into this habit of me going over to the main house around 6:35, I sit down at the table and write my little blog, and she cooks me a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs. I don’t remember how or when this started, but I’m glad for it. Not many people here eat big breakfasts—normally just a bite or two—but I need a hearty breakfast to start my day off right. At first I felt kind of bad for being served this way every morning, now I’m beginning to look forward to and expect it every morning. I went with the morning bus route. I enjoy starting my day off that way and only miss the route if Lucas and I go walking.
It’s beginning to turn in to rainy season. A few days ago my clothes almost got a second rinse—thanks to Grace they stayed dry—and the rain is seeming to come more frequently. One thing that’s nice about the weather is that it’s fairly predictable. The mornings tend to be a bit fogged over and cool, during midday the heavy air burns off and then around 3 the clouds roll in. With the rain, farmers are beginning to plant crops. Over the past week or so the ground has been sprouting baby plants. The farm land is pretty sporadically placed, any plot of land could have a house or some crops or both, there doesn’t seem to be much of a zoning system.
At school the head teacher had me go through some documents in his office to do a bit of a spring cleaning. These were things like intake forms dating back to 2020, copies of job applications, and so much more random stuff. By the end I probably threw away 100 pounds of paper and a lot of other junk too. It didn’t take too long to do that, so with the rest of my day I worked on preparing some things for the kids in music class. Around 3:00pm each class had a “debate” scheduled. They are supposed to do this every Wednesdays, but plans had got jumbled and moved around so this was the first one of the year. I like the idea of a weekly debate, but having young kids sit still and listen to one another for 50ish minutes is asking a bit too much.
After school ended I went with the bus route. We were still stuck with the small bus again (hopefully today the big one is fixed). I got back to school then waited for the next route of remedial kids. After everyone had been dropped off, another teacher, the driver and I got some ice cream bars. The driver insisted on buying it for us and I felt really bad for letting him do so. Earlier in the morning someone had also given me a loaf of bread. I don’t know why I am being treated nicely, I hate taking things that I haven’t deserved. At home a shower, some dinner, a little homework help, and to bed. The homework was tough, both Jovin and Rebecca are behind where they should be and things are moving very fast in their classes, so they are falling behind. I help them mainly with math, and many of their basic principles are lacking, so that’s where we’re trying to fix things, but they get frustrated because they think it’s too simple and below their level. Overall, yesterday was the type of day I enjoy. It feels a bit sad to be falling into a calm routine; the first month was so exciting and new so this is different.