A typical day in my week
I’m closing up on two months of living in the school and village, but have spent little time discussing what my days are like or what the campus is like. Since I’ve had probably the most regularized week so far, this seems like a good time to go into some details.
My days usually start depending on when I can force myself out of bed. Sound like I’m still living the college lifestyle? Not quite. What I mean is I either get up at 5:30am to join the boxing team in weight training, or I decide today is a good day to sleep in until 7:30am. Even if I do get up earlier to take the training option, the remainder of my day is pretty similar to the later wake up option.
By 8am I have taken the uber strenuous walk from my room in the Campus Guest House to the classroom building, a mere 20 meters away. Talk about convenience! Since my class schedule doesn’t start until approximately 10am I spend time arranging all that is necessary for the days activities. Often the school has assemblies in the morning, or parents will be visiting, and I participate in these interactions as the token foreign teacher. Without a doubt, my presence is likely to be shown off to visitors.
Around 10:30am it’s time for one of my favorite parts of any day, Tea Break. My friends pouring the Chai are always ready for me to come around for round 2 by now, something I greatly appreciate. I’ll take a cup of tea with me to class to sip on while I over watch my students copying down notes from the chalkboard. Man can that chalk dust can be messy, it gets everywhere! In any case, I teach English classes for the 9th and 10th grade by myself. I make the lesson plans and activities, enforce participation and do all the grading. This has developed over my time here from being just a helper in various classrooms to full time teacher. It’s helping the school out loads but its strenuous! Students can be rowdy, and a huge language barrier can exist. Many of the students come from local villages, and thus speak local dialects and languages. This means some are not able to speak Hindi either, creating a classroom environment with language barriers not just between myself and the students, but between the students as well. Someone at the end of the day the majority of students understand what’s being taught.
1pm, the school bell rings signaling the end of the school day. Day students head for the buses while hostel students and teachers head to the Mess hall for lunch. This is usually the first meal of the day for me, and that’s the way I like it. After I finish lunch, I am either working online to develop BCT’s website, grading papers, reading or taking a nap.
5pm is Games Time. If I hadn’t gone training in the morning, this is when I spend an hour or more either weight training or jogging the perimeter of the school campus. On occasion, students will come running with me as the majority of the school knows how long I’ll be running for. If its not a training day, I’ll use games time to play a football match with the kids (the football field is right next to my house), or visit another teacher in their home for tea.
7pm brings more rest time before the 8pm dinner. After dinner more time is spent reading, relaxing, or grading school work. Often I’ll be talking to friends and family close by and abroad at this time since the majority of the worlds time zone are active at this point. Another activity done at this point is going to the home of the principal to work on projects for the school, or just to talk about related topics on improvement for the school or classes.
Thus concludes my daily routines for Monday through Saturday. Yes school and work on Saturday too. Sunday is meant for all rest but it varies greatly what I will actually be doing. Although this isn’t the most exhilarating post of the blog, it does offer some good insight into how I spend my time here. 5 more weeks left however until I pack up my bags and head back to Delhi to slowly make my way back to America. I’m looking forward to seeing Mama and Papa, Kaj and Ivar again. It’s going to be good times I just know it!
