A Normal Day

So what is a normal day like teaching math and life skills in rural Lesotho? 

Pretty much no day is ever the same!  Everything is always getting interrupted, changed, or postponed I have learned to go with the flow. 

My mornings I wake up around 6 and have breakfast, coffee and oatmeal or cereal with long shelf life milk.  I listen to music or BBC broadcast and check sports scores on my phone.  I wash up a little bit before school but I don’t fully bathe that often usually once a week.  It takes me about 15 minutes to walk to school   from my roundavel

Assembly at School

School lasts from 7 am to 4 pm with an hour lunch from 1 pm to 2 pm.  The students have study the first and last period (each period is 40 min) of the day.  The class schedule is a big convoluted matrix and the schedule of classes is different every day.  Students sit in the same class all day and the teachers rotate.  I teach usually about 5 periods a day but some days are really busy (Thursday) and others slow (Monday).  When I am not in class I sit in the staff room and plan my lessons for the next day or mark student’s assignments.  You have to mark fast because you have to return students notebooks with assignments from the previous night to them before class that day. 

Lunch is provided to students at school.  It consists of a Basotho staple papa (maize meal) with either beans, peas, or cooked cabbage depending on the day.  I eat lunch at school, it is not bad.  Lunch is also the time clubs meet.  I have been helping with English Club doing poetry and debate. 

 Life Skills Class - Who is your role model?

Form B3 Math Class

Entrance to staff building with other teachers.

School Grounds

Form D math students at afternoon assembly

After school I usually stay around school until about 5 pm either helping students with math, finishing planning lessons, or chatting with teachers.  I have started to do math study hall and once a week we have movie club and watch a tv show (Glee and Chuck) on my laptop with older students.

When I get home I am greeted by this crazy child named Sortle or better known as Superman.  He comes flying from his house and runs up to me wanting me to swing him around.  My evenings are pretty relaxed I watch tv shows, read, and make dinner.  I often will go for an evening run which is especially wonderful around sunset.  My dinner staples are soup, rice or noodles with vegetables and cheese or sauce, and omelets.   I usually fall asleep reading sometime before 10 pm and then wake up and do it again!