14 Hour Work Days

It is July 1st.  I cannot believe it. In honor of the start of this month, my last month in Tanzania (for now), I decided that I would work extra long and extra hard today.  Not really.  I did not 'decide' anything - today just happened to pan out to be a very full day of work. 

My day began at the regular time today, 7:00am.  I taught for the first three classes of the day like usual, worked with a few kids who needed some individualized attention during the 'morning break' at 10am, graded some of P4's end of the month (June) math exams for the next 45 minutes, before I taught my last two classes of the day.  At the conclusion of that second class, it was time for lunch.  As children began to be prepare lunch to be served, I ushered P5 out of their usual classroom and into the P2 classroom so that Cindi, a volunteer from Chicago, and I could paint in the P5 classroom this afternoon. 

Cindi, an absolutely wonderful artist, and I have been working diligently on sprucing up the classrooms of the two oldest grades (P4 and P5) by drawing, painting and adding some 'fun' to grade-specific charts of important math and English skills.  For example, in P4, we added a number line, multiplication chart, fraction model, area and perimeter formulas, place value table and parts of speech definitions. We began working on P4 this past Friday.  We worked for a couple of hours on both Friday and Saturday in P4 and then for about 10 hours on Sunday to finish up it up.  Yesterday, we began working in P5, adding a chart of prime numbers up to 100, parts of speech definitions, number line again, evens and odds definitions, possession chart, and a few important mathematical reminders like 0 X any number = 0. 

So today, after my teaching obligations were completed at 12:30, and until 9 o'clock this evening, Cindi and I painted.  And painted and painted.  Cindi is returning to the States tomorrow, so we wanted to get as much of the P5 classroom completed as we could today and take advantage of her awesome artistic talent for long as possible. :)  There will be a handful of final additions/touch ups for me to finish up once Cindi goes home, but after almost 9 hours of painting, we can proudly say that all of the 'major' additions to P5's classroom are complete and look great in my humble opinion.

Usually my 'work' here never ends, in the sense that a guest can need something at the hotel at any point during the day or night for that matter, for which I am on call.  Thankfully I have only been woken up in the middle of the night a couple of times, but it is always a possibility.  Even when there is not a specific, work-related task to complete, Teddy and I are usually discussing something connected to the hotel, whether it be reorganizing the office or deciding what we need the fundi to make next or reviewing the guests who will be visiting us in the few next weeks. In this regard, today's 'work time' was no different than any other day.  However, spending 14 straight hours at Stella Maris School, 13 of which were on my feet, was a first.

Today's school-related work load was very comparable to my regular, East Coast charter school daily work load.  Which has not usually been the case here, as I do not bring work 'home' with me most nights and I rarely have to work on the weekend - unless I choose to do so.  With the vast differences that exist between American and Tanzanian daily life and cultures, sometimes it is easily to remember that some things are universal: there will always be work to done in schools that are still growing to full scale, like Stella Maris and the two charter schools I have worked for in New York. Although I definitely felt tired as I walked back into the lodge tonight a few minutes after 9:00, it was a good tired.  It is days like today, where I will be asleep before my head hits the pillow, that I find myself happiest.  It is a blessing to know that you a part of something bigger than yourself and it is an honor to do know that your work, no matter how big or small, is helping to propel that 'something bigger' forward in a positive direction.

Pictures of the new and improved P4 and P5 classrooms coming soon!