Well everyone, I thought I would write a bit more about the action here in the big MW! School is in full swing even though the school is not close to being finished. For those who don’t know, I want to tell u a bit about my lovely school. First of all, when we were doing site announcements I was told that I would have a fully stocked lab with electricity and running water. Awesome right! WRONG… I am supposed to have those things since the date of completion for the construction is October…2007!!!!!!!!!!!!! As it stands right now, it isn’t even remotely close to being finished. And now the builder has gone bankrupt. “Well” you say “that is a relief, because now we can get a good builder who can finish the project”. My thoughts exactly… then I found out that the law says that you have to give him 90 days to earn the money before you hire a new contractor. AWESOME – that is one whole term! I now hold out no hope that I will be able to see the completed school before I leave Malawi.
School is going very well this term. Going home and getting a fresh perspective was really good and this year starting out I knew what to expect and how to manage the classes in Malawi better. I really wish I had known that teaching in Malawi is a totally different profession than in the states. I knew it would be different just not how different. I am really having a better time this term and part of that is the fact that I have figured out what really works as discipline in my classes. Since I have 100+ students sitting on the floor at any given day, if a student is talking, not taking notes, doing the exercises, etc…I tell them to get out because they obviously don’t want to be here. It works like a charm. If the whole class is acting up, I leave until they come and apologize and ask me to come back. It all helps with classroom management and making the classes a more manageable size. I would never do any of that in the States but here there is no other immediate recourse. Grades don’t matter and they really don’t care about any other recourse that I can think of.
I am in Lilongwe, the capitol city, right now because of my back. I have had a bad back since I was 18 and it has been getting worse here. Normally I ride my bike about 55 Km/ week (roughly 35 miles) but now I cannot even ride for more than 10 minutes without my back really starting to tighten up and spasm. I am getting an X-ray on Monday and going to an orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday and maybe getting an MRI soon. From there I may have to have surgery but we will see. If any Peace Corps Volunteer is out of the country for 45 days then that Volunteer is medically separated. I don’t want that, and if I have to have surgery it might be cutting it close. The timing might be strange as well because I am getting married to the most incredible woman on the planet in 6 months!! Woot woot! I love you Sarah.
I think that is all for now. Please feel free to send me any questions or comments and I will talk at yall later!
School is going very well this term. Going home and getting a fresh perspective was really good and this year starting out I knew what to expect and how to manage the classes in Malawi better. I really wish I had known that teaching in Malawi is a totally different profession than in the states. I knew it would be different just not how different. I am really having a better time this term and part of that is the fact that I have figured out what really works as discipline in my classes. Since I have 100+ students sitting on the floor at any given day, if a student is talking, not taking notes, doing the exercises, etc…I tell them to get out because they obviously don’t want to be here. It works like a charm. If the whole class is acting up, I leave until they come and apologize and ask me to come back. It all helps with classroom management and making the classes a more manageable size. I would never do any of that in the States but here there is no other immediate recourse. Grades don’t matter and they really don’t care about any other recourse that I can think of.
I am in Lilongwe, the capitol city, right now because of my back. I have had a bad back since I was 18 and it has been getting worse here. Normally I ride my bike about 55 Km/ week (roughly 35 miles) but now I cannot even ride for more than 10 minutes without my back really starting to tighten up and spasm. I am getting an X-ray on Monday and going to an orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday and maybe getting an MRI soon. From there I may have to have surgery but we will see. If any Peace Corps Volunteer is out of the country for 45 days then that Volunteer is medically separated. I don’t want that, and if I have to have surgery it might be cutting it close. The timing might be strange as well because I am getting married to the most incredible woman on the planet in 6 months!! Woot woot! I love you Sarah.
I think that is all for now. Please feel free to send me any questions or comments and I will talk at yall later!
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