Monday 24th September
The meal last night was everything I could have hoped for
and some good conversation certainly beat my usual habit of talking to a ball I
have found on the beach and christened Mitre.
Got up this morning and went into the bathroom (toilet
really with a shower head sticking out of the wall) and there was no water. The
header tank on stilts next to the building must be empty, so a shower consisted
of ladling cold water out of a bucket using a Thermos flask top (just like
camping in England really). Thankfully I
have a flask filled every evening for a shave and early coffee so that was ok.
Dressed and thinking in terms of clearing any back log of
work, sat down, all ready; and the electricity cut off.
Great.
The day got better eventually.
I arrived at school and was getting organised when one of
the From III pupils arrived with a big pile of books. The exercise books they use are hard backed
and roughly the size of the old foolscap, before this new fangled A4, A5
etc. They are reminiscent of the old
cash register books in size (for those of you over 50 that can remember such
things). Anyway, these books had been
collected and arrived with the expectation that I mark the work that had been
set on Thursday. No – ‘the dog ate it’ –
or – ‘I left me book at home’. All done
and in the main a pleasure to mark.
Different Continent -
Same Problem
Better things ahead as, after teaching another lesson with
this group and setting more exercises, they must have had a private study
period because forty minutes later a boy appeared and asked if he should
collect their books because they had all finished the work. As there was still no electricity so I.T.
classes were out, I thought, “Why not”, and so at least I am well in front with
my marking.
At break one of the boys asked if he could see me and said
that he was worried he had missed some of the work in Form II and could I help
him. I found a text book and found the
first section he was worried about. (Standard Notation for those with a memory
of things mathematical.) We went through some examples including multiplying
and dividing and he raced through them.
The intelligence of some of the students coupled with such a thirst for
knowledge is astounding and certainly makes me feel that it is all worthwhile.
Arrived home and no change to the electricity and water
situation so decided the most sensible way of cooling off and clearing the dust
was the ocean, so quickly changed and went for a dip. It ain’t all bad by any means.
The power came back on at 6:00 pm.
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