After much delay and anticipation, I finally received my visa and headed off to Bangladesh. I left my house at 11:30am, Saturday, Sept. 7 and arrived in Dhaka at 5:00am, Monday, Sept. 9. One 2 hour flight and two 10 hour flights later along with an 11 hour time change and I actually did not feel too bad, or so I thought. I stepped out of the air conditioned airport into what felt like a wet rag, welcome to 100% humidity, 24/7. Fortunately, my apartment and the school where I work both have really good air conditioning to keep me cool most of the time, so cool in fact that I actually have to turn it off at night sometimes so I don't freeze trying to sleep with the one little blanket that I brought from home. We arrived at the apartments and were told to rest for a few hours before going to the school. I didn't think I was tired until I started hallucinating flying lizards on my wall that disappeared into thin air...so then I decided to take a nap.
Upon arrival at the school I learned that I would not be teaching Grade 4 but instead Grade 7 Homeroom, ELA, and Social Studies along with music for grades Pre-K to Grade 9 along with Grade 9 Technology and Family Studies. Those last two courses do not have curriculum so it then becomes my job to make up what those courses are supposed to be about. For music I am equipped with a keyboard, a few tambourines and shakers, and a dozen recorders. For technology I have access to pirated copies of Microsoft Office and an eBoard that no one in the school seems to know how to use. When I asked for copies of a book for a novel studied the office literally made photocopies for each student which I am pretty sure costs more in paper and ink supplies than simply buying 9 books. Needless to say, I think I am going to be challenged to be incredibly resourceful and creative this year.
On Tuesday, classes started and I met my 9 Grade 7 students who were so quiet the first day I could not believe it. I gave them an assignment and they all started working on it silently, with no one asking for help, no one tattling, no one tugging at my sleeve...it's just so strange to be working with big kids! And the day ended with a sighting of a monkey outside on the roof beside us holding a kitten that he has taken upon himself to care for. It just made everyone's day because it's impossible to be stressed when you watch a monkey cuddling a kitten.
There are 11 new teachers and a new principal at the school with 5 returning staff. The staff who have been here before have a been a great help for the newbies and of us new teachers about 8 of us just graduated with our teaching degrees and took this as our first job. So we all have a lot of learning to do together. We have one teacher on staff who speaks Bengali and she has offered to teach me in exchange for piano lessons. So far I have learned left and right the fact that there are no words for please and thank-you as it is a very direct and command based language. I am also realizing that hand gestures are part of the language and I feel as though I need to learn them as well in order to communicate properly here.
I thought I would feel a lot more home sick this week with everything that was going on but I have little presents and letters to open on different days and emails from home that make me feel so loved that I don't feel alone at all. In fact, with all the love and encouragement I have received, I feel as though I could take on the world...or maybe just Dhaka for a year. :)
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