Hooligan Herding

Teaching is a pretty sweet gig here. Mostly because of the hooligans that I get to hang out with all day, but partly because school doesn't start until 10 A.M.! In theory this would allow me to sleep in until 9:55. However, the friendly neighborhood Hindu temple finds it necessary to start ringing bells, singing songs, and blowing horns at about 5:00 A.M. No matter though, I now use it as my morning reminder to go shoot a sunrise time-lapse, spend an hour stretching, or waste time with a multitude of other tasks.

At 10 we make our way to the school where we are greeted by 60-70 smiling kids in their school uniforms. Most of the kids have a either a torn up backpack, ripped seams or shredded holes on their shirts and pants, or shoes that are falling to pieces. But, this doesn't phase them. They are HAPPY; happy to be with their friends, happy to see their teachers, happy to kick a flat soccer ball, and happy to learn! It's a little reminder that a life lived simply is a life lived happily.

The bell rings, the kids line up for assembly. Songs are sung, jumping jacks are jumped, and fingernails are checked for length. The kids are dismissed and file into their rooms. Here's where the real fun begins.

Assembly

I open the door to my first class and hear a collective "Goooooood morning teeeeechaaarrr." That part always puts a smile on my face! Before I can sit down, I'm being swarmed by the entire class. "Sir!! Sir!! Andrew Sir!! Sir!! Andrew Sir!! Homework Homework!" A flurry of homework papers are being flung at my face to grade. "Hold on, Hold on. Everyone sit down!!"  We have prayer, more songs, and a memory verse. Now I check homework. Yesterday everyone told me they understood what the assignment was and how to do it. Today, I'd be lucky to find that half of the class did half of the assignment! Ohhhh well... Time to learn!

2nd Grade: The Energizer Bunny on RedBull

Sometimes teaching in English doesn't bode well for me. Like last week. We were forming sentences about a steam engine. "To start the fire you would shovel _____________ into the boiler."

OK guys, to start the fire in our train what do we need to shovel into the boiler? It is a black rock...
 Of course I got the blank stare. Then one girl shouted proudly, "CHILDREN!!!"
I couldn't help but laugh hysterically. Noooo! We don't burn children!
"Brains?" shouted another student. 

The knowledge will fall into my mind.

Lately I've been trying to use as much Nepali as possible since the kids don't seem to understand much of what I say in English. This often proves to be an unsuccessful tactic since the kids like to teach Nepali more than they like to learn English. Either way, it is an absolute blast hanging out with these kids. Lord willing, we will soon find a balance in which we can both learn from each other!

More to come! (I could write pages and pages about these hooligans)