So the next time you're feeling the burden of a daily routine, remember that life in a foreign country can feel just about the same as life in your home country most of the time.
Here's a little synopsis of my everyday life:
5:30 Alarm goes off (Steph lays in bed pondering the coming day's activities)
6:00ish Power comes on (Steph decides to brave the shower)
6:20 Breakfast (Steph scrounges around her cupboard to see what she can find...it looks like toast is on the menu again!She really needs to go shopping one of these days...)
6:30 Quiet time (Steph gets some real food and wishes she could stay all day...but 7am always comes)
7:00 Off to work we go...
(Steph works frantically or calmly, depending on the morning, to make final preparations for her students. On most days, this involves squabbles with the printer and copy machine.)
8:05 Students arrive (Steph is bombarded with homework papers, various relational complaints and bugs of all shapes and sizes that were caught the night before by her eager students).
8:10 Students are working quietly (Steph bribes students to start working through a variety of top-secret methods).
11:30 Lunch (Steph escapes to the kitchen to recover from the morning's escapades, unless, of course, she has lunch duty. On these days Steph stands outside repeating in a loud voice: "Throw away your trash." "Sit down while you're eating." "Don't swat at the bees or they will sting you." "You were swatting at the bee and that's why it stung you." and "Is this your garbage?" until the clock strikes 12).
12:00 Return to class for story time (This is Steph's favorite part of the day when she gets to read great books to her great kids. Currently they are reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe").
12:29 Students leave the classroom for "Specials", ie. art, P.E., computers, etc.
(Steph breathes deeply for several minutes, perhaps lying on the floor- depending on the day. Then, on most days, she tackles her "in" box, grading papers until her students return. On other days, Steph can only gaze out the window and blink).
1:19 Students return to classroom (Steph reminds herself that she is more than halfway through the school day and prepares herself for the crescendo that usually occurs in most elementary classrooms during the afternoon, especially if the students have just returned from P.E.)
2:50 Students leave (Steph hurries the stragglers out of her classroom, throws away the forgotten water bottles, sits at her desk and stares at the computer. At last she gathers her courage and looks at tomorrow's lesson plans).
5:30 Dinner (the most predictable event in Steph's life)
6:30 Various local events (Sometimes Steph escapes to the nearby "coffee shop" with a few fellow teachers. Other evenings, Steph returns to her classroom, which unfortunately involves climbing in through the window because she does not have keys to her building. Still other evenings, Steph plays Cranium or Taboo with her fellow teachers, works on school stuff in her bedroom or attends meetings. However, Steph's favorite evening activity occurs on Tuesday evenings when she plays Ultimate Frisbee with a wide variety of expat locals).
9:30 Bedtime (Steph crashes, hoping the fan has a chance to cool the room down a bit before the power goes off).
Here's some pictures of my everyday life....
Hanging out at the local "coffee shop" where we eat pizza on Wednesday (our Friday) nights.
With some friends on our staff night out
Class Picture
Duran and Oghai soak their pea seeds in water while Farhad looks closely at his.
