Be True To Your School

Well, it's official! I'm a teacher.  

Monday was our first day of school here in Kigali at Kigali International Community School (KICS). I was calm, cool and collected as the moment approached when those little young minds would enter my classroom and we would embark on a year of learning, love, and laughter together.

HA.

Lies, all lies... Well, at least the part about “calm, cool and collected”. But doesn't it sound like something that would be in Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul or something like that?

I was not calm, cool, or collected in the least bit while awaiting my first day as a teacher. The entire weekend before, I would randomly break into a panic-y sweat, and start thinking about how terrible a teacher I might be, and how my kids would hate learning and grow up to be criminals or hoodlums of some sort because their 4^th grade teacher turned them off from learning forever. And on top of that stress, we moved into our new house on Sunday afternoon and were confronted with quite the number of repairs/fixin's that needed to be taken care of. Needless to say, I did not get that much sleep the night before my first day (partly because it was the night before my first day of teaching, and partly because right before I went to bed a cockroach the size of a water buffalo scurried across my floor).

The next morning, I was anxiously waiting in my class and arranging and re-arranging the supplies on my desk as 8:00 approached. When it was finally time to let the kiddos in and start our day and year together, I was a ball of pure nerves. As soon as they entered the classroom though, an incredible peace fell over me. I thought “Of course. This is what I do, this is my niche. What was I really worried about? I'm where I'm supposed to be.” The first day went very well, and my kids are amazing. It was fun to be back in the classroom again, and by golly, they sure are cute!

I have 11 kids right now in my class, with another who will be arriving in a few weeks. The kids are from 10 different countries, and actually, since most of them have already moved around quite a bit, there are even more countries represented than that! I have America, Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea, Kenya, England, Bolivia, Holland, Italy and Russia all in my little 4^th grade community! I love it!

We still don't have our textbooks in (yikes), so I'm having to kind of play it by ear and make it up as I go along this week. To be honest, I kind of like it like that, although I'm sure I will want a bit of direction soon... It is nice, though, to be able to get creative and make up my own Cady Curriculum for the time being. The school uses Texas state standards for the classrooms, so as long as I follow those, I'm good to go.

Although I'm enjoying my time here, and LOVING my class, it still is difficult to live in Africa, especially after being so used to, and fond of, the conveniences American life offers. Yesterday afternoon there were some electrical problems at the school, and a surge in electricity caused the power cord to my computer to blow. Up side is, my computer seems to be fine. Down side, I don't know when or where or how much it will be to get a new power cord. This is a bit frustrating as the blessed internet is one of my only ways with keeping in touch with you fine people, and I'm not sure when I will be able to use it or my computer. It also makes lesson planning and other school-related stuff quite a bit more challenging. There is one really good thing though – one of my roommates/colleague at school has the same computer as I do, so she is graciously allowing me to use her power cord when she isn't. I still won't have consistent use of a computer, most likely, but it sure does help! (I could still use some prayers though!)

So, all in all, it has been a good first week. Yesterday was fun, because we finally started getting our daily routine down, and instead of going over rules and procedures, we got into some of the content and started playing some fun games and getting work done. I know it's gonna be a good year, and God has really blessed this place. This will sound incredibly cheezy, but I really can't wait to see what He's got in store.

(Up at the top is me and el clase, and below are pictures of my room, before and after)