Some of you were wondering about the school and when we start.....
The American International School of Bamako has a current enrollment of about 160 students, PreK2 - Gr 12, although facilities are prepared for lots of growth. We have second levels in much of the school that are currently not used. The school is situated in the Zone Industrielle on the banks of the Niger River, and has very lush and spacious grounds that are surrounded on three sides by walls and and a fence and a lot of thick and snake/critter filled brush on the river bank side.
No one comes in without identification, and the National Guard has armed soldiers posted outside each of the four corners of the grounds all day. (When I was in Laos, there were guards with AK47's posted around the US Ambassador's house just down the lane, so that's not too weird for me.)
We have already had one fire drill and one lockdown drill (for the teachers).
There are 'basic' lockdowns, where everyone stays in their classrooms with doors locked and curtains closed and as far away from windows as possible. (We did these drills in Malaysia, too.) There is also an all school lockdown, where everyone goes to the safe room. Apparently all US Embassy affiliated schools are built with a safe room....just in case..... Ours is the multi-purpose room (indoor gym/theatre). It has metal doors and metal window covers and is equipped with a supply of water and yummy freeze dried rations, radio contact with the Embassy....and yes....port-a-potties, too.
Students came back last Tuesday, August 18 and that first day we had a run-through day of all the classes so that students could meet their teachers (and vice versa) and everyone could get a feel for how the classes will be.
Things are full on now and I am keeping about a half-step of the students in my planning and preparation. Still scattered in trying to figure out what I need to be teaching and how I'll go about that....plus plan for it all following a logical sequence! Being out of the classroom for the past 12 years, certainly has me floundering at the moment! But things are coming together and I'm starting to feel like I almost/kind of know what direction I'm headed with my courses.
I have art with grades 2/3, grades 4/5 and grade 6. I also have a three-dimensional art class with grade 10s. I have drama with grades 7/8 and a theatre arts/skills class with mostly grade 11s. Most classes meet 3 times a week.
The toughest one for me is the Theatre Arts class. It's a class of 9 high school students and they've all done all of the things that I am supposed to be teaching them this year. They want to try something different and are quite excited about putting on a musical parody of something (yet to be determined) so I think that will be fun. We'll (they'll) have to write the script, run auditions and direct and manage the performance. I'm going to try to upgrade the theatre lighting with coloured bulbs (we only have white) so that we can better set some moods and scenes.
Equally tough for me are the little guys (gr 2/3) in art. I thought they could do more than they can, so I've been rethinking their curriculum....
Days are long. Classes start at 7:30 and end at 2:45. That means I have to be up at about 5:45 am. Argh.....still getting up in the dark! Thursday is our staff meeting day so students are released at 1:20. All days except Thursday, students have after school activities from 3:00 to 4:00. Each teacher has to run one activity each quarter. I'm going to try having grades 6 - 12 for Tai Chi for the first quarter.
There's a kitchen on site and a woman named Fanta (and her team) prepares lunches for the students each day. During the first week of teacher meetings, Fanta provided some great lunches for the staff. Plus a local bakery sells croissants and snacks in the school store in the mornings...and you can order bread from them; they will bring it to the school for you in the afternoon. Apparently they have a whole wheat loaf that is pretty good. But honestly......I've eaten more bread......and beef.....here in the past few weeks than I do in a whole year otherwise.
I like my house, but it's not as close to the school as I thought it would be, so I can't really walk there. Okay....I COULD....but it would take me about 45 minutes to an hour....along the busy main road mostly....currently in rainy conditions...soon to be in dusty conditions.....so it really is NOT an option. And being so far out has really underscored the the need to buy a vehicle to get to school and just get around in general. Unfortunately, cars/suvs are much more expensive than I thought they would be and I missed out on getting a pretty good deal because I balked at the price...which...now that I know better....was not so high after all. The school does provide an interest free loan of up to $6000 USD for a car, so that helps. I am hoping to get out to look at some vehicles soon with our facilities manager, but it's a matter of matching up our in and out of school schedules to do so.
In the meantime, I've been trying to take taxis to and from school. It has not been a good experiment. The drivers are unreliable and inconsiderate. I haven't had a driver yet come on time in the morning and I've arrived at school in a panic too many mornings. The fellow who was picking me up in the afternoons was pretty good, but the other day, after I was waiting for a while, I called him to find out if he was coming or not. Oh....sorry....not working today. And I was supposed to know that....how??? Totally did not think to call me, a regular client, to let me know.
After that, one of the guards at the school arranged someone new for me and today was a positive experience. On time in the morning, and called to say he had some car trouble in the afternoon but was on his way. I share this taxi with a Gr 12 student, who very kindly sent me a lovely email after talking with the guard and arranging the taxi for me. Hopefully this driver will be consistent and considerate so I don't have to worry each morning or afternoon if I will have a ride or not. It's been an additional stress. Hoping all goes well with the transport tomorrow and subsequent days until I have my own wheels.
I have a housekeeper named Saran (sah-rahn) who cleans my house every day (even in the rainy season, there's a lot of dust), does my laundry, and cooks for me. Mostly tasty, and it's been great to not have to cook when I get home. I think she's excited to go through her repertoire of meals with me. Again....lots of beef dishes and wheat products. And canned vegetables. And fried things. We have to talk.
Nooks is slowly getting used to her and Saran is well aware of the doors closed at all times policy so that Nooks won't make a panicked escape.
Today we had a representative from a local travel agency come to tell us about some of the local, nearby and more distant trips we could take. This is good as we have a week off near the end of September. Depending on travel advisories, many of us do want to get out of Bamako to do some exploring.
I have found a kindred spirit here named Shannon who teaches kindergarten. We have hit it off quite well and I think we will be hanging out together quite a bit. She lives over in the area where most of the teacher houses are, so it's not so easy to just pop in on each other. We will probably plan something together for the Sept break. Plus we both want to explore the city a bit more, too....but that requires wheels. Soon.....
I was glad of Shannon's company last weekend when I went to buy a phone.
Silly me.....I thought I could just go into the phone company store, pick out a phone, pay for it and be on my way. Nope. Picked out the cheapest phone that took a mini sim card then was ushered to a desk where there were three guys at the computer. Two of them spent a long time putting things into the computer....scanning my passport....entering data.... Every now and then, one of them would ask me a question....that I did or did not understand (everything happens in French here), and did my best to answer, then back to the computer. At least Shannon and I could joke and laugh about the whole process together and wonder about what the heck was going on. After almost an hour, I got my passport back, paid for my phone and got a lovely little bag with my new phone and receipt. And we were free to go. I'm sure we were a topic of conversation for much of the day in that office.....the crazy white girls who didn't know nothin'!
Here's the link to a Google map of Bamako, with a few places highlighted, to give you an idea of where I really am!
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=zW2Yao6GU9r4.k5hjhKzY3HnA
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