First Day

The day is over and I made it!  I can't believe that today was a short day.  I'm so exhausted and did not even teach a single lesson.  Wow high school here is so different from high school in Virginia.  I feel that these children have all the odds stacked against them.  I graduated high school with honors, but I don't think I could do that here.

I'm in my custom made puletasi! All skin from my shoulders down to my ankles was covered and my hair was pulled back into a bun. (I keep trying to upload photos, but no luck.  Everyone else seems to be able to though). 

The full outfit

The school day started with an assembly.  The national anthem and Samoan anthem was sang along with another song and a prayer.  The principal and vice principal spoke and welcomed everyone back and gave some rules.  The students were then broken up by grade and sent to the four different corners of the gym to pick up their schedules.  I'm a sophmore advisor and was given the schedules from students with names J-L.  Well, needless to say that was not the brightest idea.  One of the other advisors came to my aid and read off the names.

The school has 6 periods each day and each class is 50 minutes long.  They also get a 20 minute break and a 55 minute lunch.  Today was a short day.  The students were suppose to be released at 1:15. 

For each class I stood at the door and welcomed students and made sure they were in the right classroom.  I had this fun activity planned for everyone to get to know each other (they are freshman coming from different schools), but none of the kids would participate.  The point of the game was to say your name and one thing you like.  Well, the guys how decided to participate said, "I like the teacher" and "I like you."  Oh my they are going to be a handful.

I was the bad teacher today who didn't hear the lunch bell (or any of them actually) and kept the students 30 minutes past the bell.  Opps. They were good sports about it though.  Then some how 3rd period was totally skipped today.  I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm learning that the schedule changes and the teachers do not always know what is going on.

School let out around 1:30 and then Sara and I stayed until close to 5 working on different things.  On the walk home I heard my name and turned around.  One of my boys was waving and saying "That's Miss Kristina.  Hi Miss Kristina!"  That was a great finish to the day.

Today wasn't even a whole day and I'm exhausted and did not teach a single thing.  I'm nervous how it is going to be once teaching actually starts.  Speaking of starts...football starts Saturday!  It is a huge thing around here and my roommate Josh is helping out so I'm hoping to attend all the games and cheer the kids on.  I've got to get my LHS Lions shirt before then though.

Overall the day went well.  There are a few sweet girls in my classes and some guys that well...we'll see.  The kids are still young enough to have their "baby" faces, but old enough to be talked to like an adult.  I had them promise me today that if I talked to fast, not loud enough, or they couldn't understand me to stop me and tell me.  They promised they would and I hope they do.