A Typical Day

The January school term has started and it means that I plunge into the daily routine of teaching. I teach three classes, grade 8 math, grade 8 science and grade 9 math. I also collect school fees from the grade 8 and 9 students and I manage the schools science equipment.  I must say that I am very grateful to finally have a fairly defined routine and I assure you that developing this routine was at times an exhausting effort.  Routine is the foundation on which we judge any abnormal situation that confront us and so in my first few months in Zambia not having a routine often left me confused during situations that would be totally out of the ordinary in Canada.  But time slowly brings about knowledge and understanding and from that I present to you now my typical day with all its strange quirks.

The sun rises at 05:30 so I get up at 05:30.  School starts at 07:00 this leaves me enough time to eat a mango/banana/apple as I go to fetch some water from the well then bath and then dress.  As I walk the 200m to the well I make sure that I greet everyone that I see.  I fill my bucket at the well or if there is a little kid there then they insist on filling my bucket for me.  When I get back I pour some water into a bath bucket and carry it over to the bath house for my cold bucket bath.  After I dress and shine my shoes I walk to school making sure to greet everyone I see.  Two minutes after leaving home I arrive at school.  On Mondays we have a staff meeting that starts at 06:30 so I have to get up a little earlier.  But if there is no staff meeting I grab my chalk and brush from my office and proceed to teach my classes.  Upon entering my class in the morning I am greeted as follows by the students.

I am in the class or in my office until 09:40 when there is a 20 minute break that allows me to go home and eat breakfast.  My breakfast consists of porridge made from corn meal and tea.  At 10:00 its back to school until 12:40 when classes end and i go home for lunch.  Lunch is nshima (dough made from corn meal) with some side dish, either beans or chicken or some leafy vegetable.  After lunch most people nap but I have never been a very skillful napper so I usually read.  At 14:00 after school study sessions begin for the students so sometimes i will go tutor or I will take some books along for them to practice reading.  If I am not in the classroom i am usually either planning lessons, reading, organizing or fixing the science equipment, helping with some building project or weeding the garden.  During these hours I usually find sometime to slack off and read or eat a few mangoes.  The sun goes down at 19:00 and the candles come out.  Shortly there after we eat supper consisting of nshima with some side dish.  After supper with drink tea talk for a bit then go to bed.

There is a 7 hour time difference between Zambia and Ontario.  So when school ends around 13:00 in Zambia the early risers in Ontario are just starting to roll out of bed at 6am.

This term of school continues until the start of April when we get a few weeks off before term 2 starts.  The third and final term of the school year starts in September and ends in November with national exams for grade 7, 9 and 12.  When I leave in July I hope that after all the day spent together the grade 9 will be able to pass their national exam and make it to grade 10 and if not I hope that at least they will be prepared for life in Zambia.