Things got really busy really fast in the last week. The scholarship program finally materialized and so I met with my night class for the first time a few nights ago. Since this is intended to be a prep course outside their normal curriculum, I let them make their schedule with me. I asked them, “How often do you guys want to meet? Four times a week?” This, of course, had to be repeated a few times, with my drawing a small calendar on the board marking days of the week where we could meet up. One student finally got it and explained to her classmates what I was asking in Thai. They all discussed with each other and then almost in unison, they turned to the front and shouted “seven times!” Whoa, whoa WHOA. I am soooo for a not ready to sign myself up for 7 classes a week. I asked them, “not too much? You’re sure?”
“Yes! Seven!!” I thought about this for a second…and then I asked them, “How long? We start at 7:00pm and end at 8:00pm?” One of them chimed in, “End at 10 PM!” Holy crap, this scholarship really means a lot to these kids. But I knew my own limits and told them 6 times a week and that class meets from 7-8:30, Monday through Saturday. Except in the last hour, I was just informed these guys have to take a test in early March. Three weeks. I still don’t know how to speak French fluently and I’ve studied that language since the stone age, basically. THREE WEEKS. Maybe I need to do more with them during the week. Just maybe.
But as of now, I’m teaching for 20 hours a week with my day classes. That doesn’t include the hours spent preparing lessons and grading homework assignments. I’m still acting as volunteer coordinator, meaning I read up on applications we get and I do head hunting for specific positions we need help with. Another volunteer’s family has been over and so I’ve been covering her administrative tasks too. I’m a little tired! I haven’t read for leisure in over a week. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary back at home, but I don’t really have anything else to do here but work, read and eat. And I haven’t stopped eating, I’ll give you that much.