First Day of School

When I was a kid, every year my mom would take a picture of me on my first day of school right before the bus picked me up. Man, I used to be a fashion icon. Flower dresses, white socks with lace and black dress shoes, teased bangs and headbands, the works. Well mom, I took a picture before heading to my first class. Just for you. It is that same excitement for the first day of school. I love it. Even though it's not autumn and the trees aren't turning colors and I haven't seen a "back-to-school" sale at any of the markets, I was still excited. I may not have the same getup, but I did take a red bus to school. It made me nervous because at least 5 red truck taxis stopped for me but vigorously shook their head and drove away when I said Mor Chor (local lingo for CMU). I didn't know getting a cab to the University at 7am would be such an ordeal. I don't know why they drive off, so I just wait for the next one....then the next one....

The campus is beautiful. It's so green and filled with trees that you can't even see half the buildings. You might as well be walking through a forest. I love it. Here's something that I just noticed today. They let the trees grow in the parking lots. I should say they don't cut the trees down when paving the parking lots. What's that? You found a killer parking spot right next to the entrance? Oh sorry, the tree's already got it. Also, there is a great little patio area outside of the English Department building, and if you look closely in the photo, there is a tree swing! You know I'll hit that up later.

I only teach one class on Mondays and Thursdays. I teach four classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. There is no class on Wednesdays. I don't know how I'm going to handle being in front of students for 5 or more hours two days of the week. Should be interesting. I'll either need to bring a change of clothes or just stop sweating altogether. Oh yeah, there is no air conditioning in the classrooms. I think I'll have to get one of those personal fans that you hold in front of your face and it sprays a gentle mist to cool you down. "Class, does anyone know what a 'soccer mom' is?"

Speaking of class, the classroom is old school. Overhead projector. Chalk board. Tape player. Wooden desks. Did I say no air conditioning? I got there early this morning to scope it out. Seeing all the desks crammed together made me a little nervous when I imagined 40 sets of eyes on me. When class started, the students came inside the classroom huddled in a little cluster, as if their hands and legs were tied together and they had to move as one. Before they actually entered the room, they stopped outside the door until I looked up at them. They all bowed and smiled and stood there. I gave them a nod and a smile and I said 'come in.' They shuffled into the first two rows of desks. In America, students like to waltz in and take a seat at the back of the room like they own the place. It's so different here. They just stare and smile. They were so nervous. The thing that I was nervous about: would they understand a word I was about to say?

I started class right at 8am, and I only had about 11 students. I was expecting 30 or more. For these freshman, it was their very first class of their college career and here they had this girl with a Minnesotan accent who talks too fast. I tried my very hardest to speak slowly and clearly. You try speaking to a group for an hour or more while articulating every letter you speak and only saying two words per second. It's difficult to keep that slow pace. I went through the course syllabus quickly, as well as general classroom expectations, how they can get a hold of me, and other housekeeping things in the first 30 minutes. This was supposed to take most of the class. What was I going to do now? I had 45 minutes to fill. So I had them introduce themselves to me, and after doing so I had a better idea of their skill levels. I then told them a little bit about myself and about America and Minnesota. When I said the temperature can get around -5 degrees Celsius, they just about pissed themselves. (This is a modest 23 degrees F). None of them have ever seen snow, and none of them have ever owned a pair of mittens.

I had the students ask me questions if they had any. The first one was my age. This is what I was afraid of. I'm not much older than them and I want them to take me seriously even though I may only be 3 years their senior. I told them anyway. They all gasped. "22? Did she say 22?!" They thought I was nearly 30. Nice.

The next question was interesting: "Who are you going to vote for in the upcoming election? Democratic or Republican?" I have a feeling he's going to be an advanced student. This was the same student when we did a class exercise about what their favorite subject is, answered, "Studying English with Ajaan Mia!" Oh boy.

At the end of class, I had a young woman approach me and ask me what she needed to do to get an A in the class. It was very sweet and that's when I realized I'm going to have a great group of students who really want to do well. I'm so excited, I can't even tell you. I was exhausted after just one class, so tomorrow I'll be treating myself to some ice cream and a massage at the end of the day. 4 classes.....I'll let you know how they go.