Wednesdays

The school schedule here is interesting.  We don't get started until 8:20 or 8:30, there are no bell schedules, each child or grade level has their own schedule.  Sometimes I get breaks between classes, other times they literally start one right after the other.  The high school side of things has chapel on Friday mornings from 8:30 until 9:50 and the classes we miss, we don't make up.  School is out at 3:45 on most days, but every Wednesday is a half day (which means we have morning classes, and we get out at lunch).

The half days are for two reasons: first of all, since we're so far from the city, if we need to get anything done during normal business hours, we're out of luck.  Business hours in the city end anywhere between 4 and 6, and most businesses are only open on weekdays.  It takes us a good hour to get to the city.  Do the math.  Having half days on Wednesday means that if there are things we need to get accomplished, we can go in after lunch on Wednesday and we'll have a few hours to get stuff done - like going to the bank or next week when I'm (finally) going in to apply for residency.  Stores and shops are open on the weekends, but any official business won't happen then.  The other reason for the half days on Wednesday are the brigades that come through.  Each time a medical brigade is in the city, they have Wednesday "off"...and they come out here and tour the ranch, meet the kids, etc.  Part of that is a soccer game between the brigade members and the ranch.  So on days when there's a brigade, the students get out of school at 11:30 so they can put their books away and be ready for the game which usually happens at noon.  While they're getting ready, the brigade tours the school.  It's a pretty good schedule.  And I do appreciate having a half day on Wednesday...though often the afternoon flies by, because there is a lot to get caught up on.

There's a brigade staying here this week...which has caused a bit of excitement.  They spent Monday putting in a tetherball pole and a flag pole in front of the school.  While they were digging, they hit a water pipe, which means that we didn't have any water pressure for some hours on Monday...and when we got it back, it was really dirty.  It's basically cleared out now.  It's nice to have drinking water again.  The things we definitely take for granted...  [I think because the house I'm in was the closest to the break, our water took the longest to clear out...some of the other houses just lost pressure for a while, but their water was clean pretty quickly...so Melody walked over to one yesterday morning and filled up a few pitchers.]  Last night there was a bonfire and smores.  I spent some time over there and talked with people before going back home and finishing up the book I was reading.  Today is the soccer game (which I promised my 7th graders I'd at least play in - Kevin wants me to be goalie).  And my next class just came in, so I should get back to teaching. :-)