It is 9:30 pm – school starts now in eleven hours and our workers are still at it. The student canteen is right next to our apartment and they began a major renovation project on that when we came 10 days ago. Of course it needs to be open tomorrow so the workers have been working 15 to 18 hour days trying to get it done and cleaned up before school begins. Finishing touches are being applied all over the campus – when we arrive it seems like there is no possible way they will be able to get everything done yet somehow they manage. In a couple of days when all the work is done, they will be able take a little break.
For the staff it is much the same – we do have 5 days of in-service but that is kind of misleading. Because we are an international school – we do a major staff development project during that time. Two whole days are set aside for that. As a result, teachers are now scrambling to get everything ready for their classes. Since turnover is high in overseas schools (many change after two years) there is a constant learning curve that takes place as new staff must get acquainted with the daily routines within a school. There are not many “veteran” staff that can come and be ready in 1 or 2 days. I’m sure I had the same frazzled look last year at this time.
We ventured out to
