Day 1 or Is it Thursday or....

Today started well I got into work early by Taxi with my new found friends (the two lady teachers that live locally and have taken me under their wings - which is really nice).

Walked into the class to find workmen building workbenches in Dianas room. They come flat packed (Colombia Style)

The problem with building the benches at 7.25 is that we had 2 classes of 26 1st and 2nd years descending on us at 7.30 Steve has a great idea... lets put them all in one class and I'll do a lesson on design and Mindmaps. 10 minutes later I am standing in front of 52 kids and I am thinking Diana why did you let me do this !!! Diana on the other hand was standing at the back of the class with a wicked grin going this was YOUR idea.... (Mental note to self in future SHUT UP), That said by the end of the period we had 52 Mindmaps and although the kids were a little noisy (I say a little we actually had the Head Teacher come in wondering what we were doing to the kids) they all produced a very good level of work under circumstances of little space and over crowding....

The new benches are much better lots of space and proper seating positions. The kids will appreciate and so will I now that I can actually produce a seating plan to know where the kids are (Having 5 kids named Santiago in class is not good for my health especially when you do the register going - Santiago and 5 voices echo back at you)

There is one minor draw back to the new benches the concept of Health and Safety is a tad unknown in Bogota, as the Benches are rough edged and the wedges used on the legs don't always seem to fit as neatly as you would expect



BUT the biggest warning area is the bench vise - This is attached to the side of the leg of the Bench in such a way as to be perfectly placed to smash a kneecap or rip off clothing as you pass.


The school have agreed to make some modifications but the design had me rolling on the floor and Diana fuming (fortunately in spanish). Diana is a real boon she is full of ideas (Some much more practical than mine) and with her Colombian background has helped sort out no end of problems BUT today we had to move some tables (Old Physics tables we had been borrowing), these tables are too big to go through the doors unless you take the tops off, and the tops are made of 2 inch thick GRANITE !! They weigh a ton... As Nelson (As you can see from the photo's he is really taking to this technology stuff - Here I am sitting in a shirt and there he is made up like he is going on a paintball expedition !!),

So as Nelson and I manhandled one of the 8 Tables we had to move past Diana she pouted and said "I'd help but I'm just a girl!!!"
There are days this equal opportunity thing definitly doesn't work OR maybe its just like Health and Safety it hasn't quite reached Colombia yet.

Overall its been a good day, hope tomorrow goes in the same vein.