Last year I took a job teaching 2nd and 3rd grade at the American International School Niamey and it was quite the adventure. This week school started again and I reveled in the fact that I didn’t have to be there. When I took the job I agreed to one year of teaching since I was really just a glorified substitute. I still don’t know the whole story but there was a great need for a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher since the young lady teaching 4th and 5th grades took in the class due to the absence of a 2-3 teacher. When I visited her classroom with the director she looked at me as if I were her Fairy Godmother coming to grant her wish of whisking her off to the ball. How could I refuse the job after that?
It was a year of invention, determination, laughter, tears and beauty. Those children were my biggest challenge and my greatest accomplishment. Even now that I’m not teaching, I do have a bit of an empty feeling that I won’t be entering a classroom full of kids that are either excited to see me or dreading our next writing lesson. I can honestly say that I miss them being in my life every day. Some of them I still see because they are part of the Embassy community. Of course they are the introverts whose love language is NOT hugs but I pick them up and hug them anyway. My excuse is that I am no longer their teacher and I don’t have to be nice to them. I can ignore the fact that in school picking them up and hugging them might be frowned upon. It’s the real world now and I won’t have any repercussions of the law in the back of my mind. Hahahahahaha!! Yikes, that makes me sound like a pedophile. Trust me when I say that my hugging is purely for embarrassment and not for any harm.
Another fantastic addition to randomly getting a job at AISN were the people I worked with. What a great group of people! I loved going to school everyday because I had such a wonderful time with my fellow partners in shenanigans! There are so many great memories and friendships that will live with me. I couldn’t have done it without them and I will have to say, the fact that so many of them have moved on to new teaching positions, marriage or moving back to the States, is one of the reasons I didn’t sign up for another year!
Here are a few photos from the year that summed up how amazing it all truly was.
International Day!
An art lesson about tattoos turned into a writing lesson and henna on our hands. (By the seat of my pants lesson)
I was never in the Science Fair as a kid so I really had no idea what I was doing. Good thing my kids were amazing!
Why yes, I did show everyone my basketball skills. And yes, they were impressed.
The campfire at Week Without Walls might have been my favorite moment.
This might be my favorite photo.
I don’t know how our door for Halloween didn’t win! They were so creative.
Admiring thee time aand effort you putt into your site and iin depth information you present.
It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed information.Fantastic read!
I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.