Tough day in the classroom today. I have been promising to show them the Gandhi movie for weeks now, and have also been trying to show it to them. Finally I got the keys to the cupboard and the classroom where the tv and dvd machine are. Allegedly. All the kids troop in, get themselves arranged in front of the cupboard, I open it and viola! No DVD machine... I dispatch a student and her buddy to borrow one from the Bursar... they return. No double adaptor. I dispatch her again... they return. No cord to connect the tv to the DVD player.
Now let me tell you that 20 mins of the 45 min lesson is gone already. The movie is 3 hours long. The maths is not working out in my favour. Also, the natives are getting restless. Not sure if that is a Conrad quote, but it ought to be. And I now sympathise. The volume of chatter is rising and one dear child has already threatened another with his chair, as if to tame a lion. I, in turn threaten with detention, for both of them, for good measure. Guess what... they girl returns. The cord is quite magical and has appeared to disappear. Impressive. There is now 15 minutes of the lesson left and it was at this point that getting up at 6 to be at school and spend my morning with these little muffins, these little fruitpies, these little cupcakes takes it's toll and I banish them to the field where they can be loud and energetic away from me and my detention forms.
Tomorrow I am taking my own dvd player, my own double adapter and my own cords. I will also have detention forms and extra homework at the ready, just in case of power failures or unavoidable natural disasters.
PS. Gandhi was a super caloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis. Go Mary Poppins!
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