Exam Week

Once again I find my normal routine disrupted, this time because it is exam week (which technically started last Thursday). In the past we have had week long assessments but this is more important. The children are taking exams to pass the second term. So I find myself looking for work yet again. For a couple days I worked in the office, going over four months worth of financial records. There are three different records kept of every bank transaction and I was given the tedious task of comparing them, to make sure it all matched up. Today I wrote out bills that itemize the children's' school fees for the third term. Primary 1-4 students pay about $80 in school fees which is a lot of money for some of these families that can barely afford to keep their children fed. After filling out over 200 bills, my hand was starting to hurt and I decided to look for another job. I helped Sr. Helena sort newly arrived books for the library. The rest of the week will probably be more of the same, looking for anything to keep me busy. I am starting to resent exams and how it disrupts my schedule. I am still new to teaching and I feel like every time I start to make progress with the kids, another week of tests hits and disrupts us. Oh well.

On a happy note, this week school gets out at 1:30. So that gives me time to do household chores like laundry and fetching water but mostly I have been reading. One of the nuns lent me Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. It is a really good book about Nigeria during the Biafra War and you should read it sometime.