Team of Dodgers

What I tried to post last time...

Sorry it’s been a while. I didn’t really feel like I had much to say
because teaching was going normally and I didn’t have any news. I
don’t really have any news now either, but I figured since I’m leaving
in 3 weeks, I could probably scrounge up some stories for you.

My form IIs have been kind of annoying. I went back and forth with
them all term, sometimes loving them, sometimes hating them. The
class as a whole has a discipline problem, as almost half of them skip
class regularly, so I get frustrated with them a lot. But, other
times I have fun just making fun of the rather big personalities I
have in my class that often skip.

The last two weeks, I was playing soccer with the boys quite regularly because they had a match coming up, so they had to get a lot of practice in. Some days, we had so many boys wanting to play that we had enough for 3 teams, so we would rotate one team out each time one team scored.

One of the days, we started out with just 22 people, so we played a match like normal. Then, a bunch of boys (11 to be exact) came super late, and when my team got scored on, they all ran onto the field shouting for my team to get off because now we had three teams. Well, I was already annoyed at them because at least 3 of them had not been in class that day, so I started shouting back at them (in Swahili of course) that they were too late.

One of them (nicknamed Crazy Charlie by Emily and I, and one of the “dodgers” in my class) engaged me personally, telling me to leave, laughing. I repeated again that he was late and that he should leave. We argued for a bit, and then I told him (loudly enough for everyone to hear) that when he comes to class, then he can play. All of his friends started laughing because he’s sort of notorious, and he told
me that class was another matter. I said “not to me,” and mustered my most teacher-like voice and said emphatically, “get out.” And they did. :) It was so funny, and I was really happy that my Swahili didn’t fail me. Usually when I get mad or fired up, my brain refuses to think in another language, but that interaction was pretty successful.

At the end of the game), I made a side comment to Mario about the “dodgers’ team,” and he started laughing and asking the students on our team whether they had heard me, and repeated what I said. Then they all started laughing and yelling to their friends on that team.

As we were leaving, the ones I accused of being dodgers were all coming up to me and saying “I’m not a dodger, he is!” “No, I’m not. You are!” It was really amusing. Mario ended the arguments by saying “OK, we have attendance. We will see tomorrow.” And Crazy Charlie came to class the next day :)