New School Days

I've recently changed to a new school (I teach at two on a 6 month rotation). I went to the new school on Monday and have been there for nearly a week. It was strange visiting the new school. My previous school wasn't that bad, it was old but clean and they were remodeling the building.

The new place looks like some shit hole third world bordello. The walls are peeling and cracked, the titles are grimey and funky, there are cobwebs all over the place, the school ground looks awful, and the teachers room is probably the worst.

There are only two buildings at the new school and they both are 4 stories with 2 crosswalks on each ends of the builds that connect the two buildings. There is a gym with a wooden floor that's all scuffed to hell, with not a single line showing full color... most of it has been scrapped or warn off from age.

The students look different too at this new school. They are slouchy and look like utter pisswads. There faces look gloomy and smug. But it's not just the students that look terrible, the teachers too look like they've been smacked in the face with a sack full of potatoes. They walk around all hunched over like that whack job from Notre Dame. It is very depressing to have to go from a school that was full on spirit to one that's ready for the graveyard.

The strangest thing about the school is the turf field in the school courtyard that lies between the two. It looks like a real grassy area, but as soon as you get within pissing distance to it, you can tell it's fake. This area, is the place where I gave my introduction to the students, along with some student teachers who would be there for the next few weeks.

The turf is a place for kids to wrestle around, hang out, and sit on during lunch. I have been offered the same opportunity but I think I will pass on it... something about sitting on plastic fibered turf in the middle of July when it hits 80-90 degrees (28-32C) just doesn't appeal to me.

The school's a real dive, but I think I'll like it well enough. If you're given a shit sandwich and your starving, I think you'll do one of two things, grin and bare it, or die. I am not the type to die, so we'll see how it goes. Besides I had been warned about this school long before I came by the teacher that taught there before me. We actually switched schools and I was filled in quite well about all the elements at play in that school. Had it not been for that, I would have been really fucked.