A typical day in the life

5:00am: Rooster(s) crowing loudly
5:15am: Me thinking about shooting a rooster
5:30am: I fall back asleep
7:00am: I actually wake up

I groggily throw the covers over my head as a few girls bustle in and out of the bathroom, getting ready for the day. Some are brave enough to take a cold morning shower but often I can only bring myself to stick my hair under the faucet (and end up taking showering in the afternoons or evenings). I try and find a suitable teacher outfit and usually have to steal a slip from B across the hall (she is very generous). Half of the girls are already downstairs grabbing some coffee or going to the rectory for a quick breakfast. I am in the second shift of girls and usually miss breakfast.

7:30
Uh oh. I need to dry my hair FAST.

7:45
I need to leave but I'm not ready yet.

7:50
Leaving.
We walk to school---down the clay road, and up the main road then across the basketball court and up another road. We take a right, and the school is on our left.

8:00
Sign-in to the attendance log, slip through the teacher's lounge, thank God that I have my own office and race up the stairs. I open my office grab the key for the chapel and open up the chapel. As I travel the campus and climb the stairs there are "Morning", "Morning, Miss," "Good morning". When I get up to the second floor the first form girls cry out "Good morning, tia!" (Good morning aunt). I reply, "Good morning mis sobrinas!" and they usually giggle at my Spanish-attempt.

8:30-9:30



Plan out the week:
-Figure out which homeroom is doing Mass on Friday and print out a sign-up sheet and readings for the class.
-Print out adoration schedule for teacher's lounge
-Remind teachers that have adoration today of the time
-Go to the teacher's classroom at the adoration time to remind them
-Figure out which class is schedule for confession after Mass on Friday
-Get adoration meditation stuff together
-Go over notes for teaching Sacraments class this afternoon

9:30-11:30
(Adoration scheduled throughout the day)

Learn song on guitar or pick out songs that the students can sing with me
Pick some good songs from my laptop to play for them
Read reflection or make one myself based on Sunday's readings
Have them write down petitions/reflections/or have silent prayer




11:40
Lunch (YES!)

Go to the rectory (hopefully with other volunteers) and eat some salad, chicken, rice and beans, and maybe freshly baked bread or tortillas. Sip some instant coffee with cinnamon and sugar (be careful with the cinnamon though because if you hit it too hard it will pour out!)

12:10-1:00

Tie up loose ends. If there is a retreat on Friday, make sure we get in a meeting and remind speakers/participants. Print out and pass out retreat invitations to kids. Make a checklist of things to bring on the retreat so I don't forget. Activities for retreat????

Scan over music for class (if it is Tuesday or Friday) and play on piano. Remind myself to give Jugs if I need to.

A student might come in at some point in the day to chat about anything from Justine Bieber to serious family issues or school problems. This is when I get to grow closer to students and begin to understand their struggles.

1:00pm
Music class with boys. Are they angels today or crazies? One student loves Lady Gaga and shows me a picture of her after prefacing it with "Want to see my girlfriend?" We pray for Lady Gaga's conversion. Boys touch the keyboard and I threaten with a JUG (detention type thing) after school. I count seconds and keep them after class for that many seconds.



1:10pm
"W, sit down!" "R, stop touching the keys!" "Ro pay attention. Stand up! Everyone needs to be standing with their feet shoulder width apart!"
"Miss, I don't like this song."
"Me either. Let's sing that other one."
"The piano is out again."
"Can you check the chord?"
"Ro, you are standing on the chord."
"Look, if I hold it, it stays on."
"Then you can hold it I guess."

1:20pm
Singing. They sound pretty good. Aw, they're so cute. This is so great they are singing and it's wonderful and...

"Iz, why are you at the window? You need to be standing over here."
(Shoots me a grin). W stands on a chair.
"W, get off the chair." (He gets off)
(Grins)
"Boys, we need to be practicing!" (Mentally tell myself I need to be more strict) "Boys, do you want me to send you to Miss M [the dean]?"
"Noooo."
"Good. Pay attention and stop being ridiculous."

1:40pm
"LaaaAAaaa-laaaa-laaAAAaaaa-laaa-laaaa"
(Random boy from a different elective class walks in)
"Why are you here?" -Me
"I got kicked out of my class."
"Well, why do you think you can come in here?"
"Uh..."
"Okay. Goodbye! Everyone wave bye!!"
"Byeee" - the boys in class
(Random student leaves).



1:50pm
Bell rings.

"Wait boys, we have 2minutes and 32s seconds of silence."

1:51pm
Silence. (Or if someone talks we add on seconds)

1:52.5
"Alright, get out of here. "

I have also recently adopted the "kick-them-out-of-class-if-they-are-over-the-top" mentality and will be using that much more frequently next semester.

K and W grab the piano and help me bring it up to the second floor for the girls class in classroom 2C.

2:00pm

"Ladies! LADIES! Class is starting!"
Girls trickle in. (Remind myself to be more strict)
"We are going to pray now!"
We say prayer.

2:05pm



"Miss, which song are we doing today? Do we have a quiz?"

I might end up teaching music theory if I did it with the boys. On those days we do half music theory and half singing. Let's pretend I was teaching theory.

2:10pm

"So which note is this?"
"A half note."
"Good. What is this?"
"A time signature."
"Good. Which note is this?"
"A whole note."
"No, I mean which note as in the letter of the note."
"A!"
"No..."
"C!"
"No..."
"D!"
"No..."
"E!"
"No...look at your notes! Remember the lines?"
"...G!"
"Yes! Good. You all need to look at your notes though."

2:25pm
Start singing. The girls sound pretty good.

"Good!"
About five girls are starting to chat and are trying to slip away from the group.
"Girls, you need to be SINGING."
They barely move their mouths.
Sigh.

2:35pm
We are trying to do two-part harmony and we are almost there but not quite. We repeat.

2:40pm
The announcements cut in.
"GooOOOod AfternOOooon. Please listen for today's anounncements."
Of course we can barely hear anything because the speaker in this room is remarkably quiet and the girls are remarkably chatty.
"Girls, quiet down so we can hear the announcements."
Bell rings. Cheers heard throughout the school.

3:00pm
Sacraments class if it is Monday in my office otherwise, talking with students or just relaxing.

3:45pm
Hang out with students after school or relax. If it is Thursday we have a staff meeting.

5:00pm
I'm hungry.

5:30pm
"Anyone want to go to dinner?" A few of us walk to the rectory for dinner.

6:30pm
I either chat with volunteers or head over to adoration.

7:00pm
Mass

8:00pm
Go home! Yay!

8:30
Hanging out at our house. Some people are grading or venting or just talking.

9:30-10:pm
Sleep.
:)