The Myth of Dustless Chalk (and Other Thoughts)

I'm glad I began teaching in the 21st Century. Only on teaching practice did I encounter chalk and since then I've always used a white (or SMART board). That is, until I came to Korr. All classrooms have a black board. They are large, and need to be for the amount we write on them. But it is the chalk that is the challenge. The boxes claim the sticks we have are dustless. This is not the case. Chalk dust gets everywhere and is just horrid!

Putting on a smile despite the chalk dust!

Despite being in the northern hemisphere (just), June-August is the cool time of year in Korr. Temperatures drop below 30 degrees and strangely this seems cold to me, especially as the wind is still going strong. I need a jumper and a have a blanket at night.

I had always thought that school children in Africa would be very well behaved. Obviously this is a generalisation as Africa is huge but I fell for it. It might actually true for the continent or even Kenya. But not for Korr! Students here are late to lessons, call out, cheat, lose their books, try and get out of wearing uniform. Like kids back home!

And my final thought is that I don't think I will ever prefer sweet Kenyan chai to a good English cuppa (without sugar) no matter how much of the sweet stuff I am given!