Changing the Clock

Or not.

Thursday I was getting ready to teach a class when I looked at my
kitchen clock and saw that I was running just a tad later than I like.
So I ran down to the Marshrutka (you know, the passenger vans used as
mini-buses) and jogged to my class with 15 minutes to spare. I hate to
be late, bad example and all for the students you know, so I was very
happy with myself when I actually arrived a little early.

One student shows up, puts her books down and leaves. I've had a
problem with students not attending classes, apathy runs rampant here,
but I usually have my core group in attendance. Well I decided to wait
for a while and get some writing done. 30 minutes later, no students.
Finally the one student returns, sits and stares at me as if I am going
to teach her even if she doesn't even speak English (I use one of the
students as an interpreter and they weren't there).

I've found that I have to really reach inside myself sometimes to find
the necessary patience with my students but there are moments in which
my annoyance shines through and this was one I guess because I asked
"So, where is everybody?" That's when she told me we still had 45
minutes before class started. I had failed to adjust the kitchen
clock.

In fact, as I write I still have not gone to the trouble of taking the
clock down and setting it back. I'll get around to it.

Eventually.