First Day at MAN 4

Days begin very early here; Novi (our host teacher) told us that a few years ago the government made a decision to start school at 6:30 AM in hopes of relieving traffic jams.  But traffic is still so intense, I wonder what it would have been like without that decision?

Novi picked us up at the hotel lobby at 5:45 but patiently waited while Jeanne and I ate some breakfast (usually, the breakfast buffet doesn’t open until 6 AM, which means we always would have missed breakfast, but since this is Ramadhan, it opens at 5:30 so fasting people can eat before daybreak).

It only took us about 25 minutes to drive to the school because we were on a highway most of the time.  But I could see traffic in the other direction was very heavy.  Novi explained that those were all the people going to work in the center of the city.  At that point, it reminded me of the BA Expressway; morning traffic is heavy going east but not west.

When we arrived at the school, the first thing we noticed was that all of the schools (there is a primary, middle and high school here, plus boarding facilities) were surrounded by an orange steel fence on top of a cinder-block and mortar wall. On the wall closest to the entrance was a large banner welcoming us.  Not only was there a banner at the front gate, there was also one hung from the third floor balcony in the courtyard.  And there was a third one (smaller, vertical one on a retractable screen) in the waiting area for the principal’s (headmaster’s) office.  Novi carted this to every class we visited and took photos of us with the banner.  I got the definite impression they were glad we were here!

Next, we were ushered in to the principal’s office that had a huge conference table and a smaller sitting area complete with sofa, coffee table and chairs in the corner.  It was here we were given steaming, sweet tea and introduced to the principal and assistant principals.  We chatted about the exchange program, and the principal seemed overcome with joy when Jeanne presented a letter of intent to become a sister school with MAN 4.  We then discussed logistics of teleconferencing when separated by a twelve hour time difference.

Before we left for our first classroom observation, we were told this would be our ‘home base’ and planning area and that we should feel free to come in and use the private restroom that was in a corner and directly accessible from both the principal’s inner office and the conference room.  After that, we were off to the classrooms.  I’ll write more about that later, but it’s almost time to go and I don’t want to be late!