Friday, March 12, 2010

New Roommates

Yesterday (Thursday) on my way to the library, I was approached by two boys from the high school asking if they could rent the extra house in my room. I talked a little bit with them and told them honestly that I have no idea whose house it is or who they need to talk to if the want to rent it, but suggested they ask the principal at my school. She wasn’t there so I agreed to meet them at 4 when the library closed to introduce them. At 4 she still wasn’t there so I said they would just have to wait until tomorrow and they smiled and nodded and went off to find a place to stay for the night.
I expected not to see them again until Friday so you can imagine my surprise when I went to investigate a noise outside and found them (plus one other boy) lurking sheepishly in my back yard. This was at around 7:20, just as the earliest signs of evening are starting. They told me that no one else would take them in and asked if they could stay just for the night. Here’s the problem: I had learned from another teacher at my school that the kids needed a place because they got kicked out of the hostel, so I was a little nervous. I confronted them about it and they told me the story. Apparently they got caught jumping over the fence around the hostel… which they were doing to go to class… because the man with the key locked the gate early… I’m not entirely sure if this is accurate, but I kind of believe it because it’s quite possible the head of the hostel wants to make an example of some “misbehavers” to help with discipline. We were told to be very strict and harsh our first week of school as teachers for the same reason. I didn’t feel unsafe around these boys, but I was a bit nervous I might wake up with my laptop gone… nonetheless I couldn’t let them sleep outside knowing I have a free room so in they came.
My fears were somewhat assuaged when one of them brought me the ring I left in the bathroom after my shower and said “miss you left this!” frantically. I slept restlessly but the night went without a hitch, except I had to get up at 4 to wake one of them up for a track meet. Today we played cards, talked, listened to music, and I showed them the movie gladiator on my laptop. They missed a lot of the political plot but when I asked (after 2 hours…) if they wanted me to pause it so they could take a break, they literally yelled “no! No!”
I like them a lot, and trust them a lot more now. It is a little weird though because they are used to being told what to do and having to report their actions. So they tell me where they are going and what they are doing constantly. And they went to bed on their own promptly at 8:30, washed their uniforms, and do their dishes after eating. Actually, they gave me a hard time about how clean the house is (“miss, if we are staying here we really must sweep tomorrow”). I will tell you more about their personalities later, but for now this post is quite long enough!

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