2/12/09 Gaggle of guys

I walked to the middle school around noon today. I've been trying to meet with a science teacher to discuss next month's tree planting, but we keep missing each other. Today, I hoped to catch the students and teachers walking towards town for the lunch break, but I ended up misjudging the time, so instead fell in with a few students who had already walked to town and were now walking back.

One started chatting with me in surprisingly good English. I asked him where he had learned, and he pointed to the high school. I answered his queries in Tam, so that the other students could understand. As we walked - it's about half a mile to the school - more and more students began tagging along. At one point I looked back and realized that I was leading a gaggle of 15-20 boys, ranging in age from about 10 to 17. As we got up to the school, though, they dropped back, and not a single one entered the campus gates with me. Apparently, they're not allowed on campus during lunch. I braved the fortress alone, therefore, only to discover that the teacher I was looking for wouldn't be on campus till 2. (Teachers in Berberville only work half-days, but which half flips back and forth in a Byzantine pattern.) So I'll try again this afternoon, then head out to the lake with Flat Stanley, to help out a different group of students, in a different school, in a different country! :)