-^-for posterity-^-

the school is always humming. there are about 6000 students in the same area as my highschool which only had about 350. i work in the office and enjoy looking out the window to watch the students go about their daily lives.

there is always a mob of students between every class. every time the gigantic, rusted bell is rung by the security guards, students flood out of classrooms and stroll past the groups of old ladies squatting by the side of the road selling different kinds of snacks. the male students normally nip off to the local coffee shop and have a cup of coffee between class.

there are also dance practices that go on right below my office. girls will prance around in circles with flags and what not as men run back and forth with arms outstretched. this morning one group practiced with the same song for about three hours. i went outside to watch them argue about a miniscule point in their dance. one of the men wanted to have their hands clenched as fists at one point and one of the women who was taking charge was insisting that they remained pointed.

there is also the ubiquitous gym class. with so many students and not much space, the gym class happens everywhere. every day right before lunch a class runs around the ad building. the students all wear the same uniform with the color changing depending on their year. all of the girls wear the uniform but with a wide variety of different hats. some of the gym classes involve the long jump, shot putting (nothing like seeing a 5 foot tall girl who can't weigh more than 90 pounds try to shot-put), volleyball, high jump and badminton.

today was a big day for the long jump. they all gathered around a pit of sand and the men went first. they jumped with abandon and landed in huge clouds of dust. they weren't measuring the jumps, just practicing. the crowd clapped as they landed. the girls went next and were, well, dainty in their effort. they would jump a foot or so and none produced the same cloud of dust as the men.

all continues normally. teachers meet each other in the halls, exchange greetings and go off to work. administrators sit around a large table sipping hot tea and talking about how to make sure the school's going in the right direction. in all my years, i never thought i'd be working in a school. my mom always worked there and i always wanted to be something else. i wanted to be something that involved passions and adventure, like a writer or an astronaut or a paleontologist.