Take a Little Tour

Well, I have begun teaching and it has proved to be quite a challenge. I am teaching English to the entire school (ten classes) and I am teaching one class of history. My classes range from 45 to 75 students to a class. However, a couple of the class have diminished to as little as 16 late in the day. The students live on campus and have classes from 7:30 in the mourning until 5:30 at night and the first two weeks seem to be understood as nothing more than a joke, so attendance can suffer. Some of my classes lack a chalkboard and not one of the classrooms has enough desks, so the students are forced to sit on the floor. In fact, two of the class have no desks at all. The absence of desks we get around but you should see the dumb look on my face when there is no chalkboard.
As for the classes themselves: the first class of history was a disaster but I followed it up with a second that we all agreed was as success. I am now adjusting to the surprise that history is quite a bit easier to teach than English. I assumed it would be the opposite, but I have struggled a bit with the material for English. At this point, there are only so many students I have been able to reach, and I say that in a practical way, not in a 'Dangerous Minds' sort of way. But I hope to work the kids into a routine that will allow me to be creative with them and actually have an interesting class.
And the home front? My garden has got a good start. A student has taken it over in order to become certified as a person who can run a garden from start to finish. Seems to be a win-win. My zucchini plants are huge and only a month old. I have planted twelve of them and eleven have not only survived but thrived. The package said two months to harvest but I should sneak in under five weeks and, because they are doing so well, I am now hoping they are not evasive. Some of you may be saying that I planted too many but keep in mind I am in Africa and all of you bums in the US throw out enough food to feed the world twelve times. The only thing I need to do is come up with some simple recipes to give to the locals with each bundle of fruit I give away.
I have posted some pictures of a little tour of the site. The link is the webshots album on the right. Sorry, but after viewing the album I realized that I am a little biased to the fields as opposed to the school itself so the perspective is not incredibly balanced but you will have to deal with it for now. Take note that my dog Diogi is absolutely adorable. I have been lazy and have procrastinated with training her. The only thing she knows is where she can and can't go. She seems to prefer scavenged goat skin and other scraps to any food I offer her so I don't have to feed her which is okay by me. She is the last of five, all of which I intended to give to friends and all of which (excluding her) were stolen. But, do not fear. A handsome male has been courting her mother Mary and I don't think she minds him. I predict that my two month old puppy will have siblings in about the length of a dog's gestation period (rumored to be between two days and two months, but wikipedia would beg to differ).
I have been reading like mad. Shhh! Don't tell anybody, they might think I am not working hard enough. Still, thus far I have read seventeen books. If you have any you can't get rid of in the yard sell this summer send 'em my way. Currently, the post office box I have in Maxixe is 100% successful and averages three weeks to arrive. For a little perspective, that is amazing and the most you can hope for in the country. I am supposed to keep contact info limited but it is posted in an earlier post. Keyword 31.

Thanks for all your support, I would love to hear from all of you.
Chase