My school breaks for lunch from 11 am until 2 pm four days a week (the other two school days, school doesn’t resume after lunch, unless it’s a designated student labor day). On Tuesdays, my only class is from 2 pm until 4 pm, and it’s my favorite class, kids who are excited to learn and to learn from me.
As 1:15 approached and I began to consider prepping to go to school, the thunder began to roll in. By 1:30 that thunder had increased in volume and frequency and the lightning was visible. By 1:45 we were all in a torrential downpour that lasted until 3 pm.
In the States I never really considered the impact of weather as simple as rain. Sure, we got snow days or icy road days or fog delays, but rain days? In the States, grab an umbrella and make a break for the nearest cover.
Here, though, that nearest cover doesn’t really exist. Most of the students commute a few (up to around 7) kilometers by bicycle, and many make the trek by motorbike. That journey becomes treacherous with slick roads and decreased visibility, plus there’s the ingrained fear of lightning strikes. Even if they all could make it to school, it’s fairly impossible to conduct class with rain pounding on a tin roof.
There are simple things in the States that I never before considered as a privilege, and holding class and commuting during rain is one of them.
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