Today we practiced for a fire drill. And let me just say, it was a little different from the fire drills I used to have in my grade school. Back in the day at St. Vincent de Paul, fire drills were a strict and very coordinated event. First, they were generally a surprise. The teachers may know the week in which they would be having a drill, but they would not know the day or time. Once the alarms started ringing, students would quickly line up and file out of the building through a designated exit depending on the location of the class. Once outside, the teachers and classes would go to designated spots and promptly begin role call to ensure everyone had been evacuated. The school administrators would then go around checking that each teacher had every student account for, and then relayed this information via walkie-talkie to the principal and/or firemen. Since this was a while ago, I could be incorrect, but I remember this entire process taking around 2 minutes. Also, everyone was supposed to be completely silent, and for the most part everyone followed this rule.
The fire drill I experienced today was a little different. First, the teachers were told that a fire drill would be happening at 10:30. Therefore, the teacher I was with had the students put on their jackets and line up a few minutes before. He then told the children what was going to happen. Once the alarms sounded, he told me I could lead the children and he would bring up the rear. I then had to ask him where I was supposed to go, seeing as I had no clue how fire drills worked in this school. He told me to just go out the gate where the parents stand in the morning. So as I'm leading the students down the stairs, I am praying that there will be another class ahead of me so I can follow them. Thankfully when I got outside, the gym class (which was conveniently already outside) was lining up. However, they were not quite creating a very good line so I passed them up while they tried to figure out this "line" concept. Then the teacher yelled to me, "Go right!". And that's exactly what I did. As I walked out the gate, one of the administrators asked me which class I had and I kind of stared at him blankly because I knew it was first graders but I could not remember if it was A, B, or C. Thankfully, the professor had now moved up from the rear (I guess he figured the students in the back were capable of saving themselves...) and was able to relay this information, along with how many students were in the class (which I had no clue). Eventually I stopped walking, hoping I had gone to an acceptable area. Since I had chosen a place, the other first grade professors followed my lead and lined up next to me. Turns out I had chosen the area that the infant education students were supposed to be (even though it seemed like a free-for-all and as if the teachers just decided to line their students up wherever). So we just shuffled a little to the right. All the kids were talking/shouting and moving about. Once again, the whole "line" thing was not quite understood. We waited several minutes because the infant education students (3-5 year olds) had to walk all the way around the school. Then we were able to file back in, which essentially was just a herd of students since all hope of lines had vanished. Overall, the school had improved their time from last year. It took a total of four minutes. I'm assuming that meant to literally just get everyone out of the building, not including making sure everyone was accounted for and in the correct location (but who knows), because the whole drill took over 15 minutes. I'm hoping that during a real emergency we are able to evacuate as quickly/quicker. But seeing as the teachers were warned, and some classes were already lined up at the door, I'm not sure how likely that is.
Now on to lice. In the U.S., if a student has lice, they are not allowed to come to school. If it is discovered at school, while they are not sent home (to protect their identity as one of the infected), they are not allowed to return until they have been treated. I also recall head checks for lice, but I don't remember if this was just a preemptive strike to protect against lice or if this was only done after lice was discovered. Either way, lice infected children were not to return to school until the problem had been addressed. Here in Spain, students are allowed to come to school when they have lice. I do not even know if the parents have to inform the school their child is infected. I believe I mentioned in a previous blog that one of the professors nonchalantly told me one of the students had lice. Well this happened again today. Since after finding out lice in students is commonplace here, the thought that I could have lice crosses my mind every time I itch my scalp at school. I am not sure if it's coincidence or what, but I have actually been rather paranoid this week about lice. It kept popping up in my head and I felt my head was itchier than normal. I'm going to claim I was channeling my inner psychic and was predicting the future (rather than accepting there is a chance I have lice). Ironically, this morning on the train ride the professor that rides with us had a newspaper article that had several things magnified (the reproductive parts of a plant, breast cancer cells, some kind of bacteria, etc.) including a nit, aka the egg of a louse. So basically the theme of the week in my brain has been lice, which is not the most pleasant of thoughts. Here's to hoping I don't have lice, which I shouldn't because I don't think I have much head-to-head contact with the students and I haven't used any of their clothing recently!
P.S. Either I am paranoid or I have lice, because my head is pretty itchy at the moment. I'm going with paranoid. But one of the teachers told me tea tree oil is good at preventing lice, so since I already have some, I am putting it in my shampoo as soon as this is posted!
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