Teaching Update - Part 1

Now that school has been going on for over two months, it's time for an update. Our days at school follow a pretty similar pattern, so what you read here is pretty much how each of my days go.
Although school officially begins at 10am, Caitlin and I arrive around 9:45 for assembly. The kids line up by year, one row of boys and one of girls for each year, and do a mini-calisthetics program before singing the national anthem. I have no idea what they're singing, but I can repeat verbatim entire portions of the anthem.
There are 8 periods each day, each one 40 mins long. This is typical of Nepali government schools, all of whom run from 10-4 each day. The only difference is the exact times of each period, which varies slightly by school.
On the walk across the courtyard we are greeted by kids from almost every class. 'Good Morning', 'Namaste', handshakes and high fives fill the roughly 100m from the gates to the stairs, and then along the walkway to the staff room. Handshakes (the kids are obsessed with them, and equate a handshake with good) and high fives are almost exclusive to the younger classes, while all years say hello.
Unless a teacher is absent and a class needs to be covered, we have periods 1 and 2 free. We spend the time planning lessons, chatting, reading, playing random word games and staring out the window. Pretty much, we're bored. On nice days we take chairs out onto the walkway to enjoy the sunlight.
For the first six weeks or so there were about 10-12 student teachers. This meant there were always lots of people at the end of the walkway where the staff room is. It is quite a central location, teacher-wise, and there was a constant stream of people going by, an English teacher stopping to chat, or other teachers stopping to test our limited knowledge of Nepali. We're still getting better, but can still only handle the pleasantries.
Now that the student teachers have finished it is much quieter. The teachers are teaching the classes themselves now, and have much less free time. We've even found ourselves alone int the staff room!
Leading up to the Jubilee out headmaster, Mr. Ram Babu Shrestha (I love that name) was so busy he was almost never around. Now he's at school every day, so we see him quite a bit. He's a lovely man, and really makes an effort to ensure we are happy. Hopefully with his slightly less busy schedule we will be able to spend some time with him.