My First Lecture

I left for Ozamiz from Iligan at around 6 am. I woke up at 4:45, and waited for the staff to fetch me. They came thirty minutes later than they said they would. I was a bit worried, but hey, what can I do, right? We waited for a taxi, but none came within ten minutes, so we took a jeepney instead (a jeepney is a vehicle unique to the Philippines, having two vertical rows of cushioned seats facing each other). When we arrived at the terminal I bought some food for a light breakfast and got on the bus which would drop me off the port where I would then meet one of the Ozamiz staff who would accompany me in the 15-minute barge ride to the hotel where I would change and prepare my things, afterwhich I would proceed to the office (the classroom was next door to it) and start my 8-hour lecture. The above process didn’t stay on the clock since I already started late, and I ended up arriving at 10 am. Everyone was there waiting for me, and I was like… oh, this is it.

I guess I did a pretty good job all in all. Just the fact that when I asked my students to choose whether we’d take a break and have some sort of intermission number or proceed with the discussion and they chose the latter, was a good sign, I suppose. When I told the staff about it they said it wasn’t their usual behavior. They usually chose the break. I was so happy.

Now I’m back in my hotel room, thinking about how I would spice up tomorrow’s lecture. They said they’d book me a room in another hotel – the one they usually went to for rooms – because the said hotel had no vacancy the day before and one of the staff commented that my bed was too small. Although it was half as wide as the one I slept in last night, it was pretty okay.

But suddenly I try to speak and my voice is different. Oh dear.