A welcome like no other

 For the past two days I have been busy meeting administrators, teachers, and students at the Jose Rizal University.  The name may seem a bit miss leading but this private school goes from elementary through graduate school. The staff welcomed us with rose petals and a feast. On day two, after five observations and a meeting with the university president, we were again treated to a feast.   I was given the opportunity to meet with the social studies department, a group of energetic, forward thinking women.  Next week I will have the opportunity to coteach with one of these enthusiastic women.

 We rounded off our evening with a trip to a night food market that caters to the many call center employees.  The Philippines has the largest number of call center employees in the world, outdoing India. The Banchetto officially opens at midnight each night but we stopped by at 9:30.  There were many delicious foods from which to choose.

Shoutout to Jaylee: up until now, Filipino students were required to stay in school only through 10th grade. The government has now passed a law requiring schools to offer 11th and 12th grade. This is a dramatic and tramatic change for the country because that means that for two years there will be no high school students entering the university.   In addition, most schools are not prepared  to house the students nor do they have enough staff.

Shoutout to Brooke:  in general, most students are in school from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon