This past week has been the final exams for most subjects (I
did them the week before so that I could proctor all of the chemistry tests),
meaning that I’ve been spending my days walking up and down rows of students
making sure they aren’t talking or cheating. Which is somewhat entertaining for
the first day or so. And then it sucks. Because I actually watch the students
to make sure they aren’t cheating, the turmas all freak out when they find out
I will be proctoring their tests. Which is amusing and then just annoying. But
here is an entertaining conversation that I’ve had with pretty much every
turma:
(Backstory: I have just taken away someone’s test and given
them a zero for cheating. Also, I go to mass every Thursday with the kids who
live in the dorms)
Student: Senhora
Professora, você não reza? (Senhora Professora, don’t you pray?)
Me: Silence (attempt not to have this conversation for the
twentieth time)
Student: Senhora
Professora, você não reza?
Me: Rezo para
as almas dos alunos que estão a cabular. (I pray for the souls of the
students who are cheating).
Silence.
The cheating continues, so their Catholic guilt apparently isn’t
as strong as I had hoped. And one girl tried to convince me that taking away
her test was a sin.