So most of my life at school is devoted to teaching, planning to teach and grading the things I've taught.  No big surprise there. I am a teacher.

I also spend a couple of minutes each day signing things.

At school we keep attendance electronically and in hard copy. We do grades electronically and in hard copy. We do a lot both electronically and in hard copy because the Bulgarian government expects that we'll do it in hard copy but the school keeps records electronically because well, it's easier. So we do both.

And, of course, anything you do in hard copy needs a signature.

[caption id="attachment_3819" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Me &amp; The Book!"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3819" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=3819"><img class="size-large wp-image-3819 " title="Me &amp; The Book!" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC02036-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

There's something about this that seems extremely Bulgarian. I think that it's the formality and bureaucracy of the whole thing. Also all of the books are in Bulgarian so you just have to learn--intuit--where to sign.<!--more-->

Each day, I sit at my computer and mark attendance then I go to the teachers' room and do it again in hard copy. Some days, I don't think I'll be able to remember it once I've left my classroom so I write it down on a piece of paper so that I wont forget on my walk across campus this way I can write it down again once I get to the books. Sometimes I have to go back to my classroom to get my attendance.  I hate when that happens.

In the books in the teachers' room, though, students' names don't matter only their number matters. This means that if you have a student who was absent you look up their names at the front of the book. Then you write this number in on the day and in your class period(s). So you write down number 12--if student number 12 was missing that day.

[caption id="attachment_3824" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Books as big as the table "]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3824" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=3824"><img class="size-large wp-image-3824 " title="Books as big as the table " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC02038-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

We also have to jot down our lessons in an even bigger book. Every lesson for every day of the week goes in here. Yep, it's bigger than I am. I am not really sure why this second book is so important--but it is.

Now that the whole thing has become a habit, I don't really mind the rigmarole. In the beginning it was annoying. this year it just is.

Two weeks ago the signing became uber-serious like it used to be recreational and now it's a job. You don't sign without someone making sure that it's right and that you haven't missed anything.  Turns out the Ministry of Education is coming this month to check up on us.

Signatures are important to them. So signatures have become extra important to me too!!

Again, I am not really sure what my signature in hundreds of little squares proves (aside from the fact that it's still kind of a challenge for me to stay in the lines) but I'm doing my part. Or at least I am trying to.  It's going to be an interesting month.