Thursday, February 17, 2011

This one is cheating, Don´t tell my students...

Turns out I am a lazy blogger.  Imagine that.  I have started about 4 more posts, with internet and in my journal.  Yet they have not been published.  I´ll put them up sometime I am sure.  In the meantime, here´s a little bit about my first few days of school.  It may look familiar to some of you.  I´m not going to say why in case it isn´t for all of you...

I had my first two days of classes last week.  Or I had my first two days of baby sitting while my director had
classes and I "got to know" the students.  The younger kids seemed to take to
me.  I was offered cold pizza some students had from the night before.  One said
"El pan es muy rico.  Quere, Teacher?" Or, the bread is really tasty.  Do you
want some teacher?  As he started to pull off a piece with his little grubby
hands. I considered, but how could I say no?  Then his brother followed suit and gave me a piece
of his, this one with cheese.  I think that's a good sign, right?  The older kids don't
seem to be as excited.  I tried to play a game with them and they looked at me
like I was a huge fool.  Sigh.  Then the next day, I asked them what game kids
their age liked to play and they said one that I had played the day before with
the little kids (the little kids are happy when Teacher plays with them) and I
was excited because it seemed like a fun game.  Turns out, Teacher was not
allowed to play because the teams would have been uneven.  Little brat sixth
grader.  I don't know why I agreed, but it meant that I stood with the REALLY
shy girl (she won't talk to anyone in English or Spanish).  Maybe the game is
fun to play, but it's not fun to watch for an hour.  I don't know about those
big kids.  They are too cool for school.  I guess I should just make class
really hard.  What pay back.  I can´t handle the stress of feeling like I´m in middle school.
I have to be the bigger person here, even though there are a few students taller than me... So
technically, no.  Adult, be an adult.

Altogether there are 22 (?) students.  The director told me there were only 20
and then there were more students on the first day.  It's nice that the previous
volunteer told me a little bit about the students, cause I know that they speak
more English than they let on.  Some kids do seem really excited to learn and to
be pleasing and polite.  If anyone has any tips on how to punish 6th graders... 
Man, they make me want to cry.

Speaking of crying, I did.  A lot.  While walking into my town from the bus
stop.  So the road is gravel and you know, along the side of a mountain...  I
was walking and doing ok, but it was the worst time to be walking in the sun at
this point along the equator.  I got right before this really steep part and
stopped to drink some water.  Seemed like a good idea.  Then I walked up the
really steep part, but turns out, though it's not as steep of an incline, right
after that part is a stretch that goes on forever.  I started to walk and took a
break in the shade for a minute.  Then I walked another 20 feet and stopped in
the shade.  I was trying not to cry during these breaks.  But people would
occasionally drive by and make no notice of the gringa having a heart attack on
the side of the road, so I felt pretty alone.  And I was thinking all of these
horrible things like "How come I can't make this walk when 5 year olds here can
make it?  When did I get so lazy?  What if my students don't like me?" and "Why
would I leave the comfort of my home, family and friends to do something so
hard?"  And I got to one shady spot and figured it was better to get it out.  So
I started to cry, then I pulled it together and moved on to the next shady spot
where I cried again.  And so went my first walk up the mountain.  All in all it
only took a little over an hour.  Pretty good time considering. I need to learn
not to book it inbetween shady spots.  That might help.  It takes about half an
hour to walk down to the bus stop, which is usually pretty peaceful and
uneventful though there are often times when I almost bite it.  Gravel is
slippery!  I haven't cried on the way down yet.  We'll see what happens when I
leave...

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