Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I woke up a little before my alarm was set to go off at 7. I did my usual morning routine in time for breakfast at 7:30. We had avena (oats) for breakfast with a banana to slice up and put in the avena. It was very watery and sweet. It tasted kind of like instant oatmeal made with four times the amount of water that you should put in. I also had coffee. It is so cold here that drinking coffee is one of my three warmest times of the day. The others are when I am eating soup and when I wake up before I get out of bed.

I stopped by my room, grabbed my stuff, and headed for the daycare. I got there right at 8. Today the children ate breakfast right away, and then they headed to the classroom. We sang some songs together, and then they made little puppets that looked like people. They were made out of foam shapes. The children practiced arranging them how they wanted, and then one at a time, Audi glued the person together and added a toothpick to be the stick. She used what looked like a stick of hot glue, but she had to stick it in a lit candle that was balanced on the table. With all the children reaching around the candle, I was surprised that no one got burnt. After this, we played some games like musical chairs, a game where you had to find your partner when the music stopped, and hot potato. A woman dressed in a suit came to visit the class. Her name was Alejandra. I was introduced to her, but I didn’t understand why she was there. She started interacting with the children right away. The children also had a time to read books. Estefani “read” to me. It was interesting because the book we were looking at was bilingual, but she obviously couldn’t tell this. She had good concepts of print because she would follow the text with her finger as she made up a sentence about the picture. The book had photographs of children showing different emotions. One of my favorite descriptions was the page where a happy girl is eating a cookie. Estefani read it, “The girl is eating a tostada,” which actually made a lot of sense to me, but I thought it was funny because it so clearly reflects the cultural differences between children here and children in the U.S. I really can’t imagine any of my students saying that! Finally, the children had a free play time when they got to play with puzzles, maze games, and cards with animals on them. Then the students each got a piece of hard candy (including the 18 month olds) and then we went back in the other room and they ran around (with the candies in their mouths) for about twenty minutes until it was time for lunch. I got to talk to Alejandra a bit, and I found out that she is going to take over for Audi when she goes on maternity leave. I helped seat the children at the table after they washed their hands, and then I left at noon.

I quickly walked to the internet café and did my usual there. No one was available on Skype today. I left as soon as my half hour was up and walked quickly back to my room where I showered as fast as I could before lunch. It was actually getting warm about this time! I must say that this shower is the first one I have taken here without a massive case of goose bumps, although they arrived the moment I left the bathroom. I went into the house a few minutes late, but I was the only one ready to eat lunch. I talked to Sandy while I set the table. We had soup with soggy rice in it, black corn tortillas, salad made out of carrots, spinach, and onions with lime juice on it, and spaghetti that was delicious. Erica invited me to come to a salsa lesson tonight. I asked her what time she was coming back, and asked me what time I wanted to come back. I am tired, but I know she likes to stay out late. I said no later than 11. Hussein was having lunch near Central Park, so he wasn’t there for lunch or to walk with me to class. I left a few minutes before two. The sun was shining brightly as I walked to class. I actually peeled off a few layers and was comfortable in a T-shirt!

Leonel arrived shortly, and we talked for a while, mostly about God. He told me that he thinks I don’t talk very much. I really don’t know why he thinks this. Maybe it’s because he keeps handing me worksheets, and I sit quietly and do them. When I am talking about something, he rarely asks me to elaborate. Sometimes, he even interrupts me! I feel bad that he was frustrated, but I feel like I was doing my best. Although I have learned a lot, I am looking forward to having another teacher next week. Leonel did really like the composition I wrote about education focusing on using the many uses of the verb “tratar” which means “to try/to treat.” One of the uses means “to be about,” so I titled my essay, “La composicion trata de tratar,” which roughly translated means “the essay about tratar,” but it is better in Spanish. I crammed a use of tratar into nearly every sentence, and it still made sense and had a point to it. Leonel told me he wants to copy my essay and type it up with blank lines where I used the verb “tratar” so he can make a worksheet out of it. Sorry future students! We spent most of the afternoon reviewing gerundios which are the –ing ending of verbs. I already knew most of what he was teaching me. He handed me a stapled packet of eight worksheets (I kid you not), and then he went and took a break while I worked on the worksheets for a half hour. On one worksheet, I had to translate 15 sentences from English to Spanish and the others were fill in the blank types. I am proud to say that out of all eight worksheets, I did not make a single mistake! However, I feel like it was a waste of time because, clearly, I already have a firm grasp of the concept. My homework (which I mostly did during the break) is to write an essay about the importance of church in society using gerundios and the multiple uses of the “quedar.”

My class ended a few minutes before Hussein’s class, so I waited for him. Then we walked home together. We had scrambled eggs with tomato and onions, black beans, and bread. I chose a round roll that was sweet and had a crumbly topping on it. Sandy asked Hussein if he were going to the salsa class tonight, and he said only if Erica invited him. Erica then turned to him and invited him to go in English and Spanish, but he had trouble understanding. We cleared the table, and Erica asked him again in Spanish if he was going to come with us. He said, “I could go tonight, but I don’t want to go every night.” He thought that it was a salsa class that was starting tonight, but would happen every night! We all laughed. He said he wanted to come. I went to my room and finished my homework and changed my clothes. Erica and Hussein knocked on my door at 8:15, and we walked downtown to the discoteca La Parranda. The lesson was pretty good. I danced with Hussein. This was his first time dancing salsa, so it was a little difficult to be his partner. When we arrived, there were only four couples, but during the course of the lesson, many more came. The lesson lasted a half hour, and then people started dancing. However, after one more salsa song, they switched to other music with English lyrics. By this time, the fairly small dance floor was completely filled. I danced a bit, but I ended up in the center of the mob, and it was hot and people were elbowing me while they danced, so I went back to the table with Hussein to sit and watch. There were way too many people there for my liking, and the music was too loud. Also, they weren’t playing salsa music! After a while, they turned on a fog machine that completely filled the air with fog; you could hardly see anything. Hussein and I sat at the table for a while, and then they finally played some salsa music. People were dancing salsa in lines, so I went and joined them. There were still so many people that it was hard to dance. I went back and sat down and waited for 11:00 to come. Erica was still dancing. Close to 11, she came over and asked if I was ready to leave. I, of course, said yes, and she went to get her stuff. Then she said that she wasn’t leaving, but she would call her taxi friend to take Hussein and me home. She couldn’t find the number, but the taxi driver was outside La Parranda, so she talked to him and explained that we lived in the same house as she does. He took Hussein and me home, but he charged us Q30. I wonder how much he usually charges Erica. Last time, Ed, Brenda, and I paid Q20 for essentially the same distance. However, I was so glad to be back home that I would have paid him Q100! The silly thing is that Hussein and I could have returned at 9:30 if we had known that Erica was not coming home at 11. Oh, well! It was an experience.

I quickly got ready for bed and wrote this blog entry. Bed around 12:15. Tomorrow night, I am going to bed early! :)