Okay update time.

First of all. The after school make up class was decided to be a bust. My co-worker Ada helped me with the students on Thursday morning and it was decided that there was simply too much to attempt to catch the students up on. They were probably 2 years behind what they needed to know to pass the test to advance to the next level. It was deemed a waste of time money and effort for all--So I was let off the hook for Thursday and Friday afternoon and was able to go home and take a nap instead. Yay!

Secondly, I'm moving. Not very far just to a different building in the same complex. I'm moving in with my friends the Valderrama's It spend 95% of my time there anyway. But today there was a big project of transforming their laundry room/junk room into the newly cleaned and painted Laundry/ Mitch's room. It already looks about 150% better.

(If you hadn't talked to me about it the lady the originally had be living with ended up being sorta strange. She lied to the school about being able to speak English--she knows maybe 11 words. She said I was not allowed to cook--she freaked out about me having a bag on the floor and insisted that it had to be in the closet because she had to sweep everyday. She would also remake my bed--close the windows to my room while I was away--causing the room to be unbearably hot when I returned and would unplug my laptop if I left it plugged up to charge.)

Other than that, school starts Wednesday or Miercoles, and I'm a little freaked out but I have high hopes. Though I'm not completely sure if the school is quite ready for the students--the facility or the faculty truth be told. But I have a feeling everything will work itself out. It has so far at least.

Solid advice

Colossians 3:22-25 (English Standard Version)

²²Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

This was really comforting and sobering to read--Thanks Mom.

This week is gonna be rough

So today I was informed that for the rest of the week I will be helping five students to attempt to learn everything that they didn't learn last year so that they can pass a final. Some of these kids barely know five words in English. And I have to prepare them pass a test on adjectives, possessive pronouns, and proper sentence structure in four days. The best part was I was given no real warning for this I was told at twelve o'clock that they would be here at 2:30--and was stuck in a meeting til about 1:45--left for lunch and the kids were fifteen minutes early. I gave them the final today--to try and evaluate/estimate what they need to know. Looking through them and explaining the processes today were not easy--I was struggling to quickly translate and give them proper directions--which indicates that I have no small challenge. I am going to be up half the night if I attempt to figure out what all I need to teach them tomorrow--I am ready for this week to be over. Which is really bad to say on a Tuesday. My patience was so tested today by both the administration and the students--as well as whoever taught them English last year and as school policy dictates--should be the person to be helping bring them up in these sessions--where the hell he is I have no idea--but he better be glad I don't know.

Please wish me luck, lend me your prayers to whatever God/Deity/Mythical Being/Flying Spaghetti Monster you may believe in--I need them.

On the upside for you all, More Frustration=More Updates. :)

If the rest of this week goes half as bad as today I may sell the movie rights to pay for the legal fees-- I can see it now, THERE WILL BE BLOOD II: Mitch can't teach Colombian kids.

Roadtrip, sort of...

Today has been a long an interesting day. It started very early with a meeting for the English teachers at a local distributor for school curriculum called "Books & Books"--which unfortunately was at about 7 a.m.--fortunately we were introduced to the curriculum by a young woman from Cambridge Press named Alejandra--She spoke perfect English with almost no accent meaning I was able to understand her perfectly.

After the meeting we returned to the school where Ada and I began to start cracking down on developing an introductory curriculum before we begin the materials we had just been introduced to--that is until we were both interupted. She was asked to translate something, while the owner of the school asked me to go with him to Bugalagrande--b/c he needed to sign something for his father.

First we picked up two of his friends--a Frenchman and a Canadian--so we had a veritable international convention in the car. We met (my Boss) Luis's family--then went to a local restaurant where I enjoyed what you would think of as a smoothie made from strawberries, milk, ice, and sugar--followed with a Colombian beer (Poker) and then what I could only desribe as the best fried pork tenderloin I've ever had--though it wasn't on a bun or bread it was just served on a plate with fries, sliced onion, lime wedges, green tomatoes, and rice.

After leaving Bugalagrande (which was about an hour drive each way) we went to a local shopping center to meet up w/ Luis's freind Jaime and a few others. Where we sat in the middle of the mall ate, and drank whiskey for about an hour.

In other words by boss asked me to leave work early to hang out, bought my lunch, and asked me to go out w/ him and his and drink. Is it any wonder I love Colombia?

So i meant to post two of these photos the other day--but I misinterpreted the full capabilities of blogger--So here they are now. My own foggy view from Cristo Rey--Oh, and the last picture is a view from the Valderrama's apartment I took a few minutes ago. It's sunny and about 83 degrees Fahrenheit. And there is a wonderful breeze coming off the mountains. It's hard not to love this city.

First Real Day of Work

Well, it happen eventually, I knew I wouldn't be able to slack off forever. Today Ada--who is the bilingual coordinator for the school--arrived. we spent the day discussing w/ Roberto and the Principal of the school the plan for improving and advancing the English Program at Lancaster Bilingue Colegia. By the way if anyone wants to check it out the school has a really nice website and is in Spanish and in English! The page is www.lancaster.edu.co please feel free to check it out. Then Roberto dragged by but to a big cultural festival tonight. It was alot of fun but was really different. I ate a couple awesome empanadas with some really good hot sauce I have no idea what was in it though Roberto kept warning me it was "muy caliente" he was wrong it was perfect. Though now I am dead tired probably going to head home and sample one of the Colombian beers I picked up yeaterday.

Fútbol con nuevos amigos

My first day of work went well, there was almost nothing for me to do so I made a few calls and tried to deal with getting my bank card and ATM situation sorted out. I'm not sure whether or not it is fixed being I've yet to try it at another ATM since the bank said it was fixed. I spent a couple hours last night with my Boss Roberto's son Esteban and a bunch of his friends. It was a lot of fun and I had a couple note-worthy saves as goalie though I may have let 3 or 4 get past me. It was a ton of fun though I was absolutely beat after playing for about 2 hours. I probably wouldn't have lasted that long if not for the fact that the ball kept getting kicked over the fence and whoever did it had to go get it. This allowed some time to stop and breathe being it happen close to ten times thankfully I never kicked it over. I must have fallen asleep around like 10 o'clock last night.

I miss everyone in estados unidos, though so far I am really loving Colombia.

And if you wanna talk to me feel free to call this number 317-493-8576, it's an Indianapolis number and it counts as a call to there. MagicJack is a beautiful thing--though it only works when I have a phone hooked up to my computer and a working internet connection--so you're better off if you warn me in advance if you wanna call and chat. I also have a skype account search my my name, my email, or mitchislegend--and you should find me.

Vaya con Dios mis amigos,

Mitch

Jesus watches over my new home

Hey Everyone, Well i´m in Cali. Had some small issues at the airport due to a delayed flight and missing a connection which meant I didn´t get here until today instead of getting here last night. Though Delta did put me up in a great hotel and i got a pretty good 4 hour nap before my flight this morning. Which puts be around 5 hours of sleep for the last two days--but I´m enjoying myself and really don´t even care. Today I got to see the view that is posted as the background of this blog with my own eyes it´s taken from the Cristo Rey which is a giant statue of Christ arms stretched on a mountaintop looking of the city of Cali. Sorry if the quality isn´t great on the pics it was alittle foggy this morning.

Flight Date!

I will be flying out of Evansville regional Airport on Aug. 7th. So close to my adventure beginning!