Yikes!

Just realized it's been 9 days since I posted anything here. Sorry about that folks. Things are progressing here I feel that I am starting to get a better grip on my classes--though its definitely a slow and steady wins the race type of scenario there are no quick fixes involved here.

Today has been interesting so far. I have had to break up two fights today. One in my advanced English class, and on in First grade--though i can't say which fight was more justified from my perspective. Honestly when I compare the two side by side I see more similarities than differences except that I sort of expected more of my Adv. kids. Also there was randomly a band here today to play for a small assembly for the 10th & 11th Grades--they also played during the student's break and during lunch. I was surprised by how good they were--I actually really enjoyed hearing them.

Oh and I feel I am finally caught up on sleep. Yesterday I took a nap around 6 or so and slept til almost 10--when i watched two episodes of Scrubs and then fell back asleep 'til 5 this morning--when I promptly rolled over made sure my alarm was set for 6 and went back to sleep. I figured I got around 10-11 hours of sleep. This morning I felt great. Expect a post Friday or sometime this weekend.

Today is weird...

I feel so out of it today and am just feeling really homesick. I miss having friends I can call or places I can hop in my car and drive to. I miss having a car. Mostly I miss being able to talk to people in English--I almost know enough Spanish to survive--but I don't know enough to have an actual conversation of any depth with anyone. I just don't know what I'm doing here and it almost feels like I've made a terrible mistake--I know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I may never have another chance to do something like this--but the last couple days have just been sort of rough you know?

Pictures from break yesterday

Hope is on the horizon...

Okay we still don't have the high schoolers grouped into their respective levels of English abilities yet--but today we should be getting test results back so that hopefully tomorrow or at worst Friday we will have them into the right classes and can have them get books and I can actually start teaching.

Other than that its been an interesting week so far. On Monday I was sick I think it may have been a recurrence of my old migraine problem. Being I had a terrible headache Sunday night and ended up being physically ill around 4 am on Monday morning--so I stayed home. Unfortunately that means I missed the Principal quitting. I've heard a couple different things but I'm hoping it will be for the best. I really was not unbelievably impressed with her leadership abilities. But she was a very nice person to be around and i know she will be missed.

There are a few other interesting issues I'm trying to figure out exactly how to deal with but everything will come in time I'm sure. The pace of things is just really different here and I need to adjust to that--otherwise, I'll have a mental breakdown.

Oh, and one other thing I adjusted the comments so you do not have to be a user or sign up to leave them. I've been told it works fairly easily so feel free to say hi or leave any advice you may have.

Week in review

Okay so there was still no schedule--though we had two teachers out for illnesses during the week--which meant i had to fill in for a few teachers here in there as well as attempting to teach young children English--who still don't have books. But things are slowly starting to take a more solid shape and we have an actual schedule for next week though my kids still don't have books. I also have the task of creating a lesson plan for the week to get done this week. Which how to teach children material so as not to conflict with the books that they have yet to get and with a curriculum that is heavily reliant on having audio and visual stimulants to help the children acquire the knowledge of the language is not going to be an easy task.

Other than that things are pretty good. Though I am unbelievably tired. I've been up since 6:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. And have spent most of the last few hours helping my friend Melissa with a Physics project where she and a team are to build a bridge using only spaghetti, string, flour, and water. Its been interesting.

Hoping for a Better Tomorrow.

Because Last week was crap. Everything was un-organized there was no solid class schedule and I was so worn out by Friday I wanted to crawl into a rum bottle and never come out. Unfortunately that just lead to a bad night's sleep and a crappy Saturday Morning--but I think Roberto has the schedule all figured out now--he's been working on it all weekend. Plus Tomorrow & Tuesday--the kids will be tested and grouped into English classes--so I should be able to actually start teaching soon. YAY! Pray everything works out like it should.

Other Random Pics

Top to bottom:

1. A group of (I believe) 2nd graders in class at Coligeo Bilingue Lancaster

2. View from the Valderrama's apartment window

3. View from the mountaintop restaurant

4. My room it's not much but I feel really at home here.

5. My new friend Alessandro. He's 4 and probably cooler than you

Here's the photos I took at the Church in Bugalagrande