My feet is my only carriage...

This is just a shot behind the school on our way out the gate and home for the day. Not a bad view, huh? You can even see the distant waterfall if you look closely.



Here's a look across the "street" from the school...a little comedor (kind of a very relaxed version of a restaurant) and one of the neighborhood dogs. The dogs have the school schedule internalized better than the kids. As soon as the bell rings, I can see them sneaking up to the school to pick scraps out of the classroom garbage cans. They feast on lunch spills and offerings in the outdoor cafeteria, and they usually wander the courtyard at snacktime, too. I honestly don't know how they're as skinny as they are.

So, another week’s gone by. Each week seems to go just a little smoother, but I think most of that is just us getting used to craziness at school. I was talking to my dad just a few minutes ago, and he made a good point that most ELL kids in the States learn English not so much from their teacher in the classroom, but from interacting with their English-speaking peers. This is one of the many issues with our school, but I think it’s a big one…the kids haven’t learned much English after several years of being in a “bilingual” school because all of them speak Spanish to each other, and most try to speak Spanish to their teachers as well. They don’t practice English, and have no motivation to learn English. I can’t blame them, either. Who would want to learn a difficult language that no one you know besides your teacher speaks?

The kids got their textbooks this week, which they were wildly excited about (not being sarcastic). Some of them were kissing them or smelling them (a book that isn’t moldy is a rarity here), and they didn’t want to write their names inside because to them that was mistreating the books. Some of them are helpful to have from a teaching perspective, like the Math books. It’s great to not have to get so many photocopies made for practice sheets. Some of the books, though, like Reading, Science, and Language, are way too advanced for my kids at this point, so it’s a little sad to have to disappoint them by not using the books during those subjects. Maybe using the books some days could be like a little reward for them, even if they have no clue what’s on the pages besides pictures of plants and animals.

We had a long staff meeting after school on Friday. It’s interesting to note that staff meetings everywhere are pretty much a drag. They’re doubly so when you have to listen to each point made in both English and Spanish. During the meeting, they gave us some very generic/obvious tips (be patient with the kids; don’t let them hang on the bars of the windows; try to use fewer, simpler words to explain directions), complaints were expressed (the cafeteria sells cookies when the kids aren’t allowed to eat sweets—the response to this one was that they were healthier cookies than some varieties you can buy; the kids need to be walked to the bus after school and not run madly through the courtyard), and some teachers were texting on their phones throughout the whole meeting. Just like meetings everywhere…except there was a serious lack of snacks, which was a sadly missed opportunity for a nice morale booster.

This weekend was pretty average, too, but relaxing. We had a couple teachers over for dinner on Friday night, then Saturday morning we walked the 4.5 miles into town, did our many-stop shopping around town, got some bean soup and rollitos for lunch, and headed back up the mountain with our loaded bags, stopping at Jesus’s pulperia (just a little “convenience” store between our house and town) for some drinks and to give him a little help setting up his new computer. It’s always an exhausting trip, and we’re so happy when we get home to our quiet house.



This one we took on our way back up the mountain after going to town. We stopped for a little break on the road, and were passed by a moto taxi carrying a mattress! These are little miracle machines! Clown cars have nothing on them! It's a little blurry, but you get the idea.



This is a little further up, between school and our house. The walk home is a lot harder some days than others, depending how much the day has taken out of us, but the views are great, and the walk definitely beats a commute through traffic!

Today we’re supposed to get together with Frony (the former owner of the school) and her 2 kids that go to our school. We made plans yesterday to make pizza with them, but plans here are much different than making plans at home. If someone tells you that they’ll come by your house in the afternoon, they may come by in the afternoon, or they may stop by in the morning, at night, or not at all…changing the plans without letting you know isn’t considered rude…we’re just learning to be flexible and see what happens.

So, I wrote the previous paragraphs on Sunday and it's now Wednesday...I had wanted to post a video tour of the house, but it just won't upload...maybe next week we can do a photo tour instead. Just as a follow up to the pizza night, we did end up getting together and making pizza down at her house with her, the 2 kids, and 3 of her friends that live in Gracias. Everyone was amazed at the pizza dough and the whole process! It was kind of like an interactive cooking show for a little while. We made chocolate chip cookies, too, and they thought they were really rich, but I'd say they were still a big hit. As cookie making goes, I think about as much raw dough was eaten as cookies were. Nobody had ever had chocolate chips before! Apparently, not everyone seeks them out like rare treasures around here--just us foreigners. It was a nice night, though, and a good chance to practice some Spanish with some patient and interesting people.

We're halfway through the week now, and I hope I don't jinx the last two days (because Thurs and Fri are by far the hardest with these crazy kids!), but it's going pretty smoothly. Aaron can write more about it and our 3 day weekend coming up next time!