I would like to know what has happened to me? Now when something funny or interesting or strange happens to me, I think to myself ‘oh, I’ll have to put that on my blog.’ Talk about nerding up! (no offense, avid bloggers..) If only my technology teachers could see me now!
Another week down, I can hardly believe it! They are flying by. I get paid on Tuesday again! Getting paid in cash makes it infinitely more exciting (if you don’t count the cash, that is, and certainly you can, under NO circumstances, translate the pesos into dollars) than if you were to get a paycheck! You get this big wad of what look like high denomination bills and you think to yourself ‘ahhhh, all that work was worth it.’ Then you go put your money in your coffee can that you hide under your bed, stuff it in your mattress, or that place that absolutely no one uses or thinks to look in: the oven.
My newest classes, the 6th year of primary school (which is about our 5th grade, they are all 11 or 12) and the first year of secondary or middle school (all 12 and 13… not at all hard to work with), will definitely keep me on my toes. In 6th grade, I have about 20 students and in 7th, there are 17, with a high chance of growing to about 20. Not big classes, but that is excellent as I have none of the fancy tools that middle school teachers in the States might have access to when I am trying to distract them. They range in size from TINY to moderately normal. I swear I thought one kid was 7 until he told me he was 12, turns out, he’s one of the best English speakers of the class. Classroom management will factor into these classes a lot more so it’s a good thing I had extensive training in that area… oh wait… Apparently, if I have a problem, I just send them to Jeanne, my boss, the English coordinator, who they all refer to affectionately as ‘the bruja’ (the witch). I haven’t had to resort to that yet, but I do plan to pull a student out of the class tomorrow and give her a formal warning about her behavior and participation in class. That’s right, I’m a bad ass.
Monday night, Pako got a phone call and off we went to collect my mother-in-law, Petra, and Pako’s nephew, Alejandro (13 years old) and move them into the apartment. They’ll be living with us for awhile, while some other housing issues are sorted out. Petra is a natural born caretaker and the moment she moved in she took over cooking, cleaning and laundry duties. I try to help and do dishes or laundry when she’s not looking, but mostly she tells me to leave it. It’s making me lazy, but I have to admit that I don’t mind not having to worry about any of that stuff. Alejandro is pretty chill, he goes to school for 7am and gets home around 2 or 3, depending on the day and then does his homework and watches tv. Pako no longer has to suffer my *ahem* delicious *ahem* cooking, but I fear that he’s getting spoiled and will ask his mother to move in with us forever. (That was a joke, I don’t see him doing that). Also, this way I have access to a lot more stories about the young Pako, such as the fact that he would sing to himself in the shower in the morning when he was cold (no hot water at that point) “brinca la ranita, brinca” (the little frog jumps, jumps) and he would jump on tune to warm himself up J I’m sure he’d love the fact that I included that anecdote, but as we don’t have internet in our apartment yet (L) and he can’t read my blog, I’m not worried!
What else happened this week? Oh right, I turned 24! I am now 2-dozen and have many factors including 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24. I’m a mathematical party. At midnight on my birthday, I was not sleeping so Pako brought me a chocolate cupcake called a Pinguino (Mexico’s equivalent to the Hostess cupcake) with 3 matches in it substituting for candles and sang me “Las Mañanitas,” which is the traditional birthday song here. He forgot some words from the 2nd and 3rd verses, so he adlibbed a bit, a fact which I found highly amusing and very charming. He told me he was going to bring me juice to accompany my cupcake, but he got lazy when he as in the kitchen so he didn’t. What a romantic! I laughed for about 30 seconds and then told him to go get me some juice, and just who did he think he was kidding?!?
At school, my boss stopped in each of my classes and made the kids sing me happy birthday… That was cute and not at all embarrassing. My 2nd class, which is my most advanced level had planned a surprise party and so I walked in and they started singing and had brought me a cake, some chips and soda and a present! They bought me coffee :) Those are some good kids who are going to get some good grades… only because they’ve earned them, but throwing the teacher surprise birthday parties does not hurt! Some other students bought me candy and one gave me some earrings and a necklace. Super cute!
Then I came home and ate with Pako, Petra and Alejandro. Then, I was going to take a nap, so I got some water from the fridge and noticed a very delicious looking birthday cake. 2 cakes in 1 day, not too shabby. Had some cake and then rested for a bit. Then Pako and I went to my current favorite restaurant for some coconut shrimp which is seriously delicious and where I will take all of you who visit me! Then we took a romantic stroll (through the city which is not really romantic at all as it is loud and busy), but we bought some videos to watch (chick flicks, it was, afterall, MY birthday). And then I went home and went to bed, happily. It was a good birthday :)
This weekend I had to write my first 2 exams for both of the high school classes so I can turn them into Jeanne and she can give them to the office to be photocopied. Since the students don’t have their books yet, it makes me reluctant to give them an exam, but I’m going to try to make it as fair as possible and I will plan a lot of review days prior to actually giving the students the exams. I’m not sure what else I can do.
Signing off for the week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I had a really good day! I’ll write again soon, thanks for reading! Oh yeah, next month my cousin Matt comes home (and by that I mean to the United States, not Mexico, which is now my home) from multiple years of Air Force service abroad (Italy, Turkey) and double (?) tours in Iraq, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers (if you do that) while he wraps up all the loose ends.
K, love to all! Besos!
Another week down, I can hardly believe it! They are flying by. I get paid on Tuesday again! Getting paid in cash makes it infinitely more exciting (if you don’t count the cash, that is, and certainly you can, under NO circumstances, translate the pesos into dollars) than if you were to get a paycheck! You get this big wad of what look like high denomination bills and you think to yourself ‘ahhhh, all that work was worth it.’ Then you go put your money in your coffee can that you hide under your bed, stuff it in your mattress, or that place that absolutely no one uses or thinks to look in: the oven.
My newest classes, the 6th year of primary school (which is about our 5th grade, they are all 11 or 12) and the first year of secondary or middle school (all 12 and 13… not at all hard to work with), will definitely keep me on my toes. In 6th grade, I have about 20 students and in 7th, there are 17, with a high chance of growing to about 20. Not big classes, but that is excellent as I have none of the fancy tools that middle school teachers in the States might have access to when I am trying to distract them. They range in size from TINY to moderately normal. I swear I thought one kid was 7 until he told me he was 12, turns out, he’s one of the best English speakers of the class. Classroom management will factor into these classes a lot more so it’s a good thing I had extensive training in that area… oh wait… Apparently, if I have a problem, I just send them to Jeanne, my boss, the English coordinator, who they all refer to affectionately as ‘the bruja’ (the witch). I haven’t had to resort to that yet, but I do plan to pull a student out of the class tomorrow and give her a formal warning about her behavior and participation in class. That’s right, I’m a bad ass.
Monday night, Pako got a phone call and off we went to collect my mother-in-law, Petra, and Pako’s nephew, Alejandro (13 years old) and move them into the apartment. They’ll be living with us for awhile, while some other housing issues are sorted out. Petra is a natural born caretaker and the moment she moved in she took over cooking, cleaning and laundry duties. I try to help and do dishes or laundry when she’s not looking, but mostly she tells me to leave it. It’s making me lazy, but I have to admit that I don’t mind not having to worry about any of that stuff. Alejandro is pretty chill, he goes to school for 7am and gets home around 2 or 3, depending on the day and then does his homework and watches tv. Pako no longer has to suffer my *ahem* delicious *ahem* cooking, but I fear that he’s getting spoiled and will ask his mother to move in with us forever. (That was a joke, I don’t see him doing that). Also, this way I have access to a lot more stories about the young Pako, such as the fact that he would sing to himself in the shower in the morning when he was cold (no hot water at that point) “brinca la ranita, brinca” (the little frog jumps, jumps) and he would jump on tune to warm himself up J I’m sure he’d love the fact that I included that anecdote, but as we don’t have internet in our apartment yet (L) and he can’t read my blog, I’m not worried!
What else happened this week? Oh right, I turned 24! I am now 2-dozen and have many factors including 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24. I’m a mathematical party. At midnight on my birthday, I was not sleeping so Pako brought me a chocolate cupcake called a Pinguino (Mexico’s equivalent to the Hostess cupcake) with 3 matches in it substituting for candles and sang me “Las Mañanitas,” which is the traditional birthday song here. He forgot some words from the 2nd and 3rd verses, so he adlibbed a bit, a fact which I found highly amusing and very charming. He told me he was going to bring me juice to accompany my cupcake, but he got lazy when he as in the kitchen so he didn’t. What a romantic! I laughed for about 30 seconds and then told him to go get me some juice, and just who did he think he was kidding?!?
At school, my boss stopped in each of my classes and made the kids sing me happy birthday… That was cute and not at all embarrassing. My 2nd class, which is my most advanced level had planned a surprise party and so I walked in and they started singing and had brought me a cake, some chips and soda and a present! They bought me coffee :) Those are some good kids who are going to get some good grades… only because they’ve earned them, but throwing the teacher surprise birthday parties does not hurt! Some other students bought me candy and one gave me some earrings and a necklace. Super cute!
Then I came home and ate with Pako, Petra and Alejandro. Then, I was going to take a nap, so I got some water from the fridge and noticed a very delicious looking birthday cake. 2 cakes in 1 day, not too shabby. Had some cake and then rested for a bit. Then Pako and I went to my current favorite restaurant for some coconut shrimp which is seriously delicious and where I will take all of you who visit me! Then we took a romantic stroll (through the city which is not really romantic at all as it is loud and busy), but we bought some videos to watch (chick flicks, it was, afterall, MY birthday). And then I went home and went to bed, happily. It was a good birthday :)
This weekend I had to write my first 2 exams for both of the high school classes so I can turn them into Jeanne and she can give them to the office to be photocopied. Since the students don’t have their books yet, it makes me reluctant to give them an exam, but I’m going to try to make it as fair as possible and I will plan a lot of review days prior to actually giving the students the exams. I’m not sure what else I can do.
Signing off for the week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I had a really good day! I’ll write again soon, thanks for reading! Oh yeah, next month my cousin Matt comes home (and by that I mean to the United States, not Mexico, which is now my home) from multiple years of Air Force service abroad (Italy, Turkey) and double (?) tours in Iraq, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers (if you do that) while he wraps up all the loose ends.
K, love to all! Besos!
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