Ringing in the New School Year with Celine Dion

Drum roll please….I know what I am teaching! And I found out before the first day of school! Here’s the run down:

10th Grade: English, Literature, Spelling
9th Grade: English, Literature
6th Grade: Social Studies
5th Grade: Spelling
4th Grade: Spelling, English

That’s 9, count ‘em, 9 classes! I’m actually okay with it though. I’m just happy there is no science or secondary math. The only laughable one is 6th grade Social Studies aka Geography. Considering I just learned that Dubai is a country and not in fact a city in India, or that on Tuesday I was late to a skype date because I thought Honduras was on Central time, I think it is safe to say that I am not the most geographically inclined. I can’t tell you which way is north or the capital of Nebraska. What I can do however, is PRETEND like I know. I am an actress after all. Someone famous once said, “Teaching is 1/4 preparation and 3/4 pure theatre.” Now that’s a theory that I can get behind. *Authors note: I just looked up the quote and credit is due to Gail Godwin, American novelist.

We received our schedules on Monday in addition to having a meeting with all of the teachers spoken entirely in Spanish. Each of us foreign teachers had individual translators by our side to help us out. I understood most of what they were saying, mainly because Triny and Gloria would repeat the same thing a million times. Gloria is the school’s administrator who helped found the school with Triny. She’s said to be a bit of an iron horse, but I’m not too worried. *Authors note: Apparently "Iron Horse" means a train, not a tough cookie. Oops. Thank you Pablo.* Oh and also, we were told that our schedules could very well change and that they are “tentative.” Of course they are.

I rose bright and early on Tuesday to take a shower and get all ready for the first day of school. Thankfully I didn’t have all of my usual classes. We have a temporary schedule this week because every day is a half-day. I dressed in half my uniform- we don’t have our shirts yet and won’t get them for probably a month. Honestly, I bet they ordered them yesterday. Just goin' with the flow, just goin' with the flow. After greeting all the students as they arrived in their khaki and ties we took them to the auditorium for the welcoming assembly. This entire process, from greeting the kids to ending the assembly was set to random American pop music…Phil Collins and the like. Amusing to say the least.

Triny and Gloria opened the ceremony with a prayer that lasted…umm…15? 20? minutes. Reminiscent of Mr. Bonfigli’s prayers for sure. The welcoming continued in Spanish and I understood a lot because they were speaking fairly slowly and basic so that the primary grades could hear and understand. Conclusion: if you speak to me like I am six, I might understand 75% of what you say. “Might” being the operative word. Triny then brought all of the teachers on stage one by one and introduced us to all the students. Then one of the greatest things ever happened. As I said, the background music consisted of all of these seemingly-carefully-chosen American songs. The welcome meeting continues and what song starts to play? None other than Miss Celine Dion belting out “My Heart Will Go On.” I caught the eye of Abby as soon as I could, pointed to my ear and we both shared a chuckle across the gym. She then proceeded to clench her fists and act out the song a bit…right around the “and we’llll staaay FOREEEVER this wayyy!” It was pretty fantastic.

One might think that was the end of our assembly. Oh no. Every class was introduced one by one. And I don’t mean one by one, like, “Now we have 4th grade, give them a hand! Now we have 5th grade, let’s hear it for them!” I mean, “Now we have 4th grade: Maria Consuelo Alvarez, Jose Marvin Lopez…” and on down the line. For all to see, each kid raised their hand when their name was called. Every grade. 250 students. The best was the middle school girls who thought raising their hand was OMG soooo embarrassing. They’d roll their eyes, hide their face, and be way too cool for school.

The assembly went shorter than planned (pretty shocking, actually) so no teachers knew where to go, or what students to stay with. So, some classes had teachers in their classes, some didn’t. No biggie. I only taught 9th and 10th grade that day…both of which I really love. The night before I had planned out my entire lesson- some language exercises, quote of the day, and a few other things…all requiring me to write on the board. Oh hey, guess what, the entire school has NO dry erase markers. None, zip, zero. When I inquired about this, Miss Julie said “they are going to go buy some right now.” First day of school and no way to write on the board? Goin’ with the flow, goin’ with the flow. So, my whole lesson plan was basically shot, but thankfully I have done a fair amount of improv in my day. After doing things that didn’t require the board, i.e. rules, icebreaker, (Uncle John, I just used i.e.!) I had them write a letter to themselves that they would open on the last day of school. Kind of a blessing in disguise because that seemed to go over well, and it’s always fun to read that stuff a year later.

All in all, I am feeling pretty good about my classes and teaching ability. On Tuesday Triny and Gloria invited us to a mass for the school’s 14th anniversary in the Cathedral downtown. This is the main landmark in the city and is really quite pretty. I hadn’t been inside yet, or to a Catholic mass in Central America, so I figured why not. Fellow teacher, native of Santa Rosa, HEM school graduate, and former college student at tiny school in Ohio, Claudia, picked me up and we went to the mass.

Side note: Claudia is awesome and I really hope we continue to become friends. She friended me on facebook, so I mean, we’re basically already besties.

The mass was very calm and peaceful with a lot of nuns in the crowd. It was actually quite similar to one in the States. There was less singing than good 'ol St. Phil’s in Battle Creek, but it seems to me, a Catholic mass is a Catholic mass is a Catholic mass. Even though I’m not very religious, I might go a few more times- it’s really good for my Spanish. We went out to dinner afterward which is a fairly minor detail, except for one glorious moment. We were all sitting there, chatting, etc and then Gloria’s phone rings. Her ring tone was, I promise I'm not lying, “My Heart Will Go On.” It all makes sense.

Tomorrow is Friday…GDELV…Gracias Dios Es Los Viernes! I only am teaching one class- 5th grade and then at night we are venturing out to this famous bar, La Madre Theresa, with Cid and Chris. Should be fun. Below are some pictures of my house, my street, and my room. You’ll find I have a pretty good setup, minus the two cockroaches that I found in my shower two days ago. Came home from mass, saw those bastards, screamed bloody murder, and ran for the Raid. Now every time I go in the bathroom I am so cautious, it’s not even funny. So now I have two beefs: cockroaches, and a cock-a-doodle-doer.

As Brent Movitz so eloquently said, "Your biggest problems are cocks. Meh...nothing new." How very, very true.

The door to my room, my A's hat, my bed, and my awesome clothes line/clothes pins/photographs creation.

Facing my bathroom door, table, and part of my closet. Two important things in this photo: my Michigan pennant and my Deep Woods OFF! Insect Repellent.

Taken from my bathroom door: another part of my closet, my window, and extra bed for anyone who comes to visit!

The remains of the cockroaches that I killed in my shower. I didn't clean them up right away because 1) I didn't want to go near them and 2) so they could be an example to all their friends.

Me in my room! Notice all my text books on the ground...

The outside of our house...that's a little balcony that faces the street.

My street- 3 Avenida, not that ANYONE goes by street names. My address is literally "una cuadra y media norte de la ferretería al mundial." Translation: A block and a half north of the hardware store.

Our living room with furniture from the 80's...but I love the 80's so, it's cool.

Dining area and windows.

Kitchen equipped with all modern appliances except a dishwasher (and garbage disposal).

Thanks for reading! Hasta luego :)