So, yesterday we had the mother of all rainfalls. It sounded like people were tap dancing on the roof. Irene and I went running like mad wild things up the stairs to rip the clothes off the line. It was intense, I think there should be a sport called mad clotheslining. Ahahaha. Okay, I am very sleep deprived. I didn´t get to bed until late and I woke up early.
Delicia is still not back. How unreliable is that? I have no idea when she will back, so I don´t know how many classes to plan. Obviously I don´t want to waste time preparing classes that I don´t have to teach.
Yesterday my two classes of kids were insane. It was awful. They were totally out of control. I don´t know why. I´m pretty happy none of them fell out of the window. It´s really hard to lay down the law when you don´t speak enough Spanish. I moved the bad kids as far away from the window as possible and they still tried to chuck things out of the window. I had to close it. At least half of them were acting like they had A.D.D. and spontaneously screaming etc. I really want Delicia to come back so I don´t have to teach 6-8 year olds anymore. At least I know that I never want to teach kids younger than 10. Valuable knowledge. When there are 10-15 of them and only one of me, they are all crazy, and my Spanish is rudimentary, it is very difficult.
The nicest part about yesterday? On Friday I told all my classes that Delicia would be back on Monday. When I walked into my class of Juniors (12 yr olds) yesterday they cheered me in. So that pretty much made my day. Espcially as I had just walked there in the mother of all rainfalls and was thus somewhat wet. The Doctor in my morning class said "if Delicia doesn´t come back tomorrow, it`s no problem for us" so that was nice too. Then today when I showed up to teach again Doctor said, "see you tomorrow" even though I told him Delicia would be back. I hope she is back, I would like some sleep. My Pre-1 class yesterday were all happy to see me but not so happy when I said it would my last class with them (they are only Mon, Wed, Fri). I think it´s pretty cool that I teach people who are intelligent enough to be doctors. The two above morning classes are lovely. I wish I kept them and gave Delicia my Pre-1V class, most of whom are my age or in their 20s and content to spend time laughing instead of concentrating on English, and the men try to flirt in English. I.e... the question in the workbook was describe people, and one of them decided to describe me. This was a little bizarre as he´s probably 30 ish and although he was very nice and not suggestive I don´t appreciate having students look at me in a way other than as an English teacher. They are very immature and tend to giggle at everything I say. It´s really annoying.
My last class yesterday was my favourite. My reg-1 class now has 28 students and I really enjoy teaching them. They are motivated and try hard. Yesterday the computer wouldn´t work and the pen ran out and I tripped over the garbage but no-one walked out. There is barely space for me to walk around the room to check work as it is so crowded, but they help each other out so that´s great. I wish I wasn´t so exhausted by the time their class starts. I made up a bunch of sentencs with mistakes I saw walking around the room and they had to correct them, and one woman said "Paris is a city" and some people said "no it´s not" and I said "it´s a country" and then I was like "oh my god. Paris is a city in France" so now it´s a joke that I think Paris is a country. At least we had a laugh. How embarrasing is that. I was so tired, which is a crap excuse I know. It´s hard though because the students who don´t understand don´t ask questions and don´t speak up in class. I had one student come after class to ask me if Wednesday would be easier. She never spoke up once when I was asking for questions, walking around the room etc. Oh well. Another girl came and told me I was a really good teacher. So that will probably keep me going for the next 3 months. So, in one evening of classes there a many highs and lows, but I am always exhausted at the end! I just hope that my all my students pass the midterm on Friday (to pass here you have to get 80%) and that my class isn´t observed. If Delicia observes my class I will be so nervous! I think it´s pretty bad that when I was observing she didn´t let me watch any of her classes, especially as those were the ones I´ve been teaching for a week. Maybe she doesn´t like to be criticised. I guess that all I can do is my best so I should stop worrying about everything.
Rosa and I go to the gym in the mornings now. That means we can go for 2 hours, yippee. I will die of exhaustion. After the gym they try to force all the food in the world down my throat. No, I am joking, but there is a lot of food. For me, the soup would be enough.
My Spanish is a constant frustration. Even though I am learning I just want to be fluent right now! I have no patience left, I want to understand what people say the first time in Spanish!
I was wrong, Mother´s Day here was Sunday, but they celebrate it from Saturday to Monday. Luis and Ana didn´t have school Monday. What a nice treat for all the mother´s, instead of a relaxing day with the kids at school and enjoying their company in the evening, they have to have the kids around all day.
Yesterday I met another teacher at ICPNA. So, I guess there is a male teacher. He only has one class though, hence why I have never seen him before. His English is pretty good (obviously as he teaches it), but not awesome. When the other teachers talk to me in English they make grammatical mistakes and use incorrect vocab sometimes. So, at least as English is my native language I have a slight advantage, maybe it makes up for my poor Spanish? Right, I´m supposed to stop worrying about things.
The pic is of Pisco Sour. It is officially my favourite alcoholic beverage, made in Peru. Rosa is going to teach my how to make it and I´m going to bring a bottle back and we will have it at my 19th. Yummmy. The other pic is a typical Peruvian soup. The name escapes me. I´m not too keen on the beans.
Today I feel a little sick. The first time since the bus here. I hope it goes away.
Did I write about Otuzco? I can´t remember. It was on Sunday. I don´t think I did. Okay on Sunday we went to the world´s most fanciest restaurant. My jaw dropped when we walked in. It was gorgeous. The chair´s were massive, and I couldn´t help but think that if you ate there everyday you would need a chair that size. I had this really good steak with peruvian sauce and some kind of Peruvian side dish thing with lots of mushrooms. Yummy. We also had starters which were excellent. I was confused though because they said it was with salsa which I thought meant spicy red stuff but here salsa is any kind of sauce. Anyway, after the meal for Mother´s Day we went to Otuzco to see the windows of the Incas, where they slept. It is so cool. I have photos but I will post them later. There were loads of people though cause it was Mother´s Day, so they said we would go back another time. I got this photo in this shop beside an Inca statue but they made me buy something so I got this cute little keyring for like 30 cents.
I will post more pics another time. The other pic is of my room here. Veryyyy nice :)
Cheers!
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