Kinetic is the most perfect word for today, I feel fixed amongst all the kinetic energy around me. Everyone moving complacently, peacefully in their own routine. I was the only one out of my element; frozen by the unknown.
Today was my first day teaching, I dressed up in my chocolate trousers, black heels and black turtle neck. I’m officially playing the role of a sophisticated grown-up. Don’t laugh, but I kind of feel like Foreign Teacher Barbie--dressing up to play a part that isn’t really me. As I walked down the hallway from my room to the kitchen, listening to the rhythmic clicking of my heels on the cold tile, it reminded me of when my mother would come and pick me up from the Nurse’s office when I was sick. I would turn to the plump Nurse and say proudly..definitively, “That’s my Mom.”
The morning went a little differently than I had imagined the night before, mainly due to the fact that I slept in an extra 45 minutes. In my defense, my mom called me at 12:42AM confused by the time difference and the Mesoncito tavern was getting shipments throughout the night, causing enough irritation to make me figure out the best way to convey my interrupted sleep, the best I could come up with was “Por favor, es muy tarde!”
Anyways, I pulled out the toasted that was still in the box from the cabinets, shoved two pieces of white bread (they don’t have wheat bread..sigh) and became a conossieur of wedged toast--using various utensils to get them back out, in pieces of course. I decided it was in my best interest to share my toast since I had changed our original plan of the cafe for cafe con leche y una tostada con mantequilla. I also forgot my teaching schedule, luckily Pilar brought an extra copy which is now mounted on the bilingual teaching lounge’s door. On the walk to the school, we bumped into students who were doing physical education--which consists of walking around the town since there is no gymnasium or area to do sports. Pretty random. The boy students started calling after me “Rubia, Rubia!” that was pretty entertaining as well. I might be the only blonde at the school...maybe in the town too.
My first hour was with Maria, a tall Spanish woman who was originally born in Canada. She reminds me of a model and speaks very good english. Her students, who are 14-15 years old are very difficult. They are really loud and get embarrassed speaking in english. They did not know what I meant when I said “I am from the United States.” I had to explain it in Spanish, apparently we have a lot of work to do. There are a group of about 6 boys who sit in the far left corner separated from the rest of the class because they are “slow learners.” It is really sad because there is only one high school in Posadas so all of the students receive the same education and receive little special attention. To keep them from talking to each other when I was speaking, I asked them questions about themselves--Angel put his head down on his desk and Antonio covered his mouth with his scarf. Eventually they answered and did a very good job. Before class, I did not understand they were slow and perceived them to be students prone to bad behavior. I think I have a soft spot for them and will do my best to help them as much as I can. Or at the very least, be their friend.
After that class, I went and met with Antonio--he is the arts teacher for the older children and just needs help preparing his bilingual course for next year. We bonded over our macintosh computers of all things. He showed me pictures of his cat and dog Mimi (a big chihuahua like Bella!) he is married and lives in Cordoba. His class is really cool--he has programs on the computer that show you the angles of triangles, etc. We are basically going to be translating the art terminology from Spanish to English. We will also try and come up with activities to use the new vocabulary. At first I was intimidated by Art, but now I’m excited because I really love Art even though I’m terrible at it. He specializes in sculpture.
Then I went back upstairs to meet Pilar and go to my next class. The students are very quiet and well-behaved, a stark contrast to the students from earlier in the day. They speak english pretty well and follow directions with little fuss. I introduced myself again (name, age, family, hobbies, nationality, mother tongue haha)
After that I had “conversation” with Maria Dolores and Eli. They are practicing for their english exam and need to work on their speaking abilities. They are both pretty good--but I felt a little bit awkward today not knowing what to talk about. I feel strange being a peer to people I still feel are my teachers, does that make sense? Anyways we talked about our favorite food and good places to eat in Posadas. Eli laughed when I told her I like to eat dinner around 6pm (which is quite a problem here because people don’t eat until 8pm or later). I’m a fish out of water.
Finally, after everything I was able to go to the staff room and use the wireless internet. THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR WIRELESS INTERNET!!!! It was so exciting to get on AIM (granted it was only 6am at home..nobody was on anyway) but it was still like a total treasure to be connected to the outside world. Mandy was online and we got to catch up--it was so nice to talk to her! You can’t imagine how difficult it is to be the only one going through this experience. I am the only one who knows what this is like. I think I might go visit her in Granada this weekend, however it is Sarah’s birthday so I am sure they are going to be wanting to stay out really late--but maybe I can persuade Mandy to come back earlier with me (as in 1am..not 8am). My internet time was cut short because the school was closing, one of the Spanish teachers (not in the bilingual program) offered Will and I a ride home because it was raining. That was really, really nice. I wanted to go running, but it was only 30 degrees. Might have ended badly, probably with leg cramps and a cold. To be totally honest, I ended up crying out of the blue when I realized I have not done anything normal, anything that I would do at home. I felt momentarily like I had lost my sense of identity, happiness. A helped me decide that it would be just as well to go running tomorrow when it is supposed to be sunny, and then go see about joining the little gym. I also admitted that I miss Bella terribly.
Troy is coming on Sunday--but I guess he is going to travel other places when he is here, I don’t blame him for not wanting to stay in Posadas. There is nothing besides warm people, cafes, and a rundown gym. I am the only American in Posadas. I am..Rubia.
PS: I finished reading “She’s Come Undone” (I blame the book for my temporary emotional meltdown, it’s really depressing. But as I hoped, it ended happily. I feel better about it now.) And I also figured out how to check my voicemail. The minor mishap was that I could not understand the directions (since they are in spanish) and I entered my pin number that came with my phone so now that’s my voicemail password, great. Anyways, I had two voicemail’s from my Mom--I miss my family. I miss everybody. Infact, I miss EVERYTHING.
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