2nd Grade: 1st Grade Terrorists

Today I awoke to rooster at 6:00 am and it was quickly followed by pop rock from the US blared over a rickety sound system in our hotel. Hmm, how pleasant. I managed to fall back asleep until 7:00 when I was woke up by Becky saying it was time to get breakfast and head to the school.

So, omelets everyday? Not so much, today I had chicken noodle soup for breakfast. While most in the states would consider this a dinner dish the Peruvians apparently have turned the table. Peruvians enjoy this meal because it warms the heart, and also because it warms the soul. In seriousness the meal helps the men who work in the field by putting protein and a warm meal in their stomachs before an hour long trip out in the country to pick and plant potatoes and corn. I was alright with it and it was free because the mayor and the city are covering our food costs, but I could have gone for an omelet too. Meh, maybe tomorrow. Or perhaps tomorrow I'll be having Spare Ribs with mash potatoes for breakfast?

At this point I must confess Im ready to chuck this keyboard out of my tiny internet cubicle and yell profane things in my native language. None of the keys work as they are labeled, apostrohes, semicolons and question marks are a challenge every time.

Alright, the second graders. Grade A terrorists, revolutionaries, and a fine reason for me to ask at the pharmacy after classes today "Tienes Xanax?" Of course I didn't, but I could have. Or I could have drank a little tequila. Or I could have drank a lot of tequila. Things started out fine the children were calm and participated when we introduced to them the memorizar game. A matching game with letters, one boy Juan Carlos, was especially sharp and finished matching letters very quickly. I told him he needed a challenge and changed the matching game to simple addition (one card 9+9, the other 18). He didn't like the challenge and proceeded to throw a fit, about this time one of the program leaders came to visit and Becky left me to run the class with a simple "I have faith you can do it" type pep talk.

Faith, sometimes it's not enough. My spanish immediatly hit a wall when I tried to tell the kids to close the memorizar program and open the hablar program. I wanted the students to type the name of an animal and share it with a friend, I offered the example of "vaca", which is a cow, and which every child wrote down. After this I tried to convince them to write others but Raphael thought it would be funnier to make his computer say "pee pee" and walk around the class showing if off. A few became distracted by and suddenly two of the other volunteers were taking pictures with the children. I've discovered that this is, and will continue to be, an issue. I too have taken out my camera in class, but it is a terrible distraction and we really need to limit encouraging the children to act foolish at first sight of a camera. Anyways, Becky returned and I left to try and fix a computer in another classroom.

I sparked the match, by the time I returned even Becky was becoming irritated with the kids. They identified a box of individual pouches of milk that the government gives to support the children outside the classroom and many started grabbing and hiding them in their backpacks. Some fought over the milk and created small tears in the packaging spraying milk about. By the end of the class we returned the majority of the milk and the principal arrived telling the kids they needed to apolize for their heinous behavior. They sincerely apologized and while I was still upset I accepted a few hugs and told the kids we'd see them soon. Probably sooner than I anticipate, in the form of nightmares as I sleep in my four cornered room.

Boy, I've typed too much. I've also discovered a way to change my computer setting from Spanish to English, so while my posts are still plagued by spelling errors, my spelling proficiency plateaud (is that a word?) at 4th grade, I can at least find commas, explanation points and quotation marks.

Well, I promised a girl who lives in the restaurant next door stickers last night and she's arrived looking for her payout. I forgot those stickers....wonder how I will approach this situation...

Still need to post pics and videos.

Still need to see if the toilet swirls the opposite way.

Still need to change my boxers.

Maybe tomorrow?