They were right...When it rains, it pours, and quite literally. I can´t get enough of people telling me how terrible the rains are in June and July here in good old Temascalcingo. I, on the other hand was talking more along the idiom. I have the great fortune of a well-connected adoptive aunt who secured me a classroom in the adult education building here in downtown Temascalcingo. Oh, did I mention that this classroom is rent-free? Yes, I had another offer from a con-artist gringa who wanted to charge me $1,000 (pesos) to teach in the morning: she forgot to mention that nobody wants classes in the morning and that even she didn´t give morning classes. So I decided to go with the first option, eventhough it didn´t have a chalkboard (the remedy is white cardstock, covered in plastic-wrap and a dry-erase marker.) Four hundred flyers later and I opened the doors to my school. The first week I had two students: a three year old who could speak or write in Spanish, and a ADHD+ seven year-old with bladder control problems. Since that first dismal day I´ve gone from fishteeth (fifteen), fart (fork) and ¨I hump in the park¨ (remember, the j in jump is h in Spanish) and way too many bathroom breaks the first week, to three weeks later and over 220 students. From the 37 year old mother who is still trying to finish high school, to my 65 year old neighbor who pays me with lessons in Otomi (the indigenous dialect in the colonia where I live) as she turns her tortillas (she also forces me to eat the ones that don´t pass quality control...rough I know) to the six 45 minute back-to-back classes that I teach in another community - I am drenched in this pouring rain. All corny jokes aside, things are going swimmingly, I can´t complain justifiably. Mondays through Wednesdays it´s to the primaria in Solís and Santa Rosa 8am-2pm. Thursdays it´s Cruz Blanca 2pm-3pm at the telesecundaria (an odd middle school taught over the televison, but with real teachers who only answer questions.) Thats only the morning, everyday 4pm-6pm I´m in my school and then on the th house-calls 6pm-8:30pm. Saturday more house calls, and Sunday no classes given (in fear that I might miss one of my soccer games, of course!) The best news is that I´m almost making $150USD a week! And they say that teaching doesn´t pay.13 February 2009
Captain´s Log: Fishteeth
They were right...When it rains, it pours, and quite literally. I can´t get enough of people telling me how terrible the rains are in June and July here in good old Temascalcingo. I, on the other hand was talking more along the idiom. I have the great fortune of a well-connected adoptive aunt who secured me a classroom in the adult education building here in downtown Temascalcingo. Oh, did I mention that this classroom is rent-free? Yes, I had another offer from a con-artist gringa who wanted to charge me $1,000 (pesos) to teach in the morning: she forgot to mention that nobody wants classes in the morning and that even she didn´t give morning classes. So I decided to go with the first option, eventhough it didn´t have a chalkboard (the remedy is white cardstock, covered in plastic-wrap and a dry-erase marker.) Four hundred flyers later and I opened the doors to my school. The first week I had two students: a three year old who could speak or write in Spanish, and a ADHD+ seven year-old with bladder control problems. Since that first dismal day I´ve gone from fishteeth (fifteen), fart (fork) and ¨I hump in the park¨ (remember, the j in jump is h in Spanish) and way too many bathroom breaks the first week, to three weeks later and over 220 students. From the 37 year old mother who is still trying to finish high school, to my 65 year old neighbor who pays me with lessons in Otomi (the indigenous dialect in the colonia where I live) as she turns her tortillas (she also forces me to eat the ones that don´t pass quality control...rough I know) to the six 45 minute back-to-back classes that I teach in another community - I am drenched in this pouring rain. All corny jokes aside, things are going swimmingly, I can´t complain justifiably. Mondays through Wednesdays it´s to the primaria in Solís and Santa Rosa 8am-2pm. Thursdays it´s Cruz Blanca 2pm-3pm at the telesecundaria (an odd middle school taught over the televison, but with real teachers who only answer questions.) Thats only the morning, everyday 4pm-6pm I´m in my school and then on the th house-calls 6pm-8:30pm. Saturday more house calls, and Sunday no classes given (in fear that I might miss one of my soccer games, of course!) The best news is that I´m almost making $150USD a week! And they say that teaching doesn´t pay.
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