i can definitely promise that even though this page has turned into a forum for me to complain, i am having a great time nonetheless. that said, what is going on here?

tomorrow and friday and are the oral exams for incoming new students. they have taken an online test and now they have a verbal, conversation skills, test to see where they are as speakers. the two scores are combined and the students are then placed in a level. how do i know this? i have a magic 8-ball that tells me things. it certainly isn´t coming from my boss.

ah, my boss. she told me yesterday there would be oral tests wed and fri. sweet. how do i grade those? oh, it should be obvious. i will send another teacher who has done it before to help. ok, sounds good. obvious? no. so then the students start knocking on my door this morning, profe (fairly informal greeting, i like it better than ´teacher´which is the main title that most of the students, and some of the faculty for some odd reason, use) what time is the test (all in spanish, so luckily i am up on my communication ability)? when, where, what is on it, what if i don´tknow, how hard is it . . . general q´s that anyone would want to know. sadly, i had to actually ask for this info. why would i be told such important things anyway?

so a new prof arrived yesterday. did my boss bother to bring him by my office? no. but he came to ixtepec to look for housing. there are two main roads into ixtepec. the main highway from tehuantepec, which she would have used, goes directly by campus. can´t miss it. big fences, guards with guns, etc. so great, she did not even bother to bring him by campus. i will meet him at night. oh no, he is staying with some lady from the school. i should meet him tuesday. no, wait, check that, no maybe wednesday. what about the other two profs? well, i might meet one on wednesday or thursday. the other guy who taught here last semester? he will arrive this weekend or next week. class starts monday. he will arrive next week. hmm. interesting.

any nervous feelings i ever had about teaching are gone. my boss is clearly not fit to be in charge of anything save her ability to communicate, although often poorly, in spanish and english. she has absolutely no people skills yet is in charge of hiring, and, by some strange order, orientation. good luck. at this point, i am really considering stayinghere next semester because at the very least, i have absolutely no pressure to perform. of course i will do my best and all that, but it is not like there is some standard here i need to live up to in any way. teaching without pressure. i guess it is kind of nice once one gets used to the complete lack of structure, consistency, help, explanation and texts.