i got it! thank you amy for cluing me in to ebc. sorry i did not recognize the initials blair!
today another teacher from tehuantepec came up, along with my boss, to discuss the section of english that we both teach (level 5, the highest). i also found out that i am only teaching 2 sections, one level5 and one level2. they are supposedly hiring 3 more teachers. i count only one here, but . . . .
my boss, who is french canadien but has lived here for about 20 years, does not really get that it is difficult for new people to adjust here sometimes. alex, the other teacher who came up today, told me he felt the same way. i think she has lived here for so long she does not realize that it is quite difficult to adjust. for example, today she tells me i can use an overhead projector in class. great. then she moves on to something else. but wait, where is this projector? who do i talk to? where do i find this person that i should talk to?
an office worker came in and explained my health plan to me today. she spoke so fast andthere was so much noise outside that i got very very little of it. my boss sat next to me the whole time and when the office lady left my boss moved right on without helping to explain. she knew perfectly well i got almost nothing out of the explanation (because i laughed with alex that neither of us could understand her) yet seemed to care less. i am not sure how to describe her, but warm and helpful would not be the adjectives. i must be very agressive with anything that i want, which makes me feel almost like a jerk sometimes because i have to almost demand certain things from her (well, can you call migration because i won´t understand what they tell me and if i don´t get my workers permit i won´t get paid). but once i do, she acquiesces and everything is fine. then she tells me all about these programs and files for the students to use. aren´t they great? ok, but they are not on the server here in ixtepec so they are of no use to me. but i can use them in a few weeks. i need stuff to use right now and she does not seem to get it. she tells me she has a disc of sound files but that the content won´t work for my students. so why give them to me? so i can make my own. alex jumped in today at this point and said that i probably did not know where this function might be on the computer (everything is in spanish) and that she would have to show me first. oh, she says, sorry. alex later told me she does the same thing to him all the time. lucky for him, she is right next door to office. i am isolated in the middle of nowhere with no one to help me with anything.
ok, enough bitching. anyway, almost done for the day! i might venture to the market to buy some fruit tonight. i love that every little trip is an adventure in itself. what fruit is that? who knows! maybe it tastes good, though! for those who know my eating habits, things have changed a lot. i try just about everything now (i still don´t like a lot of it) because i realize it may be a while before i eat again. i have lost a fair amount of weight, but not too much. i walk a lot and sweat a lot so that has helped too. not to worry, i am eating and healthy, just slimmer now that most of my fatty quick food has been removed. i eat a lot of rice and noodles and soup, oddly enough, at lunch. of course, tortillas with everything just about.
so is katrina still all over the news there? people here still talk of it a little. cali, az did you guys even know there was a storm out east? kidding. write me!
3 comments:
So speaking of $$, are you finally getting paid? I hope everything has been settled with that. How much is your rent? Do you think it will be hard to live within your budget there?
Things are kind of crazy in Atlanta. We have a lot of refugees here from New Orleans and Mississippi--one of my employees has 11 family members who've had to move in with her. So far, we haven't received too many evacuated psychiatric patients at the hospital, but I think we'll see those numbers go up over the next few days. There are a lot of people staying at shelters around the city.
The media has been covering the hurricane's aftermath pretty much non stop for the past week. There's a lot of criticism about the government (federal, state, local) and the way they handled things--especaily in New Orleans. Things are still really bad there.
Anyway, thanks for all the updates--this website is great!
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I just read all the posts. I can totally see how most normal people would be very upset that they can't commnunicate with other people. Being one of those rare people that don't enjoy talking I think I might thrive in this environment.
I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. Just point at stuff and nodd. They do understand nodding and shaking your head right? What about grunting? Is that universal?
That food sounded pretty good to me. 2 bucks for taquitos, noodles, soup, tortillas, and juice. Score. This must be the model that has made Taco Bell so successful. I am full!!!
The teaching part would probably be pretty hard though. Maybe I could get away with telling my class that I think the best way for them to learn is to only speak English inside my classroom. That way it doesn't really matter how well I teach them because they won't understand a word I say anyway. This strategy would probably also cut those pesky questions down to a minimum seeing how I would only respond to questions in English.
Do they have any bikes down there? I would definitely need a bike. Those mountains looked pretty tall. I would like to ride up to the top of one of those suckers. Can you ride in the mountains without getting kidnapped? That would be a serious disadvantage to mountain biking.
Seriously thanks for writing this blog. It is really exciting to hear about your adventure. I hope you can stick it out the whole six months.
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