Yesterday was our first day of school. Elsa (our Guatemalan Mom), made sure that we were well-fed with a breakfast of fresh fruits. She chopped up a pineapple, mango, a plantain, and put them into a bowl for us. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of fruit...but like Michael, I agree that the extremely fresh fruit here is extremely good! I can't say I've ever tasted any quite like it.
Elsa then walked us to school and introduced us to the principal and some of the staff. We were given a quick tour of the facilities, signed our enrollment paperwork, made our first payments, and then met our teachers.
My teacher is named Lourdes (nickname LuLu). She was surprised that I could pronounce her name correctly; as most Gringos have problems with it. We have a couple of partners in work who are named Lourdes, so I had already perfected the pronunciation. No doubt this got me some brownie points!
The school is arranged so that each teacher / student pair has their own table and chairs that are set around an open courtyard. The area we were assigned happens to be directly next to the WiFi antenna. This is great, because it gives me an excellent Internet connection while I'm there. It was absolutely no problem to put on my headset and use Skype to check voice mail and make calls for work.
The lessons are pretty free-flowing. The school gave us several books, but the teachers prefer to write words on scrap paper and have us practice with them. I learned how to introduce myself and what to call the various members of someone's family (e.g., mother, father, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, etc.). We used Lourdes' family (which is quite large!) as an example.
And so went the first day. I was amazed at how quickly it went by...but I think that Lourdes was pretty worn out! It's got to be tough repeating the same words over and over and over!
After school, Mike and I went to a restaurant for lunch (the same one we went to yesterday). The food was just as good. While we were eating, a mouse ran into the restaurant, and the staff were trying to catch it. This is when Mike thought it would be a good idea to practice his Spanish. As the waiter and owner were using a stick to corner the little guy, Mike joked with them “No more rat! No more mouse!” Not sure of the Spanish, he yelled “Mas rat! Mas mouse!” This Spanglish translates to “More rat! More mouse!”, which totally confused the staff. Mike had to explain to them why he did NOT want more rats in the restaurant.
After our relatively exciting lunch, we headed to the shops again. This time, we picked up some butter and olive oil for the house (Guatemala Mom sent me to the store with a shopping list), ice trays and a bucket, a coffee thermos to take to school, and yet another bottle of Johnnie Walker Red (according to Mike, the bottle he kept overnight is no longer suitable as a gift).
Our dinner was very simple but tasty...mushroom soup, bread, and a tostilla with beans. Afterward, it was off to do our homework.
Today was pretty much the same. A great breakfast (egg and cheese sandwich, fresh banana), private lessons with our teachers at school, a very satisfying lunch (different restaurant with no rats), and business calls / e-mails in the afternoon.
Elsa then walked us to school and introduced us to the principal and some of the staff. We were given a quick tour of the facilities, signed our enrollment paperwork, made our first payments, and then met our teachers.
My teacher is named Lourdes (nickname LuLu). She was surprised that I could pronounce her name correctly; as most Gringos have problems with it. We have a couple of partners in work who are named Lourdes, so I had already perfected the pronunciation. No doubt this got me some brownie points!
The school is arranged so that each teacher / student pair has their own table and chairs that are set around an open courtyard. The area we were assigned happens to be directly next to the WiFi antenna. This is great, because it gives me an excellent Internet connection while I'm there. It was absolutely no problem to put on my headset and use Skype to check voice mail and make calls for work.
The lessons are pretty free-flowing. The school gave us several books, but the teachers prefer to write words on scrap paper and have us practice with them. I learned how to introduce myself and what to call the various members of someone's family (e.g., mother, father, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, etc.). We used Lourdes' family (which is quite large!) as an example.
And so went the first day. I was amazed at how quickly it went by...but I think that Lourdes was pretty worn out! It's got to be tough repeating the same words over and over and over!
After school, Mike and I went to a restaurant for lunch (the same one we went to yesterday). The food was just as good. While we were eating, a mouse ran into the restaurant, and the staff were trying to catch it. This is when Mike thought it would be a good idea to practice his Spanish. As the waiter and owner were using a stick to corner the little guy, Mike joked with them “No more rat! No more mouse!” Not sure of the Spanish, he yelled “Mas rat! Mas mouse!” This Spanglish translates to “More rat! More mouse!”, which totally confused the staff. Mike had to explain to them why he did NOT want more rats in the restaurant.
After our relatively exciting lunch, we headed to the shops again. This time, we picked up some butter and olive oil for the house (Guatemala Mom sent me to the store with a shopping list), ice trays and a bucket, a coffee thermos to take to school, and yet another bottle of Johnnie Walker Red (according to Mike, the bottle he kept overnight is no longer suitable as a gift).
Our dinner was very simple but tasty...mushroom soup, bread, and a tostilla with beans. Afterward, it was off to do our homework.
Today was pretty much the same. A great breakfast (egg and cheese sandwich, fresh banana), private lessons with our teachers at school, a very satisfying lunch (different restaurant with no rats), and business calls / e-mails in the afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment