Eat with your hands!

It’s been a while but suppose that’s a good thing and just goes to prove how busy I have been. I have been co-teaching for two weeks now and so far so good. I teach two first year classes and two second year classes every morning. That’s the U.S. equivalent of 7^th and 8^th graders. Right now we are supposed to be studying drama. Not my strongpoint but I help out as best I can. At noon I return home for a leisurely lunch. And at 3 in the afternoon I head back to the school for research and lesson planning, which sometimes takes us late into the evening after dark.

This week I also helped to revise the English Club. Some students started planning ideas for activities and fundraisers. They have some really good ideas! If they can just get past their shyness to say them out loud…However, the students have begun to loosen up around me and have started talking more. Of course, I have about a thousand ideas running through my head, but I’m quickly finding out difficulties and challenges in organizing anything outside of class time.

The community here is made up of farmers. They work all week in their gardens (can’t call them fields because there is no flat land here). On weekends, they make the trip to La Trinidad to deliver the vegetables to the trading post assuming prices are decent. As for me, weekends are my days off but are usually spent washing laundry, going to church, and finalizing lesson plans.

The 5-meals-a-day routine hasn’t changed. Everything stops at 10 and 3 for merienda. My favorite snack of brewed local coffee with home-made peanut butter on toast followed me here, and I continue to enjoy it twice a day. As for the other meals, they are simple but delicious. Eating with your hands is quite common here and I’ve gotten used to it. They say it makes the food taste better…

Thanks to all who have sent letters or cards (mom). It’s always exciting to get something in the mail.