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Happy Wednesday, er, I mean Tuesday. It feels like it should be Wednesday as much as we have been working. We left the hotel at 7AM and made the trek up the mountain to the school. The ride up is incredible as they have built the road right along the side of the mountain and the views of the city are spectacular! I can't describe how clean and beautiful the city looks from up here. The only hard part is there is nowhere to stop to get any good pictures and the ones we try from the bus just don't turn out!
School today was AWESOME! The kids were on, I was on, and we just had plain fun! We are working on factors and multiples. It sounds boring, but the interesting thing is these kids have very few experiences working together. They expect me to have all the answers (which you would think I would enjoy, but I don't... honest!), and to just tell them what to do and how to do it. Boy were they in for a shocker! They are funny, caring, responsive, and most of all, willing to take risks. I came to the realization that this was my first international class, and that made the day all the more special!
The support staff and administration at this school are incredible. They have bent over backward to answer our every need, and don't bat an eye. It has really helped me feel at home here and I think I could get used to being here. Of course it's not perfect (just like any school), but there are some super dedicated people here that really want what's best for kids. You can't beat that!
The teachers here to learn are great too! I have a few that have been watching me since Monday and I met a new teacher today. Jeff, of course, is my host teacher. He's from Canada (Ontario, if I remember correctly). He just got married in March to a Colombian gal and just got home from a trip to the states for a training. He's just as tired as we are, and to boot, his luggage got lost! Elena is another teacher from here at the Columbus School. She teaches SpEd, and felt that the middle grades would be the place that would be the most helpful for her. I can tell that she loves kids, but really wants to know how to help them best. Finally there are two other teachers that really stood out, Luis and Cecilia. They are both from Colombia, Cecilia teaches in a school called CNG, and Luis teaches in a different school. They are a lot of fun, and it's interesting to see them working with kids and talking about what they notice.
As for me, I was wiped out after my teaching day. It was really hard to get up the energy to plan, or even to head out to dinner. We went to a restaurant in the mall called Crepes and Waffles (no lie). The cool thing about this Colombian born business is that they only hire single mothers to help make sure they can provide for their families. Don't think that just because it was in a mall that the food is like fast food, it was delicious. I know it sounds horrible, but I had a "Mexican crepe" with actual salsa! Colombians don't eat spicy food, which came to me as quite a shock!You should have seen the desserts! I had this huge sundae with bananas, dulce de leche (a carmel that is made with milk), ice cream and nuts. It looked like a work of art!
Then it was back to the B&B for lesson planning and just a smidge of sleep. 7 AM comes early, so I'd better hit the hay. More soon...
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