Hey friends! I survived my first full 24 hours here in Buenos Aires and had a wonderful first day of school. All the teachers are so kind and speak English. I begin the school day at 8am in year one. The kids can speak english, but I always have to remind them. Many times when they write, they will say "How do you say (insert long and fast Spanish phrase here) in english?"- quite confusing to understand. I was not with the grade one students much because they had several specials- gym, drama, and library, plus morning break. When students go to break, I think one teacher is assigned to break duty. The rest gather in the staff break room for coffee and socialization. The co teacher I am with is Miss Mary and she is with me all day in both year one and two. Miss Mary is about my age and speaks english to the kids (she is from Argentina). The children are learning to write and have to make all CAPITAL LETTERS. It has been very hard for me to stop writing in lower case when I help students with their work. Lunchtime is very similar to how it was in London. Students sit at a long table and are served the meal family style. Teachers are assigned lunch duty on certain days, but I did not eat in there today. Also, all full time employees are provided with lunch, which is very nice. Everyday there is a salad bar and teachers can eat the meal provided to the children. Today, I went with Miss Mary and we ate in outside in this giant courtyard because the weather was so pleasant. Instead of eating the food provided to the kids, we got the salad bar and Mary showed me this tiny restaurant/cafe within the campus near the secondary school. She says that the food there is better than in the dining hall and she usually opts for getting her lunch there. I ate this ham and cheese pie, almost like quiche...hamon y queso as Claudia taught me! After lunch, it was time to begin the afternoon with year 2. There arent that many names that are common to me, and the ones that are are pronounced differently. Plus, most names are shortened to nicknames. All the kids call me Miss Alison, as they call all the teachers by first name. Year 2 also had many specials classes-drama, music, and computer lab. With so many other classes to go to, we only did a short lesson on the spelling for the week' sh words. Kids are dismissed at 4:15 or so and I was back at Adrianas by 5. Most teachers said they have a nap and tea when the get home...I skipped the tea and headed straight for bed! I intended to take a short snooze and head to the supermarket with Adriana, instead I found myself waking up at 8pm. Everyone here adores Mrs. Brizuela and asks me about Westlake Academy. It is so interesting to share in something that is such a huge part of Mrs. Brizuela's life. I can now see how her experience here has helped shape our school- as so many things are alike. I have not had a chance to share my video yet, hopefully soon. Today I am ending my second day here at Northlands and I have more energy than yesterday. After school, I am going to meet Cecilia's sister and she is going to show me around. I hope to start staying at her place later this week. This morning, Adriana offered me orange juice, but when I looked in the fridge, I could not find it. When I asked her, she pointed to fresh oranges and this juicer thingy. Most of you know I have absolutely little domestic skills, so after slicing the oranges and twisting them around this juicer I was quite proud of myself. I find little things such as that to be rewarding! Many of my students are asking about the food and I must say I have not tasted anything I did not like. For dinner last night, I had something similar to spinach cannelloni and had eggplant for lunch today. Hopefully I will get to upload pictures from my digital later today and post them here so check back! Alison