September 4, 2006, 5:00 PM
It was brought to my attention that my last blog entry has the potential to be taken badly – being that it was self-pitying, passive-aggressive and over-indulgent. Ok, I take ownership of that, and I apologize for laying it on pretty thick (twice with many of you). If I’m being honest, I’ve hit a bit of a down patch here and I made the poor choice to express that by being self-pitying, passive-aggressive and over-indulgent. Email, don’t email, read these ramblings, don’t read ‘em, it’s entirely up to you. I made the choice to be down here and I’m also going to make the choice to not take everything so personally. Forgive me?
But I do have to say that it warmed my heart to get a TON of emails today wishing me well, and more importantly, filling me in on news at home so that I don’t feel so out of the loop. So thanks folks.
So…first day of school. Well? It was a bit disorganized from my vantage point, and it really wasn’t a school day – not the way I think of one anyway. Today was actually a day for the local teacher to register all the kids officially for the academic year and to have a really long meeting with the parents. This meeting, I think, was to discuss all kinds of issues relating to the school and the community. Meanwhile, the kids were told they had the option to stay at the school and play or go home. I have to say I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get down to any semblance of teaching, but I guess that’s par for the course at any school on the first day. So I made my famous rice and lentils for the kids (now quite the expert) and that was the extent of my contribution to their first day of school.
The big treat was to see them turn up in their little uniforms (or portions thereof) as they looked so beautiful in their finery – girls in the traditional indigenous costume of white embroidered blouses and long dark flannel skirts, coupled with a blue school vest, and the boys in their white trousers and blue school sweaters.
And I did learn what my responsibilities will be as things get rolling. I will be in charge of the Jardín – or kindergarten. This means that I will be spending five hours a day with 3-6 year old kids teaching them the basics. Early childhood education is certainly not my forte, but I do have a soft spot for young cute kids, so hopefully it will work out ok. It is a hard job as keeping kids that age on task is next to impossible, so it requires a plethora of activities, all of which I must plan. But I’m looking forward to the challenge – or at least that’s the mantra I’ve adopted.
But I do have to say that it warmed my heart to get a TON of emails today wishing me well, and more importantly, filling me in on news at home so that I don’t feel so out of the loop. So thanks folks.
So…first day of school. Well? It was a bit disorganized from my vantage point, and it really wasn’t a school day – not the way I think of one anyway. Today was actually a day for the local teacher to register all the kids officially for the academic year and to have a really long meeting with the parents. This meeting, I think, was to discuss all kinds of issues relating to the school and the community. Meanwhile, the kids were told they had the option to stay at the school and play or go home. I have to say I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get down to any semblance of teaching, but I guess that’s par for the course at any school on the first day. So I made my famous rice and lentils for the kids (now quite the expert) and that was the extent of my contribution to their first day of school.
The big treat was to see them turn up in their little uniforms (or portions thereof) as they looked so beautiful in their finery – girls in the traditional indigenous costume of white embroidered blouses and long dark flannel skirts, coupled with a blue school vest, and the boys in their white trousers and blue school sweaters.
And I did learn what my responsibilities will be as things get rolling. I will be in charge of the Jardín – or kindergarten. This means that I will be spending five hours a day with 3-6 year old kids teaching them the basics. Early childhood education is certainly not my forte, but I do have a soft spot for young cute kids, so hopefully it will work out ok. It is a hard job as keeping kids that age on task is next to impossible, so it requires a plethora of activities, all of which I must plan. But I’m looking forward to the challenge – or at least that’s the mantra I’ve adopted.
posted by Melissa In Ecuador at 1:12 PM
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