First day of Work

Even though I had been driven by IES Domingo Caceres once and studied my map intently the night before work, I still got lost. I walked one block too far south and two blocks too few going west. Even though people are generally late for appointments, it is important to be on time, even if the person you are meeting is late, so I did not want to be late on my first day. Mar was also 5 minutes late getting to school, so everything was fine. She took me to the teacher’s lounge and introduced me to all of the English teachers. I was supposed to have four classes (three for 50 minutes and one for 55), but only had three because Mar had misinterpreted one of the teacher’s schedules. All of the kids were 13, though a lot of them were small and looked about 10. They were well behaved and were not too shy to speak in English. We talked about Texas, capital cities, regions of the US, weather in the different regions, school schedules and food. I asked them what kinds of foods they think of when they think of the US. Everyone said hamburgers, hot dogs, and fries and then asked if we ate them everyday.

The teachers at the school were all very welcoming and offered to help me find an apartment or help me with anything else I needed. During el recreo (the coffee break at 11:10) the teachers divided themselves by age. I went out with the young people to a café where people either had café con leche (which is the best thing ever), zumo de naranja (the cafés have a machine that makes the juice fresh for each person) and cola cao (hot chocolate made by Nestle that is mixed into warm milk. The Spanish say it’s the best in the world). The break lasts for 30 minutes and is halfway during the school day. Classes begin at 8:30 and school is done by 2:20, so that the students and teachers can eat lunch at home or elsewhere.