School Days

Happy Pills

Get happy here!

Classroom display for Open House

Playground

Hallway near room

Playground

Friday Lunch

Lunch with the girls

August 23, 2014

I haven’t written much about school! That’s because it’s been totally overwhelming and I’m trying to get a handle on it all. This being my 20th year you would think that I would have it down, but it’s totally different than anything I have experienced. There are so many things that I am trying to get used to; starting school at 7:45 am, walking or taking a taxi to school, different kids, behavior expectations, lesson plans, online grading program, heat, weird food, lack of classroom supplies, copies that take 24 hours to get back, and no copy machine that you can use yourself, no overhead projector, although there is a projector that shows what’s on the computer, learning new names, like Zhaira, Juan Pablo, Jaun Felipe, Renata, classrooms with no carpet that are really noisy, loud air conditioners, lack of supplies and having to write up a request for anything we need, running up a flight of stairs and down the hall to get anything you printed to the printers, a crazy pysco kid, and other kids that are the sweetest kids ever!

The campus is huge, seems like maybe 5 acres? It is gated and there are 2 guarded gate openings where you have to sign in and they unlock the gate to let you in. I’m not sure how many guards there are, but there’s a lot. The school is an open model, except for the classrooms. The playground areas are all covered with roofs. There are soccer fields and a huge covered gym. A nice sized cafeteria and kitchen where everthing is cooked on site. Dust blows in and the cleaning ladies are forever sweeping the dust off the floor. Friday they sweep the area at least 5 times because the wind was blowing all day.

I have some really sweet kids! Most of them speak really good English. Their writing skills are pretty good, and reading comprehension is fairly good. Behavior is another thing! They can’t sit still and listen. In fact their listening skills are horrible! I can tell them something after having them stop and all look at me, and then half of them ask me again what to do. It’s frustrating! They aren’t bad kids, just haven’t learned to sit. The principal says that Bolivians are very social, but it’s more than that. These kids are spoiled rich kids who have nannies, maids, and parents that let them get away with way too much! The worst student is Rodrigo. Last year he attacked the principal with scissors, and had to be restrained by 2 teachers, hit other teachers in the face and yesterday while in a meeting with me and the counselor hit me in the face with a piece of paper he threw. The counselor started moving all the stuff off her desk because she was worried he would throw that at me too! I told her I would not allow him back in my room for the rest of the day. Made the principal deal with him. That is the 4th day so far he has acted out. He has told me to shut up 4 times already, and leaves the classroom anytime he wants to. They told me to give him a zero for work he isn’t completing, so every time he leaves the room without permission I put a grade in the computer and give everyone but him a grade. I really don’t care if his grades go down because of it.

Anyway, I’ll get through it. I think once I get organized and figure out what I’m doing things will fall into place.

I’ve got a maid (Gabby) cleaning my house twice a week now. She is from my church, speaks no English, but we communicated through google translate and it seems to be working out. I love coming home to a clean house. Because there are so many cracks and windows that don’t close here there is always a fine dust that settles over everything. The other day she took my clean sheets out of the closet and washed them, and didn’t change the bed. Little miscommunication there. I really need to learn Spanish! Lol But, she’s doing a great job otherwise. I went to the market with some church members today (Mauro and Teressa), and she had me buy some stuff and said for Gabby to cook it up. That would be nice to come home to a cooked dinner! The market is huge! Overwhelming! Reminds me of China.

Teressa and Mauro also took me to the church on Thursday to play volleyball. He is in the bishopbric and speaks a little English. I’m tutoring their son once or twice a week. He is trying to get into BYU, and they want to buy a house in Provo. I guess they are fairly well off. He owns a trucking company. Really nice family.

Melissa, Kelly and I went to the Plaza again to shop and have dinner tonight. I found a type of American Store and bought a mixer and a glass pan so I can make some banana bread.

I loved the Happy Pill sign!