Hacchppy Hacchlloween!

I'd first like to start with a warning. This blog post is in no way funny or clever and I apologize for that.

School has been pretty normal. I'm definitely liking my new schedule of having Mondays off. Mondays are the worst days for both the kids and the teachers and now I get to avoid it. Secondly, we always go out for lunch on Friday and its fun! I met up with Raul one day since I hadn't seen him since June. I can't even explain how exciting it was. We went out for lunch and it brought back a lot of memories. I of course filled him in on how different everything in the English room was this year and begged him to come back and save me. He's still waiting to be placed in a school so there is still hope.

At Halloween time the school asks the assistants to perform a scary play, last year we did ¨Hansel and Gretel go Trick or Treating¨, this year we decided to put a Halloween spin on Rapunzel. Basically, for the last two weeks we haven´t had classes because we´ve been preparing for the show. We made a tower, a cardboard horse for the prince, pumpkins for the background, and various little odds and ends that involved a lot of painting.
On the next free day we did the script and costumes, and rehearsed a million times. Steve played the ever so charming prince, Fiona played Rapunzel, Sarah the witch, and I played the narrator...you´d be surprised how much I hate standing in front of people and talking. We performed six shows on Thursday and six on Friday and they all went rather smoothly. The biggest problem was when certain actors ad lib-ed and I lost my concentration, most of the play was to our benefit. The children only understood about 15% of what we said so we added popular lines from famous movies to make it better for us, and some of the teachers. At the end the children had to hold out their hands and say ¨Trick or Treat¨and we gave them candies. Here children, have some more sugar because you´re not hyper enough!

As far as having the "crazy life of a twenty something" I've been taking it easy. I've met up with some of the teachers on Thursday night for drinks a few times. It always ends up with us out till the early morning and we all come into work with sunglasses and a look of agony on Friday. Serves us right, I know. I have managed to meet some new and interesting people who will hopefully be a new source of entertainment for me.

Today I started my personal weekend. In the morning I got up, went to the gym, and then took a nice long walk in Retiro Park. As everyone knows I love the Fall so I finally got to see all the leaves changing color and take some pictures. I sat for awhile reading the new Dan Brown book, which I find extremely interesting because it takes place in D.C., and then returned home for lunch. I needed this weekend to detox and mellow out from the stressful couple of days I´ve been having. As is tradition I watched ¨Hocus Pocus¨ and continued the relaxation. I should definitely take weekends like this more often!

About the title: Say it out loud like you have gross stuff in your throat and that is how everyone Spanish person pronounces 'Happy Halloween!"

Negative: I never see my Portero.

Positive: I GOT PAID FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOUR MONTHS!!

Bunny returns to HCA

Well its that time of year again...school has finally begun for me. The first week is over and done and I had to take the first weekend to rest. After vegging out the entire summer my body and mind were not prepared to jump back into the 14 hour work days.

I started school on the 1st which was a Thursday. I woke up at 5 in the morning to a charming recording my neighbor has telling me that there is no electricity to keep her food cold in the fridge. I then proceed to look at my computer and discover that my apartment is also without electricity. What a fantastic way to start the first day of school! The commute was the same, everything seemed routine as if I hadn't just taken three months off. Same bus driver, same crazy commuters, and same feeling as I entered Rivas. Upon entering the school Steve and I were greeted by the principal who was just so ecstatic that we were back. Basically all the greetings were the same, "how was you summer, family, country?", and were we excited to be back. The school has changed a bit as far as classroom placement because there are more 1st grade classes. It took a little bit to adjust to where all my classes are but after one week I'm proud to say that my schedule is almost memorized.

This year I only have 1st and 2nd grade, and I only teach English. It was quite a shock seeing my schedule because I had such a mix of classes last year. This year its all English all the time, no Science and no gym classes. I know I'm going to miss the gym classes the most because of the teachers and because of the pure chaos. The other interesting thing about my schedule this year is that I have Mondays off instead of Fridays. Either way I get a three day weekend but all my friends at different schools have Friday off so partying is difficult. The great thing is that on Fridays all the teachers plan fun activities because the childrens' attention span is shot. This Friday coming up I will be making clown puppets.

There are a ton of new teachers and most of them are young and wicked nice. The lunch room dynamic is still the same, we're all loud and you can never get a word in edgewise. The food is exactly the same; a huge spread at recreo and three plates at lunch.

My students haven't changed one bit. I still get the same questions, they're just a year older. However, I do have one 2nd grade class believing that Cristiano Ronaldo is my boyfriend. Not too shabby.
I have 6 first grade classes and since I was only with them for a half hour a week for a few weeks last year I need to learn over 150 names. Oh joy! Right now our school has come down with flu (only three of them are Swine flu cases) and many kids are missing from class. All classes now have antibacterial gel and boxes of tissues on all the desks. The kids were finally taught to cough into their elbows so there have definitely been improvements. I am currently taking bets as to how long until I come down with the flu...my estimation: the 1st week of November.

The most significant difference at school is the English room. Lisa, Raul and Juanma are not there and quite frankly is sucks. The room is way too quiet and I'm bored. We have two new auxiliars, one is from Wisconsin and the other is from Scotland. I've been told its too early to judge them but let it be known I'm giving it another week and then I'm dishing!

My private classes also began this week and it is hectic. I have a private class Monday and Wednesday from 6:30-8 with Nayda. She was in my classes last year and she's fantastic. She was supposed to get married this summer but its been rescheduled to January for technical reasons. From 8-9:30 I have a pre-intermediate level class of seven. They're all still very shy but I warned them that I'm quite good at getting people to talk about crazy things in their lives. Their ages range from 19 to 45, and one of the students was from that awful class from last Fall. He actually requested me so we'll see how that works out. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I give a private lesson to a family two stops away from the academy. A half hour with a seven year old boy and then a half hour with his ten year old brother. The family is great and the kids are wicked smart. When I leave them I have to run to the academy to make my 8-9:30 intermediate level class. There are seven in this class as well and they're mostly normal. Most of them are students now and have a decent level. Overall, I'm working 17 hours at HCA, 9 hours at the academy, and 2 hours with private classes per week. Can you say "Hello Egypt" come Spring break!

Up at 7, out the door at 7:45, at school by 9, leave at 4:30, work till 9:30, home at 10...what a life. This year is definitely all about the money. Every trip, every weekend, and every Sushi dinner is going to be so worth it!

About the title: One of the five year olds that I had in Infantil last year saw me in the hall and told me (translated) "What's your name again? I remembering it being something similar to Bunny." Precious little pains!

Negative: New dress code at the academy says no sneakers.

Positive: Running into my futbol coach student, Carlos...swoon.