Saturday, May 20, 2006
Día de los maestros
Monday was Teachers’ Day, so last night (Friday) there was a dance for all the teachers in Arandas. It was held at the fairgrounds, and there was a band playing cheesy cumbia and banda. They had a raffle and were giving away lots of prizes, like computers and bicycles and sofa sets and silver coins and a TV. The fourth-grade teacher won a portfolio, the least exciting of all the prizes. I thought there would be dinner, but there were only snacks, so I ate about a kilo of potato chips with chili sauce. I also drank tequila with Squirt. Of course by the time I was in bed at 2 a.m. my stomach wasn’t feeling so great.
The dance wasn’t all that fun for me. I hardly danced at all and started to feel sleepy pretty early. What had been fun, however, was shopping with Rocio before the dance. After school, we went out to eat lunch at the Pastelero, our favorite cheap restaurant, and then we went shopping for clothes for the dance. I was feeling bored with my wardrobe, wearing all the same shirts for going out, and we had just gotten paid. We spent the entire afternoon running around town to several shops. Rocio got an entire outfit, and I got a pink top and silver heels.
Thursday we had eaten lunch with the school’s Mesa Directiva, which I assume translates to Board of Directors. We ate at the beautiful house of one of the members of the board (also the mother of two students at the school and my student in afternoon English classes). It turned out to be great fun. They were grilling hamburgers on the patio, and who knew that fresh pineapple would taste so great on a hamburger? Then we each got a gift (shirts or ties) and played lots of games to win prizes. Cristina and I won the first one and got towels. Then I won a colander in the next game (while others got more exciting things, but I needed a colander). In the last game I won a nice necklace, but I didn’t really like it, so I gave it to Rocio since she really wanted it.
Aracely actually spoke to me that day, too, and she gave me a ride home as well. Though things aren’t exactly back to normal with her, they are definitely improving.
Some of my students gave me presents for Teachers’ Day. I have now eaten about a hundred Hershey’s kisses and still have one huge one left. I also own a little statue of the Virgin Mary and a big colorful wallet that I’m not sure I’ll ever use.
The school decided to give gifts to the teachers who didn’t go on the trip last Friday. I got a rather ugly purse. I hadn’t been expecting a gift, but the principal gave an elaborate explanation about it, mentioning that she knew several teachers weren’t happy with something that had happened, and I didn’t understand what was going on. Later I discovered that on the trip, the teachers who went got to split a large sum of money. As there were only about eight of them, they each went away with 1500 pesos (a little under $150).
Well, if I had known we’d be getting money on the trip, I would’ve gotten over my dislike of the school’s indecisiveness about where to take us, and I would’ve gone, with my cold and everything! I would much rather have gotten money than an ugly purse, but it’s not that big a deal.
Today I went to the swimming class again. I didn’t go last Saturday because of my cold. I think I am improving. I can sort of do the crawl now, though I still end up drinking or inhaling pool water at times. I have trouble with the breathing, of course. I am also incredibly out of shape and get tired quickly. There was only one moment of distress, when I got water up my nose and into my sinuses, which felt like they were burning. As I waited for it to pass at the side of the pool, Felipe the P.E. teacher came over to see if I was all right, and I felt like crying. It’s weird how easily I cry in swimming class—I’m not sure why. I feel like it must have something to do with traumatizing childhood experiences in the water, though I don’t remember anything really very terrible happening. All that ever happened was I’d get lots of water up my nose, but I’ve survived so it can’t be all that bad…. Anyway, I got over it quickly and went on trying to do the crawl, and I stayed in the water much longer than I had during my first class. Felipe says next week I am going to learn the stroke on my back—I wonder what that’s called. I was surprised; shouldn’t I actually get the crawl down before I start another stroke?
I’m sleepy from going to bed late and then getting up early for my swim class, so I’ll probably go read and take a nap. It’s SO nice to have the weekend off…. Next weekend I think we have the cursos diplomados again, and while I swore to myself that I would never go again to those dumb classes, I might out of guilty feelings.
The dance wasn’t all that fun for me. I hardly danced at all and started to feel sleepy pretty early. What had been fun, however, was shopping with Rocio before the dance. After school, we went out to eat lunch at the Pastelero, our favorite cheap restaurant, and then we went shopping for clothes for the dance. I was feeling bored with my wardrobe, wearing all the same shirts for going out, and we had just gotten paid. We spent the entire afternoon running around town to several shops. Rocio got an entire outfit, and I got a pink top and silver heels.
Thursday we had eaten lunch with the school’s Mesa Directiva, which I assume translates to Board of Directors. We ate at the beautiful house of one of the members of the board (also the mother of two students at the school and my student in afternoon English classes). It turned out to be great fun. They were grilling hamburgers on the patio, and who knew that fresh pineapple would taste so great on a hamburger? Then we each got a gift (shirts or ties) and played lots of games to win prizes. Cristina and I won the first one and got towels. Then I won a colander in the next game (while others got more exciting things, but I needed a colander). In the last game I won a nice necklace, but I didn’t really like it, so I gave it to Rocio since she really wanted it.
Aracely actually spoke to me that day, too, and she gave me a ride home as well. Though things aren’t exactly back to normal with her, they are definitely improving.
Some of my students gave me presents for Teachers’ Day. I have now eaten about a hundred Hershey’s kisses and still have one huge one left. I also own a little statue of the Virgin Mary and a big colorful wallet that I’m not sure I’ll ever use.
The school decided to give gifts to the teachers who didn’t go on the trip last Friday. I got a rather ugly purse. I hadn’t been expecting a gift, but the principal gave an elaborate explanation about it, mentioning that she knew several teachers weren’t happy with something that had happened, and I didn’t understand what was going on. Later I discovered that on the trip, the teachers who went got to split a large sum of money. As there were only about eight of them, they each went away with 1500 pesos (a little under $150).
Well, if I had known we’d be getting money on the trip, I would’ve gotten over my dislike of the school’s indecisiveness about where to take us, and I would’ve gone, with my cold and everything! I would much rather have gotten money than an ugly purse, but it’s not that big a deal.
Today I went to the swimming class again. I didn’t go last Saturday because of my cold. I think I am improving. I can sort of do the crawl now, though I still end up drinking or inhaling pool water at times. I have trouble with the breathing, of course. I am also incredibly out of shape and get tired quickly. There was only one moment of distress, when I got water up my nose and into my sinuses, which felt like they were burning. As I waited for it to pass at the side of the pool, Felipe the P.E. teacher came over to see if I was all right, and I felt like crying. It’s weird how easily I cry in swimming class—I’m not sure why. I feel like it must have something to do with traumatizing childhood experiences in the water, though I don’t remember anything really very terrible happening. All that ever happened was I’d get lots of water up my nose, but I’ve survived so it can’t be all that bad…. Anyway, I got over it quickly and went on trying to do the crawl, and I stayed in the water much longer than I had during my first class. Felipe says next week I am going to learn the stroke on my back—I wonder what that’s called. I was surprised; shouldn’t I actually get the crawl down before I start another stroke?
I’m sleepy from going to bed late and then getting up early for my swim class, so I’ll probably go read and take a nap. It’s SO nice to have the weekend off…. Next weekend I think we have the cursos diplomados again, and while I swore to myself that I would never go again to those dumb classes, I might out of guilty feelings.
