Escuela

Oh my goodness.  My brain is FRIED.  FRIED.  FRIED.

We started the day with pan de banana from Dona Luisa y fruta from last night's dinner.  Tim and I both worked for an hour and a half before we woke the kids up.  It was nice to get some of it done before they were up and moving.

The kids and I headed out about 7:30 to find the school!  They packed water, a snack and they each had their phones.  The area we are staying is a gated community.  When we leave, we turn right to hit the main street.  Today?  We went straight...and then took a left to hit the main road...which, of course, is the opposite direction of where we should have gone.  We did see a ferris wheel in the distance that the kids want to check out in the future...and we passed a cemetary.  It was an interesting walk.  We kept taking left turns until we ended up where we started....11 minutes later.  After 20 minutes of complaining that the walk was too far, we ended up at PLFM.
 We stopped to take a photo under the arch, and peaked in at the andas that are used in the parades.

 I pointed out where we were standing during La Semana Santa when Tim had his wallet stolen.   Everyone started speaking Spanish when we arrived at the school....and to be honest, I was wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. They shuffle s through the grounds into a room in back.  We were sitting talking to a priest from Boston who is also in the area for 4 weeks to study.  Leslie (the student coordinator) showed up to give an intro and thankfully it was in English. :)  It's good to step out of your comfort zone, but sometimes it's also good to be back in it!

I left the kids around 8:30 with their teachers and walked back to the house where I was able to work until it was time to hike back to pick them up!  Ethan called at 10:30 during break to tell us it was so incredibly boring.  Jake got on the phone and said 'I love it'.  Lily got on and reiterated what Ethan had said and Grace said she liked it.  All things considered a 50% approval rating is maybe better than what I expected.  When I got to the school at noon, I talked to Leslie about options for field trips.  7 hours of school a day is A LOT and I told the kids they could do 2 field trips a week.  I signed them up to visit a cocoa farm on Friday where they can make some chocolate and to walk to Cerro de la Cruz this afternoon.    On the walk home I got an earful.  Ethan said he couldn't handle it. There was no way he could do it for 7 hours a day.  He was only doing half days. Etc. etc.  I tried to tell him that he could do field trips and he said he'd rather do field trips without his teacher.  I offered to switch teachers.  he said it wouldn't matter.  The teacher wasn't the problem.  Being in school all day was.  Jake said it was awesome.  He said 'Mom...I already speak Spanglish!  I answered a question that Ethan asked and used both Spanish and English.  I love it mom'.  Grace said 'I liked it  I even finished almost a whole page in my book.  I like my teacher.  I am going to keep her for next week. '  Jake said "I'm not!".  I asked why because Jake had just told me how much he liked his teacher.   He said "they told us that you learn more if you have a different teacher every week so I am going to have a different teacher every week."  Lily said she loved her teacher and it wasn't great...but it was good.  Things were improving!  We stopped at McDonalds for sundaes on the way home.  Jake didn't want one, Ethan was too crabby to admit to wanting one, and the girls each had one.  I loved watching them skip and chatter nonstop about how their day was.

I made Quesadillas with Oaxaca cheese for lunch.  It's almost like string cheese.  The kids love it.  Everyone but Ethan went in la piscina (the pool) while it cooked.  He finally came down after an hour and decided to join the family.  I was hopeful it was just a lack of food that made him irritable.

When we headed out at 1:30, Ethan hadn't rallied.  He said he wasn't going, but he did.  The kids went back into their little rooms to find their teachers but then headed out for a hike for Cerro de la Cruz.  I met my instructor and good lord....I see where Ethan was coming from.  It is HARD.  For an hour and a half it was just me and the teacher.  And all we did was try and have a conversation...where he corrected my verb tenses and helped me with words I didn't know.  It's intense.  I felt guilty for signing my kids up for 4 weeks of this.  You know how when you are in class  you can pay attention some of the time but not all the time?  NO ES POSIBLE when you are the only student.  We did spend a lot of time talking about how my ninos were probably enojados y mojados.  (mad and wet!)  They were walking to Cerro de la cruz and it started POURING out.  POURING.    All I could think was Ethan is going to be EVEN angrier.  Not only is he hating it but now he's probably cold and wet.   Mi maestro and I did talk about the half marathon in Antigua that's coming up.  He has run it 6 times.  I asked 'Hay colinas?'  He told me no and told me the worst part is the cobblestone roads but at one point in Jocotonego the roads are asphalt.  He assured me that we went down a hill...and that it was mostly flat.  Seeing as it starts and ends in el parque central, I have a sneaking hunch that somewhere there is an uphill.  We worked a little with verb tenses.  He said 'Tim debe estudiar espanol'.  Which means Tim should study Spanish.  It was a fun afternoon but mentally exhausting.

The kids rolled in at about 4:50...and were happy!  And not wet!  When the bell rang at 5 they all couldn't stop talking about their trip to see the cross.  They said they rode in the back of a pickup truck to the top of the hill (um...yeah...I had no idea).  When it was raining, they sat under a tent and counted.  I asked if they did much Spanish while under the tent...they said 'eh'.  Part of me was a little concerned...and the rest of me remembered how friend my brain was from 3 hours of Spanish.  It was probably good for them to have a break, talk about perros (there were 3 dogs there) and work on their counting.  Besides that, they got to hang out in the backup of pickup truck and spend time with their teachers.  Part of the immersion is being in Guatemala without mom and dad directing every move.

Ethan enjoyed this afternoon.  It was raining out and I was sure they would all be demanding we took a tuk tuk home.  We walked one block in the rain before we saw one and Lily said we should grab one.  Ethan said...we are fine...we are practically home. This afternoons trip was exactly what they needed.  Lily told Jake she speaks 3 languages now...Spanish, English and Spanglish.  Jake said he didn't always understand his teacher so sometimes he just says 'si'.  He said one time she looked at him and said....''no..no"  Grace still insists she likes her teacher and is sticking with her all week.  That doesn't surprise me at all because of her personality.  They have until Wednesday to make a choice regarding next weeks teacher so we have another day to decide.

We all hopped in the hot tub when we got back from school.  Mayda was making dinner.  My feet were white from Raynaud's.  It felt good to get in a hot tub in the rain.  Dinner was amazing again.  Fish, corn on the cob, a tomato salad and mashed potatoes.  The fruit was watermelon tonight and the juice was tamarindo.  I can not tell you how spoiled we have been.  Jake says we should hire her every night.  The kids are all doing better than I expected with trying different things...and have been very good about saying Gracias y Delicioso!

It could be an early night tonight...we are trying to finish the second half of the $1.25 McFarland movie we bought last night...but it was a long day.  The kids walked 4 miles AND went on the field trip...AND probably spent 2 hours in the pool.  They should sleep well tonight.  We are all supposed to have homework tonight...I"m already being a bad student.