1st Day of Teaching...and other stuff too

As far as the other stuff goes, my debit card (my only card) was stolen/lost, not sure which, one sometime since i left Lima. It hasn't been too bad due to my wonderful parents taking money out of my account and sending it to me via Western Union. My card is on the way and I have enough money to last me until it gets here...... I hope. Also, my surfboard was damaged on the flight over. The entire tail was crush, but Victor, a local surfer/ding repair man did a great job fixing it for about $50us. I the board he gave me while mine was in the hospital was a local shape meant for these waves. I think I am going to talk to him about trading my board for his. We'll see how that goes.

Now on to the good stuff.

This week is my first full week of teaching english. I have classes Monday through Friday. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I take a 15min. bus ride to the small community of El Tropico. I teach elementary/middle grades from 2:30-4:00 and adults from 4:00-6:30.

On Monday as Emily (the previous teacher) and I are walking through El Tropico on our way to the municipal building to begin class one of the students, named Miguel, came running up to us to give Emily a big hug. It was so awesome! He then walked over to his front door and yelled to his Grandmother (in spanish, of course), "Grandma! I'm going to english class with the computer girl!" Emily told me that a few months ago she had taken her computer to class to show the kids a Powerpoint presentation and she is now known as the "computer girl". I wanted to tell you this story to help you understand where I am. These children may have never had access to a computer before. As far as I know, unless Emily brought her computer to class, they probably will not see one. Though they all have a roof over their head and food in their stomachs, I am not sure about running water, electricity, or public sanitation. Some may have them and some may not.

After my kids class I have an adult class. On Monday I only had one student, Jose. He is 27yrs. old and works as a truck driver in the area. He, also, goes to college in Trujillo and still finds time to come to english class. He is a very busy guy and really eager to learn.

On Tuesdays and Fridays from 4:30-6:30 I have english class at the Haunchaco Library. Yesterday I only have two students and they both wanted me to end class early because Peru was playing Chile in soccer. As I walked across town on my way home from class I noticed that most of the businesses were closed because of the game. The only ones that were open were restaurants that were showing the game on TV. I was told that that is the norm here. When the Peruvian national team plays everyone watches.

Everything else here is pretty much regular day to day stuff. I am trying to find a routine. I like getting up early, making coffee, and walking to the beach to check the surf. In the evenings I like to eat dinner and drink a tasty, cold Pilsen Trujillo Beer and go to bed around 11pm.

After I get settled into my classes I will be looking for an english teaching job in Trujillo. I already have a couple of leads, so I hope things go well. We shall see!