Week in the Life 2018 | Thursday (Photos + Words)

I can't believe it's already Thursday. This week has gone by so quickly, and we haven't even had that much going on.

Decided again to wear a nice fuzzy warm sweater this morning. It's been cold and at work they open the door so I sit and freeze all day. I'll be happy to be wearing this warm layer this morning.

The morning view. Ten minutes before this it's dark out and the street lights are on. Dawn is quick on the equator.

Happy news when I get to work - I won a free Kindle book in a giveaway! We'll see how it is - I don't join many giveaways so it's not like I sign up for everything I see. There must have been something I liked about this particular book. Still have a few books in my queue but looking forward to digging into this one. Should be a quick read.

Also ended up bringing this book - The Teacher Coach - to work. A teacher-student gave it to me last year in Guayaquil. I figure I should at least make an attempt to read it since I'll be going back to that university in a few weeks. (I was suppose to be there this week, but they canceled due to some internal conflicts.)

Decided to hunker down and just get started on my workshop. I got the activities chosen, the basic idea planned and drafted. Now I need to sit down and decide on the exact exercises, make copies, etc. that I will use. It used to take me hours to plan these things (and believe me, I loved every minute - planning classes is fun!), but now I can usually crank them out in an hour and then spend the rest of the time putting together the worksheet or the materials I'll be using. I enjoy the process, so I don't know why I've been procrastinating so much.

Finally got around to putting that stack of books away that I found while I was cleaning out my desk drawer.

Today was Workshop 2 day. One of our instructors (and an ex-TEFL student of mine) has been volunteering to put together and host these. It's nice to get new faces in the mix - Andrés also gave one this cycle. It's also nice to sit back and be the student/observer. And she does a great job. (Of course, so does Andrés, but that's a given.)

Biding my time before lunch. I usually eat with Andrés, but he usually isn't interested until after 2 pm. I'm usually famished by then. Unusually quiet downstairs, but it's test day so I suppose that's why.

Lunch time in the computer lab again. Today was leftovers from last night. We'll often do that - cook extra so we have lunch the next day. I abhor heating food up in the microwave at work, so Andrés usually gets stuck doing it.

It was getting dark and then BOOM! Huge thunderstorm and torrential rainpour. Tons of lightning and thunderclaps that sounded like they were right above our head.

Back to my office and then all heel breaks loose, so to speak.

This is the face I have to make when I hear about the crazy, dumb, utter nonsense that transpires almost daily from the office authorities. I mean, really? I feel like our department is being sabotaged. I don't really care much what they think or say (they have a lot of opinions, only negative apparently, of what we do here in the English and language department), but when they start questioning procedures or academic rationales it really gets my goat. They don't know anything about teaching EFL, but act like they are experts. Without even knowing the language. We have almost 8000 students. We bring in millions of dollars a year. We have grown and would continue to grow if we were allowed. And then they question our work, the quality of our work, the outcomes of our work? Ummm, no. We wouldn't have over 6000 PAYING students (the rest are university students who don't pay and must take English as a requirement), if we didn't ROCK. We have students who finish ALL of our levels and then go back to the Academic levels and START THEM OVER AGAIN because they enjoy our classes, our teachers, our methodologies, and they LEARN and want to practice their English. So please don't question our motives or our strategies or our procedures. And do NOT question the academic part.

I've said my piece but this place could be the death of someone who gives AF. They gave my coworker a heart attack last year for Pete's sake. And to what purpose? Just to bug and bother. TAUNT as Nico would say.

This is why Andrés is not so amused most days. lol All the BS can sure put you in a foul mood.

By the time we left work the sun was shining and Mother Nature looked innocent. The puddles were already starting to dry. And there was NO traffic. Wow!

Of course, we quickly "caught up" to the traffic and got stuck in lines of cars making three lanes into incoming traffic because of a stalled vehicle in the middle of the road.

We arrived around 4:30 to the grandparents' house to pick up the boys. Wondering what the homework situation will look like.

This is the face Andrés makes when he adjusts his tie. I told him I wanted a picture so he said he needed to adjust it. Then Nico opened the door and I didn't get my picture.

 Sitting around catching up a bit before we take off. They say there is no homework.

Bati came while we were talking. Gaby is in Bogotá this week so he's been hanging out with us and his parents much more than usual.

A sinkhole has opened up at the end of the street in our conjunto. They expect to start work on it soon, but the rain has probably deterred them.

A different view of our house from an angle we don't usually see. The kids are inside getting their bags and lunch snacks ready for tomorrow. We told them to come out to look at the sinkhole but it started to drizzle so they opted out.

Despite the rain I decided to chop off the geraniums in the window boxes that were dead (the majority of them). Our house looked like the Beetlejuice house with dead plants everywhere. We'll replant at some point, but for now the boxes will be empty.

Suddenly it is so dark. It feels more like 6:30 pm than 5 pm. I miss the sun.

5:15 pm // getting in a quick round of Candy Crush Soda while I sit on the couch and listen to the rain. It's really starting to come down. How is it that a half hour ago it was sunny?

Nico is obsessed with playing Minecraft. I have this sneaking suspicion that he isn't doing his homework well because all he wants to do is get in his Minecraft time before he has to go to bed. I enjoy his enthusiasm but of course always wonder if we shouldn't be encouraging other types of activities. But then I have to remind myself, that between the weather, the traffic and distances to get places, the lack of time, the fact it is pitch black by 6:40 pm every day, doing something might not be possible. Well, it will soon be summer and we'll be in MN and there we will have to find other ways to entertain ourselves that are not so digital related. (So I say...we'll see when the time comes. They don't like the bugs and bees, remember.)

 Andrés found a dead bird outside. We have a hawk in the area, and now this is the second time in a month (and about the fourth or fifth time in the last few years) we find a dead bird in our yard. This one seems to be missing its head. It's raining so clean up will be tomorrow. My father-in-law usually comes over to help Andrés clean these things up.

The weird thing is I put the picture of the dead bird on SnapChat and almost immediately my friend Jenny sent me a picture of a dead bird in her yard (hers wasn't missing any body parts). Strange.

The meat Andrés took out last night is STILL frozen (I am not joking when I say it's been cold). He quickly reassesses the dinner situation and decides on French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs. I am happy because the meat was going to become pot roast (not a fan). The pot roast will have to be for tomorrow.

Laundry on the couch. Always laundry on the couch. Nico is "too busy" with Minecraft to put it away. Tomorrow is Friday so I guess he can do it then. I'm a pushover, but at the moment the folded laundry on the couch is not the biggest mess in this house, so I let it go.

Bed time. What you don't see in this picture is that as I started to read, Nico wrapped his arm around me and buried his head in my "aleta". What a sweetie. Agustín is off on his own in his room under the covers (it's so cold) listening to music. I miss these days with him as well, but still have some left with my sweet Nico.

Chapter 12. They're finally at Hogwarts. We are meeting Professor Umbridge. About two weeks ago Nico and Agus "made me" watch the movie, so we know what will happen, but Nico doesn't care. Every night it's "One more chapter!" or "Nooooooo! Read more!" when I shut the book.

Because he wants to stay up? Maybe. But with that cute face staring at me as I read, I don't care. :)

Halfway through the project!