Week in the Life 2019 | Tuesday Photos + Words

Today's Tuesday lens is "Observing". I tried to spend the day observing. It was a pretty busy day overall.

First thing's first - coffee. I like having this machine, even though I resisted at first (because of the impact on the environment, lol). But it makes a perfect cup of coffee (only dark roast! - I prefer Starbucks Verona or Donut Shop Dark). One thing I observe is that it always looks a bit weak coming out. 

These flowers are doing really well. They don't normally get the rain because they are under a little area where the roof is like an awning, so someone (probably the gardener) must be watering them. I sure haven't lately. 

Breakfast at my desk as usual. I'm glad I can have breakfast here (although I probably shouldn't), because there is no way I could get up early enough to get ready AND eat before getting out of the door.

Second cup of coffee. The new water filter machine at work doesn't keep the water as hot, so you always have to nuke it a bit or the coffee (instant) won't dissolve. This is really the only time of the day when the teacher's lounge is quiet and empty.

Desk view. Messy. I always have to have all. the. things. out and ready to grab. Notice that I have an ENTIRE pencil case of pencils, markers, and pens to choose from. Totally cray cray.

Signing, signing, signing - always signing papers. Signatures are a bit deal around here. Like big big.

Eavesdropping on Andres´s meeting with a publishing company. Nowadays everyone is trying to sell digital packages. I get that we (education) need to get into the 21st century, but of course there is resistance. First, we don't even have computers in most of our classrooms (mainly because there is no way to secure the rooms and make sure they don't get stolen). Second, if we sell students packages of digital platforms, where they learn English online (which I will argue won't be as effective, but that's for another day), then we would literally be selling ourselves out of a job. So another company can profit. I mean, come on! We teachers aren't that dumb, are we?

Warning: upcoming mini-rant.

(Disclaimer: It's not that I don't think we can't integrate technology and different learning platforms and digital tools into our teaching, but many of the products they pitch us are basically not sold as resources but as a replacement for the teacher and the classroom. Also, I still don't see students, here at least, willing to pay for a class as well as pay for access to an LMS or digital class. Anyhow, there's a lot to think about, but as a teacher I can't help but feel a little threatened by the idea some people have that we can be replaced. Again, I think eventually people would realize we cannot, and would come back to the human element of learning - we already have so many students who tried the online thing with no teacher and came to us because of their disappointment - but in the meantime, it's just one more thing "they" are doing to minimize us and treat us like second class citizens who really aren't needed. And this is worse as an English teacher, in my opinion. We are less valued that any other teacher out there (math, science, literature, even phy ed sometimes!) and yet! the ironic thing is that all these people who minimize our work because "English is easy", are people who have not learned the language, despite years and years of having studied it. I might venture to say that a foreign language is one of the hardest things to learn, so we English teachers should be REVERED.)

Rant over. For the time being.

A quick trip across the street to the tienda to find a little mid-morning snack. Opted for peanuts, and some sweet chifles to accompany my lunch. One thing I observe is that they haven't been stocked up very well lately. They've been doing some remodeling so I imagine it is because they are spending more of their money on that and less on inventory.

Lately work has been crowded and there is really nowhere to go to have a little peace to eat your lunch. I will sometimes go down to the car, but this week, as Andres and I have been riding separately, my car is parked in a pretty public area of the parking garage. I felt like I was on display as I ate my sandwich (tuna to boot). The observer as observed.

One thing I wanted to do this week was take a picture of every meal. But, as I am starting to realize, they aren't always pretty. This is tuna on naan (Bati shared from the package he bought from the Yemeni bakery down the road).

And then I had to leave. I am giving a workshop in a publishing house this afternoon. It's for their teacher clients and it is about teaching listening. I love the skill of listening and teaching it, so pretty excited to share my ideas today.

Got there a few minutes late because of traffic, but no worries - everyone else was much later than me. We ended up starting closer to 2:15. Notice my Carmex on the desk. I need to have easy access to it as I'm teaching.

Break time. One of the things I have observed at this point is that the teacher's level of English is not very high, and they don't seem to be very quick on the uptake. In fact, I would venture a guess that about 90% of them have only understood 20% of what we are doing. It may have gotten a bit theoretical for them. I tried to use some of the concepts we deal with in TEFL, but today it just isn't working well. No worries, I'll be back on Thursday to do more game-like demo activities.

I also notice that about half of them go home after they get their food. Ha. Typical.

I got home around 7 and it was already dark by then. The ride home was a bit harrowing. There are creepy thugs on the street who are also "window washers", but they get very angry if you tell them you don't want it (especially if you are a woman, a gringa, in the car alone - I noticed that they didn't bother the men). I have decided to get passive aggressive about it, because I'm sick of feeling intimidated, so I've decided each time they spray my window and start washing, I will use my built-in cleaner and spray them. Today I did it (although to be honest I did wait until the guy sprayed my car, then got mad and walked away when I told him an emphatic NO), and I must have got him a little with the water as he was walking away. He got real angry and stood outside my window, peering in hostilely and trying to scare me, then going around and looking in all my windows. I was scared of course, but I refused to back down, and stared him down the whole time, watching him. Then I yelled at him to NEVER touch my car again. All this happening in bumper to bumper traffic with a police officer not even forty feet away (staring at the sky so he didn't have to do anything). Well, it turned out fine in the end and at least I didn't show him I was scared, but on Thursday I plan to take a different route home. These are the things I hate about living here.

Andres had made ravioli, so as soon as I walked in we had some supper. 

Finally, we all had some time to relax and unwind. Lately, for Agus, that means either playing some games (usually Minecraft) on his device or listening to music (or, most likely, first the one and then the other after his shower).

For Nico, this might mean watching YouTube videos. I should probably keep better track of what he is watching. It's not really that I don't trust him, but at the same time, he's a teenager, and there is a lot of CRAZY stuff on YouTube. I looked at what he was watching tonight. Nothing too horrible - some video of a kid standing in a shower in his swim trunks and a snorkel while his big sister lanced huge blobs of butter and mayonnaise at him (???). This resulted in hysterical giggling from Nico. But the real problem here is that the unknown is always a click away, and he might happen upon something that starts innocently and ends in a completely different place. I won't lie - the mayonnaise lancing made me feel like maybe I need to keep better tabs on all things YouTube - if only to save him some brain cells!

For Andres, relaxing and unwinding meant going upstairs and watching soccer news on the big TV. For me, it meant reading from the book I'm on, The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin, and which I am really enjoying.

When it's time for bed, the boys have been finishing off the night watching an episode of "A Closer Look with Seth Meyers" with me on the couch in Nico's room. They love it when Meyers makes fun of Trump. Then it's time for brushing teeth, peluche talk, and prayers. Lights out.

A full and beautiful Tuesday.