This work thing is kicking my butt

Forget culture shock, I am now experiencing work shock. While there's a part of me that needs and desires to contribute and be a part of the community through hard work and service, there's also a battling side that just wants to be lazy and spend endless hours at outdoor cafes writing in my journal. And although I was almost beginning to loathe all of my free time and finding it to be a tad bit destructive, the second I knew it was gone was when I just wanted more than anything to continue doing nothing.

I went more or less from doing nothing to now trying to put together an empty elementary Montessori classroom that is still under construction in a school that is over an hour's commute away by shuttle where I will be co-teaching with a local traditional schoolteacher who does not speak any English. Mix in my extreme jet-lag and my gimpy foot, and well, I've been under a bit of stress.

But Grisella (the co-teacher) and I are bit by bit putting the classroom together as I try to explain the Montessori method in Spanglish before we begin class on Monday. We have a lot of math materials, brand new, that one would normally find in a primary classroom (3 to 6-year-olds), but as the student body of 24 children is all six-years-old, and more than half are coming from traditional schools, a few from Waldorf, these materials will serve us well for many months.

Maybe you're wondering how I was placed in elementary when I don't have the training? (I did the AMI Montessori training for primary.) The teacher that was supposed to be in the room bailed on the director, Guadalupe, three weeks ago due to personal reasons. Guadalupe was desperate and while Montessori is practically unheard of here along with anyone having any sort of training (at the school, Guadalupe is the only one trained on the staff, besides me), I was the next best thing around. I was supposed to be teaching in a primary classroom. In July, an Argentine elementary teacher who is now in Germany, will take my place, and I will move to primary. I will also be having ESL workshops with the elementary children in the afternoons; I plan to start with poetry and then move on to drama.

While I was home in Minnesota, I spent a lot of time speaking with my Montessori friends and received many positive words of encouragement. I was able to observe and work with some elementary children at the same school my sisters and I went to, Lake Country. I will be in regular contact with an elementary teacher there for advice and guidance and I hope throughout the year the students can exchange photos, letters, and stories. Two of the girls in his room showed me their salt map of South America that was labeled with flags, one signifying Buenos Aires. As soon as they pointed out this was where I would be, another girl turned around and said she was supposed to go there for Christmas but then didn't because there'd been too many taxicab kidnappings.

This morning as I was running to catch my bus, in a daze, trying not to slip on the newly washed sidewalks and dodging taxis as I crossed the street, I had to tell myself, it's all material. This honestly helps me get a handle on an overwhelming situation, I detach and look at it objectively. And when I arrived at the bus, the busdriver, finishing his cigarette, welcomed me aboard the interior of the shuttle, which reeked of its now famliar odor of toxic cleaner fumes. Trying not to inhale the fumes too deeply, dozing on and off and looking out the window, we were approaching Lujan before I knew it, signaled to me by the handful of horses roaming around and grazing right up against the highway guardrail.

In addition to teaching children, I've also started teaching ESL to adults. So far I have two students and it looks like a third coming soon, all of whom an Argentine friend of mine connected me with. Yesterday I had my first lesson with the two at their office, at a university branch that's only four blocks from my place, quite convenient. It's fun and they're nice, but I forgot how much time it takes getting materials ready. The students are quite fluent and know the ins and outs of English grammar better than me, but I try not to let on to this; we'll just have to focus on the conversational part.

Well, as I've been up since 4am today, I can barely keep my eyes open. I feel like there's still so much I need to do, but will have to leave it for manana.

Hasta luego!