Haha, so a little anecdote before I go on with this post. I decided to go for a swim directly before my classes on Tuesday and anyone who knows me well knows that that was a terribly sweaty idea. Oh man! It's pretty hot and humid here and within a half hour of getting out of the water I was literally soaked. The teacher I was working with thought it was pretty funny but the whole class just kept on looking at me weird as droplets of sweat would occasionally drip off my forehead. 

Ah, I was so embarrassed. But then the best part. One of the little kids had his eyes light up all of the sudden, ran up to me at the front of the class and said with a pride that comes from having solved a riddle, "teacher, the reason that you're so sweaty is because you come from the north and we live in the south where it's hot"! Ah, me and my moisture!

 A scrumptious fruit pastry we got served for desert when I went out to lunch with the other teachers. Oh, that thing was as good and fresh as it looked!

 In hind-sight I should have just stood up and had all the teachers wave so you could see them better, but this is Tuesday lunch with them all. We were served the traditional, mouth-watering, and wholly unfilling tapas. Uhg, I was like savoring every bite and thinking about what I was going to make back at the apartment to actually get full ;-)

 Hahaha, now here’s something you would absolutely never find in a schhol in America! That little guy on the left is a bottle of beer! I pointed it out to another teacher and he was like, “oh yeah, sometimes we have whiskey and vodka as well.” I guess this is how the culture changes when Alcohol consumption is legal for all ages.

 Putting my flyer up in the local high-school. Let the advertising machine crank! So want to get these classes going. I’ve actually had a lot of interest, the biggest hitch right now is just having a place to hold them. I want to hold them at the school after school hours but there’s some politics involved. Some of the teachers who want me to tutor their children are going to talk to the principle today about me doing them there so hands together and a please Lord, we’ll see what happens.

 Ah, I went for a run along the path by the beach. As you can, a gorgeous day (like 90% of the days here ;-).

 Haha, oh man so yesterday I decided to go for a swim before school started and when I was walking down the all of the apartment complex I was like, “I think I hear rain.” Like buckets! But not to be deterred I braved the almost mile walk and got sooooo soaked. This is me stopped under a silk tree for a moment while the worst of it passed. Yeah, not doing that again without an umbrella!

 It was coming down alright!

 Here’s what the pool looks like. I’m so blessed that this little town has such a nice facility! Seeing the blocks (raised platforms) makes me hopeful that there are some competitions here in the winter. I definitely want to get on board with that.

 Welcome to school again! Fortunately, I had enough time to book it back home and change. I showed up only slightly wet (but uh, well that was perspiration ;-).

 A teacher named Ana that I helped teach 4^th grade science with in the late morning. This lady is so intense! One of the kids kept trying to talk and she finally went over to him, put her finger in his face (pointing at him), and said forcefully, “you be quiet”! Whew. They were learning about the solar system and there was this English song they were tying to memorize but there parts of it that the teacher couldn’t understand… welcome assistant Nathan! I listened to the song and wrote all the words down and then the class sung along with it while it was on the board. Quite fun.

 

 Teaching them about the moon. Most of the time in this class Ana directs and I help her and the kids with pronunciation and making sure they understand what they’re supposed to be doing in class and for homework.

 Time for my after lunch second grade class! I love teaching these guys. They’re soooo cute and I get a bunch of hugs after every class. I mean cumon, what teacher doesn’t like to get hugs from his students after teaching them? It definitely never happened when I was a teacher’s assistant in College!

 Daw, the little guys.

 I think Antonio there has a question!

 Hahaha, so I wanted to take a picture of the two girls by the board in their little school outfits and this guy saw that I was taking a picture and wanted to get in on the action.

 There we go.

 Class shot.

 My third class of the day was third grade with a teacher named Mercedes. This ladies English is like perfect. She told me to correct her whenever she has bad pronunciation but I’ve seriously never had to! She lives in a city that near Chipiona that has a big American naval base and she said she had lots of practice growing up. I guess she did!

 Oooo, exam time. Watching these little kids scratch there heads over how to answer questions like, “what is an articulation,” or “what is a bone” was classic. Especially when they would call me over frantically, look me right in the eye and go, “umm, I don’t know the answer.” Hahaha, it was definitely hard to tell them that thought I really wanted to I couldn’t give them the answer.

 Ah, this photo just makes me crack a huge smile! So for context, a boy across the table asked me a question about the test and I was like, “oh I can’t tell you, you have to know that already.” Right after saying that this little guy named Jesús leaned across the table and said in this gruff sergeant’s voice, “¡tienes que estudiar! (you have to study)”! Haha, I tried not to laugh and asked Jesús to say it again with the same pose. He did and I immortalized the moment. He was like, “wait you got a picture”? Sure did little feller!

 More third grade fun.

 Daw

 Haha, more of Jesús! I loved this kid, he is such a character but he pays attention pretty well, which makes him the perfect student J

 What can I say J

 Okay, so I don’t know what it is about stocking the paper towels in the male professors bathroom but there haven’t been any since I’ve been here (a week now minus Friday, but I’ll never be teaching on Fridays). Guess we’re going all economical. Wet hands, say hello to blue jeans!

Ah, such a pretty little school. So far, loving my time here!