Happy New Year!

So my New Year´s Resolution is to write in this thing more. My mom (hey, mom!) calls this blog the ¨thing I never write in.¨ Subtle, mom, subtle. But she´s right. This blog offers a very limited view of what I go through on a daily basis, or what life here is really like. I´m going to try and change that for the new year. I want to be posting weekly, not semi-monthly, even if things suck, even if there is nothing to talk about, even if the most exciting part of my day was watching American Horror Story.


So, with that, I´ve been here for over four months now. The last time I posted was before Thanksgiving, I think, and not much has changed. It all goes in cycles. The students, the teachers, the town. Sometimes I love it and have a Pollyanna-like view of the world, and sometimes it´s awful and I don´t want to leave my house. Here is a recap of December.


In DECEMBER, tensions with some teachers came to a head. I got sick of sitting in classrooms, ¨coteaching¨ and not saying a word. I finally opened up my mouth and told the persons involved, only to find out that they were upset that my schedule was so varied. See, one teacher had to leave a class he was teaching because a parent didn´t want him there, so I had to switch my entire schedule to have a class with him. With this, I had two or three classes at the same time, and had to pick which one to go to. THat only caused more drama. If I went to one class more than other classes, I was viewed as favoring that teacher. And because of my noncronfrontational nature and desire to please everyone, I tried. Hard. To make everyone happy and to make them like me. But it backfired, because the resentment over having nothing to do, or being constantly pulled in different directions, piled up and piled up and suddently exploded. I found myself crying, alone, in the teacher´s lounge while it rained outside one morning, unwilling to face the teachers who didn´t let me do anything in class.

One day, earlier in training, my boss told me ¨some teachers you will love. Some you will hate. You have to deal with it.¨

And it´s true. Teaching brings out such strong emotions in you. It´s like looking into a mirror for 40 minutes that shows you all your faults. How you control a class of bored 17 year olds. How you get along with the other teacher. What to do when they don´t let you do anything.

So that was December. Slugging through the drama of the teachers and the strong desire I felt to go home.

THANKFULLY,

in an ¨How Andrea Got her Groove Back¨ moment, I did get to go home. For ten glorious days. In this time, I gorged on Bagel Bites, Bagels, pizza, Guapo´s (the best Mexican food in DC, you gotta go if you haven´t been there). I got to see friends that I made in the 90s, my big family, all my cousins who are shooting up like reeds. And Justin. And his family. Even though conversations at the house centered around the Evil of Obama and left me clenching my fork with annoyance, it was good to see them. I feel like I´ve been restored. And it is such a good reminder that there is a place in the world where I really do have friends. Good, trustworthy, honest, funny friends. Sometimes here I feel like this friendless alien who everyone knows. Like Courtney Love, minus the drug problem.


So for the New Year, I just want to figure out how to live in this new home. Understand the people. Integrate.

I think it´s happening, slowly. Very, very, slowly. The people are sniffing me out, and me them. We´re all trying to see if we can trust each other and if this thing called friendship is worth it. I´m in my host sister´s house now, surrounded by her and her family. The oldest, 13, and her friends, are all sitting around the table, studying for exams. It´s raining like hell, and has been since 4pm. It´s cold. Maybe in the 50s, which is as cold as it gets here. Teeth are chattering. One teacher showed up in a cotton pea coat today, which was hilarious. The people here have a flair for drama, in any situation.


I have to go because there is a gaggle of preteens who want to play Wii and check Facebook. Some things, regardless of country, never change.