May
25
Strange day…
Yesterday started off much like any other day. Kelly and I had a lot of objectives to complete and a plan. Kelly is pursuing her master’s degree which has started to open many doors for us. We were both scheduled for an interview to teach English. We arrived shortly after 9am for a 9:30 interview. We spoke with the director for about 20 minutes and he, much to our surprise, asked us when we could start. We replied, ‘When do you need us?’ Tonight was the answer, yikes! So it was settled. Kelly is teaching on Tuesday and Thursdays. I teach on M-W-F.
Got back to the house a little after 10am and opened the Bodega and Internet Cafe. Kelly was resting for a bit and then… We had an earthquake. Yeah, another one at 11:18am local time(12:18pm EDT). It was a 6.2 with an epicenter in Acre, Brazil. That is only about 100 miles from our house, due East! It was a long, rolling quake. Not the sharp jolts we are used to here. Our nerves were a bit rattled, but no damage to the house.
So our great start to the day hit a bit of a bump… No worries.
Around 4:20 I left for class. My first class was at 5pm and I was to meet with the director before class. He introduced me to the class and we were off running. The students were a bit shocked by my approach… ZERO Spanish in class. If you want to learn a foreign language, it is best to do so using only the language to be acquired. Using the native language to teach only hold them back. My second class arrived at 7pm. They were also shocked to see their new teacher… Yikes, a Gringo! Both classes had a lot of questions for me. It was fun to ask them some questions I had about Peru and to get some different perspectives. We talked extensively about the ‘blades of death.’ I will write a separate post about that soon.
At 9pm I headed back home. It is about 7km from our house and takes about 15 minutes by motorcycle. Once home, it was debriefing time. I gave Kelly a quick rundown on the classes. She has her first class in just a few hours and is busy preparing for her students.
Before coming to Peru I spend a great deal of time traveling and working as a trainer. It is so great to be back in the classroom!
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