This has been (note the use of the present perfect tense) a very busy month. The first week of September I taught 9 hours a day, and the second week I taught 8 or 9 hours a day and also did a couple of hours of teacher observations of my TEFL students. I am either working or lesson planning (or wishing I had spent more time lesson planning). Things should settle down the latter part of the month. The TEFL class is an interesting bunch: a guy from Denmark, a guy from Belgium, a woman from Ecuador, and two young ladies from Massachusetts. The TEFL program is pretty intense -- 4-5 hours of class a day, and the students have to do observations and then student teaching. The program runs 18-20 days, and the TEFL students get pretty sick of seeing me. On the other hand, I never get sick of them because they're paying my way here. The grammar class wears all of us down since it's dense stuff and there's a lot of material to cover. I guess I could play more games as a teaching tool, but time is short and there's so much to cover. I didn't realize how much grammar there is -- to know and teach. Plus, I'm on my feet most of the day so when I get home I'm good for dinner and then it's right to bed. And loving every minute of it. Really.
I may bounce up to Costa Rica for a month or two to teach a TEFL class, but that's a very iffy proposition at the moment. The owner of the school here is working out the details, and since this is Latin America, things like schedules and commitments don't always pan out. (I don't mean pan as in the Spanish word for bread, either).
My Peruvian classes (5 p.m. to 9 p.m.) are going super well. The 5 p.m. class is high maintenance in a great way and the 7 p.m. group is very self-motivated. Interesting contrast, yet both classes are very smart. I'm still fighting my on-again, off-again, on-again cigarette habit. My 5 p.m. class rides me real hard about it, and I've told them I'll quit. It'll happen. The 5 p.m. class is such a great group of kids. We've become pretty good friends, I think.
Speaking of cigs, the other night I flicked my spent butt at this little 4-inch by 4-inch drainage hole a ways away in the street, and the thing bounced right in. I even had a witness -- Christian, the security guard. Folks have been trying to make that shot since I've been here. After it went in, I started screaming GOALLL!!!! like I had just scored in the World Cup. Coincidentally, my "goal" and yelling came at the exact moment Peru was playing Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier. I was yelling so loud, all the Peruvian students in the school thought Peru had scored a goal in the game, and were cheering in their classes. I had to go back into the school and break the bad news that Peru hadn't scored, and that I was celebrating my own pathetic success. It was kind of funny, though, in an ironic way. I guess. Luckily, Peru ended up winning the match 2-1.
I hang out Saturday mornings with landlord Juan's cleaning lady's little kids -- two cute girls. We play hide and seek and I show them pictures and videos on my laptop. It's fun stuff. One of those little unexpected joys in life.
I rarely drink alcohol here. On Fridays, I'll have 2 or 3 pisco sours, and that's it for the week. For whatever reason, I had my usual Friday night prescription of piscos and they hit me like a 4-hour grammar lesson. Getting old I guess. Or maybe it's the altitude. That's it, it's the altitude.
