School update, day 2!
This morning Haley was wearing street clothes. She insisted that her classmates instructed her to do this, but I was dubious. Turns out it was OK… to BRING street clothes. When she arrived everyone was in uniform. She had her uniform in her bag so she went and changed her clothes. Then about 20 minutes later they all changed their clothes so she changed back. Evidently they were doing some project today related to the corn field that grows on the school grounds. They went out and picked some corn, shucked the husks and ground up the corn cobs right there at school. Haley had NO CLUE why they were doing this but it turns out it was making the corn part of tamales. Haley found out what it was all about when she brought it home and I recognized it thanks to a blog post I read just recently on this very topic (Kris!).
Zoe had a good day but insisted her hand was so tired. She had been given some cursive words to practice writing. Everyone writes in cursive here! The teacher is giving her things to work on when the class has some other activity. But she also was able to do most of her homeschool math and the class math homework. The teacher checked her work and was very pleased to give her a 100% and showed the entire class (clapping followed).
I had heard that Thursdays are an “early release” day so I checked with another mom at pick up and she said the kids get out at 11:20 tomorrow, even Haley. It’s only 10 minutes earlier for Zoe but an hour and 40 minutes earlier for Haley.
Here’s a few major differences I’m seeing between the schools we are used to and the school here:
1. Freedom of movement: the kids seem to be able to come and go somewhat as they please. Haley stops into Zoe’s classroom several times a day. Today Zoe was having free time so she was able to leave with Haley and her friends and walk around school a bit. The teachers seem to be allowed a lot of freedom too, as they seem to leave at random times.
2. Release times: I had heard of the regular Thursday release but today I was at the store with Zoe at 12:15. We were hanging out waiting for Haley to be done at 1 so we could go get her. I get a text from Dan that says Haley is already home, and that she got out early and walked home. Oooh K! I don’t imagine they do that with the younger kids so much but I expect Haley might show up at home at random times I don’t expect. Note to self: give her a house key!
3. Teacher personal relationships: Evidently it’s not too frowned upon for teachers to have uh… close… friendships with other teachers! Haley reports that her teacher and the PE teacher are going out. This is evidenced by the kisses on the cheek, the frequent visits by him and his hanging out in the classroom. Haley further confirmed this rumor by pointing at them and asking “amor?” and her friend responded “si” with enough uncertainty that indicated it was not marriage but just dating at this point. Good to know!
One other thing we’ve been dealing with lately… we live at the end of a dirt road. It’s been raining a lot the last few days and at the same time they’ve decided to do some work on the drainage systems on the road. Now, this road is already pretty narrow and you cannot have more than one car on it at a time, but now that they are working on it a very large tractor parks itself on the road along with another truck. When they are working we have to wait. Not too long, thankfully, but it’s something we have to plan around. They are getting used to the gringo family coming and going requiring them to move their tractor. There’s no other way out of the house, unfortunately.
And I have good news! A new laundromat has opened up! The bad news is that it’s owned by my same Miss Laundry Lady from a previous post who doesn’t seem to ever want to do my laundry. I tried to drop off a load of towels today and was denied. She just doesn’t like me! She suggested I go to the new laundromat and wash them myself. Guess that’s what I’ll do.