It's cold. I thought when I was warned that it would be cold here in August they were exaggerating. They weren't, I wear at least three layers a day and wear two shirts, sweatpants, and two pairs of socks to sleep. However, other than the cold it's going well.
I had my first day of classes last week. I work on Monday, Tuesday, and half day Wednesday. The first day was a little difficult, seeing as I have never had one-on-one time with two year olds, but I quickly got the hang of it. My first project was painting with primary colors, and it went fabulously! They were making the best shades of green, brown, and purple I had ever seen. After that the projects followed with a cutting lesson, life skills, and shape matching. It's weird that kids really have to learn everything. I know that may seem silly, but it never occurred to me that every day to day skills and action at some point was taught to you. I guess you just don't remember when you were 3 and someone was instructing you on how to properly wash your hands.
The big project for this semester is an alphabet chart that I am working on with Jim, we are alternating letters. The kids are making individual 6x6 inch cards with an art project and a letter that they will be able to hang up at home. It should be nice once we are done, but we're only on C's and D's right now, so it will take a while. Overall, I really like the school and working with children. I know no one really thought that I would have the patients for children, but I do. They bring a warm smile to my face and I enjoy my daily dance lessons from my favorite 4 year old Marianna, she looks like the cutest cabbage patch doll you've ever seen! It's such an enjoyable experience and I look forward to everyday. However... I was caught off guard when they asked me if I knew any children's songs and I started signing some little green frog song and all of a sudden I was singing into a tape recorder. As many of you know, I do not have the best singing voice and although the kids were enjoying the song it really just bothered me that my terrible voice was now on record.
In other news, we started our Spanish lessons this week and our Spanish teacher does not speak English. None. Zero. Zip. Although she is a very nice lady, it doesn't work out too well when we are attempting to ask her questions. We tried to play pictionary in Spanish and although I have mastered pictionary junior in English (shout out to Krissy, Paige, and Marcia), it was not the same. I was guessing in English and she kept looking at me very confused, but although my drawing and guessing skills are sub par, I have discovered that my Spanish is better than I remembered! I don't have all the verb tenses down, yet but I can fair in a non English speaking country just fine, and I think I'm getting better each day. Dema helps me a lot with my Spanish skills because she took it at University and remembers her classes. Jim on the other hand doesn't speak any Spanish, although his pronunciation is incredible. I've also discovered that after one, or two, drinks my Spanish gets even better.
The first week went by so fast and I know more has happened, but those were the big moments. I'm going to try and blog more because I feel like my full experience cannot be captured in a few paragraphs.
Until then...adios
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