It's Alive!

Howdy, y'all! Sorry to have gone so quiet for so long, but with my hours, I'm never home when the "business center" (i.e., internet terminals) of the apartment are open, and the library is always a zoo. Which is a good thing for librarians; less so for those of us trying to use the computers.

I started work at the site this week, which mostly amounted to trailing after the teachers, seeing how they do things, and trying to draw up lesson plans for the first class next week. That's still confounding me, just because I haven't even met the students that I'll be teaching yet, and I have to practice writing on the blackboard.

I have my own classroom, which is nice. It isn't big, but I have a blackboard, a bookshelf, a computer, and some storage space, which is nice. The biggest class I'll be teaching is only about four people, so I don't need too much space, anyways.

Another AmeriCorps worker is also at my site, and we're working the same hours, so we carpool. It's not all that far to it, but since we live in the same apartment complex, and since gas is still so expensive, there's really no reason not to carpool. Some AmeriCorps workers have to go much further, one having to go halfway across the state, and most of the other people are working at their sites alone. I like being able to bounce ideas off another person, and to see how they are planning to do things. It gives me the illusion of not being completely adrift.

The students are wonderful, very friendly and gracious. The other afternoon, I helped one student set up his resume on the computer. This is one of the advanced students, so by and large language wasn't an issue. He had copies of his old resumes, and I'm looking at them just aghast: he has two Master's degrees, a PhD, held position in the Colombian department of agriculture, is a professor, et cetera. And here he is all humble because he doesn't know how to set up a resume on Microsoft Word. Hell, I have a hard enough time with it! And in classes, people will mention that, oh, in Colombia one woman wrote romance and mystery novels. She also enjoyed saying my name: "Beeeeeeel."

The other AmeriCorps folks are all pretty nice. There's all sorts of rumors about my one roommate's romantic entanglements with two other women in the program, but I don't have any evidence to substanciate the rumors, other than to say that they always are together, all three of them. I outed myself as casually as I could, by commenting indiscretely on the pleasantness of a young man's ass, so that's taken care of. I'm confident that no one was surprised, although my roommates (the men) might not know yet. The women now use me as protection when they walk on the streets at night. They're also asking more detailed and invasive questions than I feel comfortable answering, mostly about the how of sex. I just giggle nervously and pretend like I don't understand them.

I just finished applying for food stamps today, which was a painful and protracted process. I should start getting them within 30 days. I also set up a checking account, so I will be able to write a check for rent, something I had been concerned with since I came here. Plus I have a library card.

It may be a while until I write again, I don't know. Sorry if I don't respond to the comments, but feel free to keep making them. And don't worry: Hurricane Rita only meant it's been a little wetter than usual the last week. Otherwise everything's five-by-five. Next week I actually start teaching; please wish me luck!

Auf wiedersehn!