First Day of Work

Well, the day started out just fine...Sitka and I got up at 5:30 and took a power walk along the malecon. She's the power. I'm the walker. We have done this on occasion, but I'd like to make it a morning habit.

Richard and I got in the truck and headed to the school. We met the other teachers in the Primary area where Richard will be teaching and then I was asked to go to the Pre-School to meet with the Principal and the Spanish teachers for the Pre-School.

I was met with open arms by Elsa, the Principal, and 4 young(er) Mexican Spanish teachers. The Spanish teachers know little English and since I know little Spanish we struggled a bit, but we did have Elsa to interpret. A couple of times Elsa had to leave the room and we worked to understand each other. I have a feeling my Spanish will improve quite quickly in this environment!

We worked on ideas for the Pre-School's Open House this Thursday. The teachers will have activities for the kids and Elsa will meet with the parents. Then we'll all come together for snacks.

We also stocked the 4 classrooms with all kinds of "tools" for teaching. I am amazed at the wonderful resources available to us.

Around noon the Spanish teachers went with Elsa to review some required governmental info while I stayed in one of the classrooms to begin reviewing the cirriculum and thinking of lesson plan ideas. That's when it hit me.

My stomach started gurgling and I guess I had Montezuma's revenge, also known as traveler's diarrhea. Luckily a bathroom was closeby and I used it multiple times. Soon enough it was time to go home and I crawled into bed and stayed there until 6:30 this morning. No power walk today.

The weird thing is that I hadn't eaten anything unusual and we always drink purified water. But Mike also was also having the same symptoms. ???

Oh well, I'm sure I'll remember my First Day of Work for a long time! And this morning I feel pretty good.