"Solo eran travesuras"

We were totally under pressure today.  I was asked to make 9 copies of a page on a workbook while Yonseili helped the kids with their homework; "make" meaning write out by hand each one.  Yonseili offered to do the 9 copies instead so I helped the kids with the homework.  There is one student in particular, Viviana who is 8 years old, who usually asks for help.  I have learned she is used to getting the answers and seems to get a bit frustrated when I actually make her break up words into syllables so she can spell words correctly.  She tends to eat letters.  Henry, 11 years old and the oldest of the group, tends to be a bit pushy and somewhat of a bully, but also smart.  Anita, 5 years old and the youngest, is asked to do homework that the older kids are doing when she doesn't really know how to read or write.  I hope we can help her a lot.

While Yonseili did copies and I helped with homework, many of the students were finishing up so they played games.  The teacher was insinuating Yonseili needed to go faster so that the kids could start on their assignment. Yonseili called me over so I can help her and even then it took us a while.  When we got all 9 copies, we passed them out.  The teacher used one of the copies to go to a copy machine and make copies that way... I wish we could have done that to save them time.

When we were walking up the hill, that long steep hill which makes me feel like I am completely out of share, I saw a little boy peeing.  What was funny to me about it was that he was peeing on the sidewalk facing the street and he wasn't holding, uhm, himself, his sweats were holding it up for him.  His sister was by him just waiting for him.  He must have been about 4 or 5 and she about 9.  That was unexpected.

The bus ride home was a bit eerie.  First, I don't like how we have to wait by the road for the blue bus.  We've had to wait at least seven minutes each time.  Seven minutes is a long time when the weather's not great and there are a bunch of cars passing by with nasty exhaust coming out of them.  And so, during the ride Yonseili and I got a bit nervous when we saw a man get on the bus who looked suspicious.  There were so many seats available and yet he was standing looking back as if scoping out the place.  I was relieved when he sat down finally.  The entire time, Yonseili and I were standing up so I was thinking it may be easy to run out the back door since we were close to it.  I felt like I was on a board, like a skate- or snowboard because of the balance I had to keep.  Also, regarding the bus ride, there were a girl and boy maybe about 13 who were sitting next to each other.  I couldn't help but keep looking at how the girl was so giggly and flirtatious with the boy.  I couldn't really see the boy's reactions, but when the girl saw I was looking at her she got a bit shy.

I had lunch and after Yonseili left to school I decided to go up to the third floor to hit the gym.  I decided to do some time on the bike since it was really cold.

Highlight of the day: Juan Jose joined me upstairs and did some working out himself on the other machine.  He also walked around the little room and looked through some old magazines stored there.  I had the Zune which I listened to with my headphones over my neck, not directly on my ears, so that Juan Jose could listen to the music as well.... so then Juan Jose bust out with some dance moves!  He was so into it I couldn't help but join him.  I started clapping to the beat and he stopped because he was startled.  Soon he started again, I loved every second of it.  I will have to record him.  When he stopped he had a serious face and just said, "Solo eran travesuras."  Soooo cute.

Yes, the workout did warm me up but only temporarily.  You see, this house is made out of concrete, there is no heater, no air conditioner either.  It's actually very rare to see anything unlike this here.  I worked on a few things here and there and later Yonseili arrived from school.  She told me about her scary taxi ride on the way to school which you can read about on her blog.

At night I spoke with my family via the internet and I got to play chinese checkers with my brother and then with my mom.  I beat my brother, but my mom beat me.

Picture of my dinner below:

Before

After