Witches are purple?

Fraz here. I realize that it´s been a while since my last update, so I thought I´d add a little bit, if only so that my most recent post isn´t full of whining about my tummy hurting. Though I´m still reeling that they don´t have pepto bismol here.

Classes at Carlos III are...how can I put this delicately? Bad. They probably form the worst part of my experience here. It´s an annoying ass commute to get to them, and lectures seem to just be in exercise in learning the obvious and not having work. While this is, in some ways, kind of the answer to my prayers, it just makes going to class all the more annoying, since it seems so pointless once I get there. I also just kind of feel like a listless bum in general, and at the same time, have an intense fear that I´m going to fall into that "easy class" trap, where you so blow off an easy class that you still manage to fall below standards.

But I´m not that worried. And I don´t mind it that much, since I´m doing a great practica, which feels more like my main academic pursuit here. I´m an assistant in the english department of a local school, teaching kids ranging from 8-17. It´s really awesome, because I have so many different roles to play depending on which class I´m with. When I´m with the youngest kids, I speak mostly spanish, and we really just go over vocabulary and do "cultural activities," which means that I got to spend all of last week doing Halloween activities from elementary school, like drawing pumpkins and making masks, and that kind of thing is good for the soul. I also work with the older kids, who speak great english, and I just kind of act like one of our language TA´s with them, holding conversations about whatever so they can practice their english. This was kind of terrible the first couple of days, though, because I didn´t know I was going to start so soon, so I first had to do it with no conversation topics, so had nothing to fall back on when there was an awkward silence, and then with a list of conversation topics that the teacher gave me, except that they were made for adults learning english in Canada, so they were all about southeast asia and raising children (Have you ever worked on a farm? How do you feel about teenagers today?).

My most academically rewarding students, however, are the ones who are like 14, because I get to do focused work with the remedials, and it´s awesome. I have to talk with them in spanish, because they´re really behind in their english, and so we go over english grammar in spanish, which is 1) pretty trippy, in and of itself, 2) making me realize how impossible to explain some of our grammar and phonics are, and 3) really teaching me a lot about how to teach english to non native speakers, which is incredibly interesting, and makes me really wanna do teach for america even more.

The other fun part about my practica is recess, when all the teachers go to the cafe, and I get to shoot the shit with them. No real stories to relate here, but it´s just a fun opportunity to speak with some natives, all of whom are very nice, and very complimentary of my spanish, which provides a much needed ego boost on certain days. My favorite teacher so far is the primary english teacher, who is also the religion and art and science teacher, and whose english, as you might suspect, is hilariously bad. Imagine your spanish teacher from second grade. She´s a blast, though, and we have a good time.

Hmmm...on the social front, not a whole lot to report that Mile´s hasn´t. We have a good time, but nothing too exciting to relate. My family had another big dinner the other day, and it was a blast. I sat next to the funny uncle (funny as in he´s a blast, not as in the creepy one) and I was pretty much cracking up the whole time. Coincidentally, there was some procession going on that day in the church we live across from, where all these peruvians come out and parade their little Mary idol or whatever. Anyways, we were watching it from the balcony, and everyone was pretty much adopting their mildly condescending "oh, how cute" attitude, except the funny uncle, who was sufficiently drunk enough to start making fun of catholicism and the procession march, which sounded suspiciously like the Godfather theme, my screaming "Vito Corleone!" over and over again. Then he started talking about immigrants. Which reminds me, earlier at dinner they were all joking that they needed to act more civilized in front of me, or I´ll "think we act like Africans!" I love it.

I´m also thinking of coming back next semester, but, despite a brief moment of clarity last week, I´m still very much on the fence about it. I love the city here so much, and I´d love to have another semester to get to know it, and the cultural expereince is great. What it kind of comes down to is whether I can take another semester at Carlos III. I mean, I can mentally justify one semester of laziness for a cultural experience, but a whole year is harder, which is why I´m also considering transfering to the sede next semester. And, of course, I miss all of ya´ll, but, honestly, I´m so pigheaded about not letting that influence my decision that it´s probably doing more to make me stay here than to come home. At the same time, I´m really realizing that my time left at Middlebury is finite, and if I miss a semester I can never have it back. And I miss my sunday schoolers. Meh, I dunno, I´m very conflicted. I´m talking with the academic advisor here on monday; I´m guessing this is a fairly common phenomenon and I´m hoping she can help me out.