I started my first day working at Colegio de Fe y Alegria today. It started Peruvian time; I got there ready to go by 8 a.m. but couldn’t find Gabi, the director of the school so I waited in the office for about half an hour. I eventually found her, busy with talking to all the parents on the very first day and answering the question, “Yes, all the younger kids start at 8. Yes, at 8. And they end at noon” to about seven different mothers.

Fe y Alegria is a K through 12th grades and is a really beautiful school, with a playground and garden right in the center and the school building making a circle around it.

My first two weeks will be spent with the ‘Clase inicial,’ sort of like a kindergarten. The profesora’s name is Maria (Mary) Isabela and she is really friendly and sweet. She emphasized to her class that they should talk to me “Con despacio y claro” (Slowly and clearly) because I didn’t speak much Castellano. Haha. I appreciate it though, being inundated everyday with Castellano really does wear me out! I never realized that my brain would have to work so hard speaking another language. Pero poco a poco (But little by little).

The twenty or so kids in the class are cute; some are mischievous and super hyper, dashing outside of the classroom door when they see their sibling or friend and dashing right back in, or using any excuse to get out of their seat, while some are very quiet and hardly answer when you ask them a question. There is one girl who kept getting out of her seat, coming over to me, and giving me hugs. Kids really know how to make you feel welcome! It was their first day too, away from their parents, so I imagine it was hard on some of them. One of the boys burst into tears when his mom was about to leave in the morning; so she sat in the class with him for awhile. The whole time, he kept looking over his shoulder to make sure she was there and when she got up to help the professor, he asked where she was going; tears beginning to form in his eyes. But by the end of the day, he was perfectly fine and probably forgot about his earlier dilemma.
During their lunchito (mid-morning snack), one of the girls came up to me and gave me one of her crackers. Right after, a few other girls came up, giving me grand smiles and offering parts of their breakfast to me. It was so sweet, little acts like that. The professor also bought me a sandwich of chicken and french fries (which was actually quite good… I am officially not a vegetarian anymore, though) and chicha morada (a typical drink of Peru made with purple corn, a sweetish, cold, drink.)

I am looking forward to my second day with them. I feel like a lot more boundary setting will be in the works. Thank goodness the professor is so great with that! I think I will spend two weeks with this class and then start teaching English to various primaria classes. This inicial classes seems like it will be a lot of fun but am looking forward to whatever is in store for me in the coming months too!

The twenty or so kids in the class are cute; some are mischievous and super hyper, dashing outside of the classroom door when they see their sibling or friend and dashing right back in, or using any excuse to get out of their seat, while some are very quiet and hardly answer when you ask them a question. There is one girl who kept getting out of her seat, coming over to me, and giving me hugs. Kids really know how to make you feel welcome! It was their first day too, away from their parents, so I imagine it was hard on some of them. One of the boys burst into tears when his mom was about to leave in the morning; so she sat in the class with him for awhile. The whole time, he kept looking over his shoulder to make sure she was there and when she got up to help the professor, he asked where she was going; tears beginning to form in his eyes. But by the end of the day, he was perfectly fine and probably forgot about his earlier dilemma.
During their lunchito (mid-morning snack), one of the girls came up to me and gave me one of her crackers. Right after, a few other girls came up, giving me grand smiles and offering parts of their breakfast to me. It was so sweet, little acts like that. The professor also bought me a sandwich of chicken and french fries (which was actually quite good… I am officially not a vegetarian anymore, though) and chicha morada (a typical drink of Peru made with purple corn, a sweetish, cold, drink.)

I am looking forward to my second day with them. I feel like a lot more boundary setting will be in the works. Thank goodness the professor is so great with that! I think I will spend two weeks with this class and then start teaching English to various primaria classes. Looking forward to whatever is in store for me these next few weeks!