Orientation week was a complete success. We ended the week with an exercise in which I asked the students to draw a mental map of the city of Mérida. Throughout the week, I emphasized the need to recognize landmarks, to have a sense of distance and time of where these landmarks are from the Central House, and to travel independently using public transportation. The mental maps were wonderfully detailed and useful. Of course, you all know why I did this particular exercise....I can get lost in a parking lot and wanted to spare the students that particular indignity.Classes formally began on Monday. There was some grumbling about coursework and assignments, but the good news is that the assignments are being taken seriously....at least for now.
6 comments:
just curious - what do the students call you?
Val....which I take as a good sign that they feel totally comfortable with me. The staff calls me "Maestra." From what Claudina told me, it took them awhile to come up with something they all felt comfortable with. Good question....
I like the idea of hammocks. when I went to Bolivia one summer all the people there slept in them too. Do you have one? :) I like the link you posted! just one more blog to add to my list!
I have a hammock being made for me by a cooperative of women in a small village near here. I admit that one of the reasons I am having it made is because it puts off the time I will have to face the issue of using one or not. Frankly, hammocks scare me. I can never relax enough to enjoy them, am always concerned about getting out, know that getting in one is not the most attractive site around. But the staff here has been giving us hammock lessons so maybe I will become a convert, too. If not, some lucky family member will receive a box one of these days....
lessons?? we need lessons to use the hammock?? would it be easier to master the chachacha, salsa etc??
There is a trick to getting in and out of a hammock. Plus Americans lay in them like bananas but the Yucatecans lay at an angle so the hammock is actually almost straight across. I will enclose photo directions. And it is easier to learn the intricacies of a hammock than of the chachacha! We do not have the dance gene...trust me on this one.
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