I've had three days at school now and I love it here! The red dust on the streets (and houses and everything else) creates a lovely backdrop for the wintery sunsets, and the red sandstone bluff "Dowa Yalanne" overlooks the town from the East. So far I've walked through the old part of the town with my housemate Sarah. I don't venture out alone because I'm scared. I know, so much for learning from that bus ride. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb with my brown hair and blonde skin though. :-)
I love, love, love the school and my kids are the nicest ever. We have 14 students in the 1-2 class, 7 1st graders and 7 2nd graders. So far I've taught one math lesson and am teaching another for my college supervisor to observe tomorrow. Other than that I have listened to students read, answered lots and lots of spelling questions, played with children before school, helped little girls rake up a big pile of leaves at recess, gotten a few kids in trouble for bad language (he probably didn't know the word wasn't allowed -- but now he does!) or messing around instead of doing their work. I'm feeling keenly the fact that I don't know the students' parents... Pueblo life is so clannish that if you don't know a child's family, you don't really know him or her. However, my teachers fill me in on the parts that they can, and I'm slowly learning about family backgrounds. I've also met several of the parents as they stop in to bring treats for Birthday or Halloween parties. Very few of these kids have two parents. Particularly few children live with both biological parents -- usually one spouse has moved on by the time the kids are seven or so. Often the children spend large amounts of time with minimal supervision. But in our classroom, all these things make a difference only because we try to understand the backgrounds so we can help the children more effectively. They still are required to behave well and get their work done and be polite to other students and teachers.
Halloween is a huge deal here. One little boy's mom made everybody in our class pudding desserts, complete with a spider on top, as well as a huge cupcake pumpkin covered with M&Ms. Other parents brought in juice, chips, and salsa throughout the day until we practically had a full meal for our Halloween party! Not too many kids stopped by Sarah's and my house for trick-or-treating though. Apparently we're too far into the school campus or something. An extra 20 steps from the pastor's house, who got lots of trick-or-treaters! Oh well.
Anyways, I think this is the first time I've ever celebrated Halloween. I have mixed thoughts about it. Hooray, for celebrating with the children and helping them to have a good time and supporting something that really brings Zuni families together as they plan costumes, make treats, and go trick-or-treating. I still don't understand the thrill of being scared for fun, though, or the reason for celebrating witches and monsters and skulls and eyeballs and gross stuff like that. I'm not sure if we should be supporting that at all. But I don't make the decisions here, I just observe and ask questions and learn tons. :-)
I've had more headaches in the last few days than I remember all in a row ever. Perhaps it's the altitude -- 6,266 feet above sea level, compared to Sioux Center's practically zero. Perhaps I'm still tired from the last half of student teaching, the busy week in between sessions, getting sick, and the bus ride. Perhaps I'm just getting used to a new schedule. But I'm a horrible patient and I'm tired of being sluggish and having my head hurt so if you'd pray that would be great!
Also, static electricity is everywhere because it's so dry. My hair stuck out for the first two days, so I invested in hair gel. The only kind they had at our corner grocery was boy's extra-hold stuff, but it works. And probably smells less than your average female kind. ;-) And I need to invest in some kind of anti-static dryer sheet. My Nalgene is getting good use, and the little guy that hangs from the lid is still entertaining children of all ages. :-)
Thanks for all your prayers and emails! I love getting them -- it's hard for me to reply though because these computers are slow and kick me off the internet at weird times. And I can't get into the school after it's locked at 5:00, which is usually when my headaches start anyways. I'll do my best to keep up anyways -- I'll figure out the system here somehow. :-D Now off to supper -- deep dish hamburger pie, reheated! Mmmmmmmmmm.....