Marielos called me Wednesday to tell me we would meet with Eduardo, with whom I'll be teaching at Casa Achoy, Thursday at 4:30. She would be by to pick me up at 4:15 since she lives three privadas over... She came knocking and it took us forever to get downtown. I found out more about her. Her life in the States was for 16 years. But it was in Texas, and she worked for AT&T in their Hispanic Outreach program. I understand why her English is the way it is. She knows many words and slang and she's good at those phrases that we use to fill time when we're not really saying anything, but her accent is pretty thick. I patted myself on the back for having a thick accent having only lived here 2.5 weeks. When we got started driving, she said, you have to tell me the truth, is it rude that I speak to you in English? Of course I said no, knowing that there could be a million reasons she was doing it and giving her the benefit of the doubt that it was an honorable reason. We continued in English and she assured me that at Casa Achoy it would be pure Spanish. It was close to 5 by the time we parked, and Eduardo was in his office, so Marielos went to get him. He came in, said "hello" and then he and Marielos chatted for a long time in very fast Spanish about stuff that didn't seem to apply to me. Names of people I don't know, etc. It kind of felt awkward because I was listening, but wasn't paying close attention, but didn't need to because again, nothing to do with me! Then we started getting to the meat, finally. We discussed the schedule: I start September 22, students from grades 5 and 6 from all public schools will have one hour one day to come to the free cultural English lesson on Octavio Paz given by yours truly. There will also be a quick 5 minute exposure to a test that is much like their certifying test in April (this is the first year for the tests as this is the first cycle of students who have had English since first grade). This went on for awhile as there are some details I needed to know. In December, there is a fair/festival/exposition of what we've been doing with a selected group of children. I find this strange since they only get one hour with us, but I guess since we'll be selecting the most advanced students each week and then practicing with them for two, it should be alright.
Things continued, still a little awkward since I was the outsider getting all the information (although this is Marielos's first year with Casa Achoy, so she's sort of a newbie too). Then it was discussed that after all the schools have cycled through in February or so, there might be time for them to come back again. I offered to prepare a lesson with videos, realia, everything I could think of to give them a snippet of life in America, or at least in Nashville: video footage from Lockeland, pictures of my house, etc. I was hoping this would open doors and relax the atmosphere since up to this point it seemed mostly like a conversation between two people with an eavesdropper!
At first, I felt I'd committed a major faux pas. There was silence. There was waiting. There was backpedaling by yours truly. I thought I'd crossed some sort of invisible line. Turns out they've just never had this offered before (and they've never had a native in their program). They were then very thankful. We got to brainstorming. I'm excited about video footage of my home, my family, my school, my state, etc! They will LOVE seeing snow, so start praying for a white Christmas in the South, or else, Bewley, get your video camera ready for me!
Then, I asked them about the books on the shelves. They have a very small corner of English books and they were mostly sent from publishers and in my humble opinion were worthless. I told them that I had access to books in English if they were interested. Would there be any use for them here? That got them very excited. I have three boxes full of English books just sitting 8 hours away in Guadalajara as well as access to more discards from Lockeland (and maybe a book drive?) that I can bring back at Christmas. This definitely brought the lightened mood I was looking for. From here, it seemed much more like an informal conversation among three people, and consequently, I felt much more comfortable.
Our meeting was over around 6:30. At 7, in Casa Achoy which is an educational place, so it has many functions, there was an art exhibit. The artist was there, there was food and drink, and we waited. I was hoping to see some art and head home. Ha ha!
At 7, as we were waiting for it to "open" (mind you we're already inside), Marielos's brothers come in. Marielos is probably in her late 40s, if I'm being generous; one brother is 40; the other brother looks 50s or more. Again, I'm being generous to all but the 40 year-old. His age was confirmed. Around 8, after we've been social enough, the brothers ask if we want to go get coffee. Of course I don't drink coffee, nor am I hungry after these snacks. Ever the socialite (slash gringa who hasn't mastered gracefully turning down an invitation), I accepted and off we went to Miro, the same cafe where Mabel and I went with Alfredo.
I had the same cup of Apple Cinnamon tea and we had a decent conversation. They're pretty funny. I won't choose to hang out with these Baby Boomers over my friends, but if they invite me again (and I'm not tired already), I'll go.
The 40 year-old brother actually lives three doors down from me in the same Privada, and Marielos lives three Privadas down the street. The other brother lives within walking distance, though walking it wouldn't necessarily be fun.
It was a fun night, but I was so glad to be home and in bed. I was more glad that Casa Achoy will be an interesting and fun program.
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