01/11/2020 – 01/13/2020 – the first weekend + first day of school!

It was our first two sleeps and mornings here in Cordoba this weekend, and it’s been very restful, partly for lack of things to do. On Saturday we met Sra Olga, who is one of the security guards, and she kindly offered to take us on a tour of the campus, which was helpful getting to know our way around, although it is a pretty small campus. Otherwise we didn’t do much but sort of meander around and get some good thinking in, especially about how anxious we were to get to meet some new friends, start classes, and eat something other than our microwave broccoli, beans, or peanut butter.

Our first day of school was as much of a surprise as most other things we’ve experienced this trip – but most definitely a good one. Walking up to the Prep building at 7 am, I was amazed to hear so many warm sounds echoing through the multi-story courtyard, with kids laughing and chatting and greeting old teachers and friends. The teachers and students seem to have a much closer relationship than in the US. They joked and hugged when they saw each other, but this also meant that the students didn’t tend to quiet down as much when the teacher was talking, and of course the same for when we were talking. Most classes were manageable, but one class was soo noisy (imagine 31 students conversing all at once for 50 minutes straight) which was a pretty big surprise compared to my high school. Nevertheless, some of them still seemed to enjoy and get things out of the activities that we did with them, which was exciting. The English classes got to interrogate us, so of course they asked us all the important questions: do we like Shawn Mendes, do we like “all that feminist stuff” (in the best way possible), and what do we think about Trump and Iran.

And OF COURSE I can’t forget the fact that we got to eat our first real meals since Friday – I had a perfect trifecta – empanadas for breakfast, my first torta for lunch (w/ surprise coconut milk), and tacos al Pastor (a treat from our very kind neighbors Elias, Marc, Oscar, and ?). Interested to see what the rest of the week brings! We’ll be headed to Puebla this Thursday or Friday, and also to Veracruz and Sonia’s family party on Saturday.