Day 2

Today I finally found out the grade level I will be teaching. I start this Friday teaching 3rd graders reading and writing skills.

I also went to mass for the ¨nueve dias¨ (nine days of mourning) of my mom´s cousin. Going to church is always interesting to me, but going to the church I went to as a kid was a little strange. Everything looks exactly the same way it did 16 years ago when I left. Even the sermon seemed familiar.

I also visited the house in which I grew up, it seemed so small and narrow. In fact the whole neighborhood seems small. The poverty is also palpable here. The wooden houses seem to be falling apart and some of the streets are not even paved. Despite all this, people seem happy.

The internet cafe is in the lower level of my building, which is great!! It is also dirt cheap... It costs about 60 cents to go online for an hour. It´s high speed and the computers are all equiped with webcams and headsets. But internet and food are about the only things that are cheap here. Gas prices don´t even come close to U.S. prices. One gallon of regular costs about 150 pesos at the gas station around the corner from me. A the current exchange rate, that is about 5 U.S. dollars. I´m kinda glad I don´t drive when i see that :-).

Duke is so happy to have freedom and lots of kids to play with. He´s still having trouble with his Spanish, but he´s trying; otherwise he can´t ommunicate with the other kids.

The heat was not as horrible today.... or maybe I´m just getting used to it. I also saw stars tonight, I´m such a New Yorker...I know.

Well, that´s all for now..... flickr uploads soon to come.

MDL