Funny how things go sometimes

I think I mentioned to a lot of people in Boston that one of the things I was really ... not worried about... but thinking about before I came was how important I thought it was for me to NOT sit with the other gringo teachers at lunch on the first day of school. I was kind of nervous about having to just jump in with the Colombian teachers and my rusty Spanish, but I felt really strongly that it was important to do in order to start off on the right foot. As it turns out, I had my nervousness completely backwards. Yesterday I happened to sit with almost all of the gringo teachers at lunch, and I was SO uncomfortable after days of easily having lunch and "onces" or "elevenses" (mid-morning coffee break that we have at 9:30?) with a slew of different Colombian teachers. I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb and that I was isolating myself so conspicuously. From here on out, I plan to really avoid doing that. I can't begin to describe how wierd and lousy it felt.