Bitter & sweet

Time has obviously gotten away from me here. And I was doing so well keeping up with the blog! Let's just say that there has been a LOT of reading, grading, and meeting going on -- all tempered with a sane dose of apartment-fixing-up and mimosa drinking on a few Sundays in a row.

But today I had a truly priceless episode of cross-cultural communication. I described something I was going to give my students as "dorky," at which point I totally lost them. So what ensued was a 10 minute conversation in which I tried to explain -- using both English and Spanish words -- the meaning of the words "dork" and "dorky." It was fantastic (and, I think, moderately successful). That's the "sweet" in the title of this post.

The "bitter" is that I continue to be struck by and struggle with some of the class issues that are laid bare here in a way they aren't always in the States. It's pretty much all school-related. I see it especially on the bus in the morning (and sorry if this is redundant), when the kids' maids carry their backpacks before they see them off -- usually without a word of good-bye or thanks. When they get on the bus, they often don't respond to the greeting of the driver or the monitor, who invariably greets them by name. I've never seen a kid at school acknowledge any of the cleaning or maintenance staff. I really think these people are invisible to these kids. And they are the people who clean up after them, take care of them, and feed them. They are the people who keep our campus and these kids' homes immaculate. It's really difficult to observe day in and day out. But I know it's not just the kids. Our school supports some low-income public schools with tutoring, administration, and supplies. This weekend the kids from that school are coming to campus, and today we got an e-mail reminder from the prinicpal to lock up all our stuff in our classrooms. I know things disappear whenever outsiders come to a school campus, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sorry this is kind of a downer! Next post should be much brighter; I am going away this weekend to a place called Villa de Leyva that is supposed to be beautiful.

Now: my heaps and piles of Spanish homework, which this week includes a 10-minute oral presentation.