Here are a few of the characters I have met so far.
Gonzalo is tall with long gray hair pulled back in a pony tail and a sharply carved face, much like Native Americans of the US. He has spent over five years in Oklahoma and loves to impress me with his hilarious Americanisms. When he speaks English has a hippie-like accent. Shheet, man. That's how he ends every English sentence. It always makes me smile when nonnative speakers swear in casual conversation. It's too charming and funny to be offensive. He loves teaching and puts countless hours into his classes.
Coco (short for Socorro) is my mentor and my jefa (boss). She is always wearing amazing shoes. She has bent over backwards to make sure I have everything I need to feel safe and comfortable. We ate at a little cafe yesterday and I learned she has her masters and works endless hours making sure her English department is content with their schedules and classloads, and she teaches a full load herself. I read her students' essays today; they were in English, two pages long on food preservation processes (food technology is the college major of this particular class). I hardly understood a word, not because the English was bad, but because I know nothing about Smoking, Fermentation, or Irradiation. Neither does Coco, but she spends hours making sure they can write about it with the proper grammar, spelling, and organization. This is the type of English I will be teaching.
My English team consists of about eleven teachers, I have met the ones who enjoy going to the local bar/restaurante around the corner from my house. They complain about the system, the lack of respect from their government, their administration, and students. Here, English is obligatory for all majors, meaning it's the class nobody wants to take. They laugh and point out the idiosyncrasies of each teacher. They teach me slang and the norms of the area and how I will notice them more as I become more accustomed to the culture.
I understand about 30% of their conversations, 50% if I concentrate really hard. But I find myself drifting into the background, watching their gestures and facial expressions, as they fight to buy the the next round. I think, wow, I'm not so far from home.
I just discovered your blog while looking through school email. I will put it in my "favorites" and refer to it often through the next year. I will be thinking of you as you embark on the adventure of a new school year in a new place. Tell us what things are the same. Part of the enchange is making connections with others and proving we are not all so different from one another.
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