Wednesday, June 30, 2004
First Day
First day at school today. Had an average of only two or three students in each of my four classes, all of whom arrived considerably late. These students are the really keen ones – apparently students generally opt to miss the first few days of the 18 day cycle of teaching. And to think I had regarded Tito’s perpetual tardiness as a character flaw! An extreme casual attitude bordering on acute apathy seems to be inbred, a complete polar opposite from Japan, and thus a little tough for me to swallow. Nevertheless, if I can try to avoid getting my knickers in a twist I am sure I will really enjoy teaching here. It’s nice to have boisterous Latino students who will actually say boo to a goose. Plus, my crop of students seem promising; I was particularly pleased to note a student by the name of Nimrod de la Cruz Gonzales will be joining us. Let's hope someone tells him about his name before he embarks on travel to an English speaking country... but I'm afraid I just don't have the words to express.
