when I have little to report

There once was a teacher named Kate,

She worked from early 'til late.

Her students were crazy,

The co-teacher lazy,

But the experience, like, totally great!

It's been a quiet few days here in Futaleufú.  Over the weekend we received a lot of rain, which brought with it some low temperatures. When it rains, the clouds crawl down the mountains and hover over the city. The peaks are no longer visible, and with the sky hanging so low overhead, the city seems even smaller. All of us were very sleepy all weekend due to the constant drip-drip on our tin roof... except for during the Chile-Perú soccer match, when the males of the household awakened from their stupor and shouted: "golllllllllllll!"

None of the homes have central heating; in Hospedaje Adolfo, we rely upon a single wood stove and the kitchen stove to heat the whole house.  The upside is that it smells welcoming and cozy throughout the whole town, because of all of the fires in the fire-places, but the downside is that we have to keep the bathroom door shut all of the time so as not to "waste" the heat on a less-used room.  This results in a very cold toilet seat, as well as frozen toothpaste, I am told. Thankfully, it's still practically balmy compared to July temperatures.

My first mail arrived yesterday, so now I know that the address actually works.  It continues to be a point of hilarity for me:

Kate

Futaleufú

Chile

I think a letter could be addressed to The Cookie Monster and I would still be able to receive it.

There was a moment of triumph in class today:  The first day of class with 8th grade, my co-teacher, Juan Claudio, warned me that two of the boys didn't know anything and would fail anyway, so I shouldn't "waste my time."  Matías and Camilo are typical 13-year-old boys who lounge in the back of the classroom and don't care to participate, so J.C.'s approach seems a little callous to me.  And today, they not only participated in Simon Says and in classroom introductions, but also finished the writing activity (Camilo being one of the first!).  I have the feeling that maybe they don't want to work with J.C. precisely because of his attitude towards them, as well as his less-than-creative approach to lesson planning.  Besides, I'm still a novelty around here, and that gives me a certain power, of which I plan to take advantage until I solidify my extremely educational, amazingly authoritative, and confidently creative reputation with the students.