In my last blog I had said that I was going to an AFS event. At the AFS event, all seven AFS kids and at least one family member for each was there, except Marcus. Unfortunately his grandmother died and he was returning to Germany for the funeral and is coming back at the beginning of November. Everyone brought some type of food. We brought bolitas de yuca, Claudi and Laura brought pancakes and apple sauce (which was my favorite because it reminded me of my grandpas applesauce, but was not nearly as good as his), Yenthe brought orange cake with chocolate chips, Sofia brought cookies, Yenca brought this dish with mashed potatoes and chicken and peas and corn, and Shirley, our director, made a cake for everyone. We all ate and talked for the beginning and then about half way through, they put on some music so I started dancing. I was the only one willing to dance in the middle, so then I walked around and just started asking the AFS girls or the Peruvian girls to dance. All of them gave in to my request except one, go me!!!! We ended up dancing Shakira and some other bands that I do not know, and then we all ate the cake at the end. It was really entertaining and tiring. Also, I think I ate way too much, but I don't have a scale to see how much weight I gained.
This past week of school was really difficult. School is picking up even more and now that we are in the last bimester ( I don't know why it is called a bimester if there are four but that is what they call it) we are getting a ton of homework, and since we just finished the exam week, I have to do corrections for all the tests. For every exam that I get back I have to right down all the questions all the responses and then mark the correct answer. There is a lot of righting here. It is so different from the US. Another difference here, is the amount of memorizing you have to do. For example on Thursday we had Geography. We all got into groups. Then the teacher told us that the group at the end with the highest combined grades will win money (I think this is great idea for anyone from NL with authority). Our first assignment is Africa. We have to memorize all the countries of Africa, their capitals, and populations. Also, each group has to make a poster with the map of Africa. I am in group 1, so I have to do all this with my group for the next Thursday. Homework is another big difference. I get tons of homework, and that is not as much of an exageration as you think. For example, for History, I have to do the correction for my exam, answer 10 questions in my notebook, do a page in out textbook, and using the computer I have to investigate about 5 different groups during the cold war/latin american crisis time period and right about a paragraph for each. All of this is for a week later, and then for the same week I have to do the correction for Physics, investigate about 5 different types of light, do two diagrams about different spectrums, answer an open ended question, and do an organizer for the two types of spectrums. Also, that is only for one class. I have homework for every class except when we have a test or a project.
This past weekend was, I thought, going to be exciting. On Saturday, we walked around town to try and get my holloween costume for a party with AFS, but it turned out that none of the stores had the costume I wanted and we have to wait until Thursday to get it. Then, on Sunday, I got up early to go to an AFS event, but because Lucía had a college entrance exam, Shirley told us we could wait and go at 10, we would only be an hour late, and the main events would not start until way later. So I went to work on my homework and drawing Africa (I volunteered to do this for my group, because I don't trust that anyone else in my group can do a great job- I am one of those people that like to see things get done right). At around 9:45 I got dressed and went downstairs only to find that everyone else was still getting ready and we only left the house at around 10:30. I then found out that Lucía's exam was until 11:20, and we waited at the university for a half hour. When Lucía finally came, we jumped in the car and drove to Miraflores where the AFS event was to be held. When we got there (at 12:20), all of the AFS kids had already started to play paintball and I had to sit and wait till they finished knowing that I was not going to get to play.
After paintball, we were all going to eat, but since my family packed a lunch, we sat down to eat and the rest went to get something. After my family finished eating, I walked around Miraflores looking for the others, but had no luck. I then walked down the road about a half mile, and passed four restaurants but the other AFS'ers were not there. We finally ended up leaving and driving home.
While driving home, my family stopped at a soccer field to play, but my family is not very good at soccer, so that is one of the only reasons it was fun. Also, try having a 5 year old on your team and teaching them to pass it to you, not to use their hands, and to kick it at the goal not pass it to the defence. So much fun!!!!!!!Anyway, I went to bed early because I did not want to be tired for the next day of school
Today at school, we had a test that I did not know about. This was not just any test, it was the placement test for the next year, to see which room you will be in (basically to see if they will put you with the smart kids or the dumb kids). It was for the first 2 hours of the day, and it was a hundred questions about all the subjects we have learned and will have in the next year. I knew just about nothing, because even the subjects that I am good at, were questions that we will learn how to do in the next year of school. I basically relied on pure luck and guessed on over 60 of them. It was probably the saddest exam that I have ever taken. I think I will be with the dumb kids next year, basically the ones who do not want to try, which for is not what I want because I need to learn here.
After getting home from school and eating lunch, I began homework and preparing for the next day of school. I think I am going to go to bed early tonight.
This past week of school was really difficult. School is picking up even more and now that we are in the last bimester ( I don't know why it is called a bimester if there are four but that is what they call it) we are getting a ton of homework, and since we just finished the exam week, I have to do corrections for all the tests. For every exam that I get back I have to right down all the questions all the responses and then mark the correct answer. There is a lot of righting here. It is so different from the US. Another difference here, is the amount of memorizing you have to do. For example on Thursday we had Geography. We all got into groups. Then the teacher told us that the group at the end with the highest combined grades will win money (I think this is great idea for anyone from NL with authority). Our first assignment is Africa. We have to memorize all the countries of Africa, their capitals, and populations. Also, each group has to make a poster with the map of Africa. I am in group 1, so I have to do all this with my group for the next Thursday. Homework is another big difference. I get tons of homework, and that is not as much of an exageration as you think. For example, for History, I have to do the correction for my exam, answer 10 questions in my notebook, do a page in out textbook, and using the computer I have to investigate about 5 different groups during the cold war/latin american crisis time period and right about a paragraph for each. All of this is for a week later, and then for the same week I have to do the correction for Physics, investigate about 5 different types of light, do two diagrams about different spectrums, answer an open ended question, and do an organizer for the two types of spectrums. Also, that is only for one class. I have homework for every class except when we have a test or a project.
This past weekend was, I thought, going to be exciting. On Saturday, we walked around town to try and get my holloween costume for a party with AFS, but it turned out that none of the stores had the costume I wanted and we have to wait until Thursday to get it. Then, on Sunday, I got up early to go to an AFS event, but because Lucía had a college entrance exam, Shirley told us we could wait and go at 10, we would only be an hour late, and the main events would not start until way later. So I went to work on my homework and drawing Africa (I volunteered to do this for my group, because I don't trust that anyone else in my group can do a great job- I am one of those people that like to see things get done right). At around 9:45 I got dressed and went downstairs only to find that everyone else was still getting ready and we only left the house at around 10:30. I then found out that Lucía's exam was until 11:20, and we waited at the university for a half hour. When Lucía finally came, we jumped in the car and drove to Miraflores where the AFS event was to be held. When we got there (at 12:20), all of the AFS kids had already started to play paintball and I had to sit and wait till they finished knowing that I was not going to get to play.
After paintball, we were all going to eat, but since my family packed a lunch, we sat down to eat and the rest went to get something. After my family finished eating, I walked around Miraflores looking for the others, but had no luck. I then walked down the road about a half mile, and passed four restaurants but the other AFS'ers were not there. We finally ended up leaving and driving home.
While driving home, my family stopped at a soccer field to play, but my family is not very good at soccer, so that is one of the only reasons it was fun. Also, try having a 5 year old on your team and teaching them to pass it to you, not to use their hands, and to kick it at the goal not pass it to the defence. So much fun!!!!!!!Anyway, I went to bed early because I did not want to be tired for the next day of school
Today at school, we had a test that I did not know about. This was not just any test, it was the placement test for the next year, to see which room you will be in (basically to see if they will put you with the smart kids or the dumb kids). It was for the first 2 hours of the day, and it was a hundred questions about all the subjects we have learned and will have in the next year. I knew just about nothing, because even the subjects that I am good at, were questions that we will learn how to do in the next year of school. I basically relied on pure luck and guessed on over 60 of them. It was probably the saddest exam that I have ever taken. I think I will be with the dumb kids next year, basically the ones who do not want to try, which for is not what I want because I need to learn here.
After getting home from school and eating lunch, I began homework and preparing for the next day of school. I think I am going to go to bed early tonight.
Wow! You sure have a lot of homework. If you weren't doing homework, what would you do in the evenings? What kind of things happen in your home and neighborhood each evening?
ReplyDeleteI was at Northern Lebanon for a presentation last week. There were 6 students who came to this self-selected meeting. It was a nice group and maybe someone will apply. Most knew you and that you were away this year.