School!!

Well I actually started school the day after I arrived in Sucre, so now that I've been going for 3 weeks now I think it deserves a blog post. I attend El Colegio de Juan Enrique Pestalozzi. It is considered the best school in Sucre, or so I've been told, and is run by a German program. From what I understand, my school is run by Germans, and there is a sister school in Germany.

School for me is from 8am to 1pm. Then, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I also have school from 2:30 to 4pm. There are about 25 people in my class, and WHOLE GRADE, and for the whole school (grades 1-12) there are a total of about 350 students. It is so neat to have all of the little kids running around screaming and playing tag during our breaks. Many of my classmates have younger siblings in the school also so almost everybody knows everybody else (part of that might be because of the size too).

En mi colegio, the teachers come to the students. So, each grade only has one classroom.  My classes include everything under the sun: Biology, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, Grammar, Literature, History, P.E., Art, Music, Civics, Geography, Ethics and Morals, and Philosophy. Don't worry though, I don't have every class every day. The classes switch and alternate in some sort of funky schedule that I still haven't figured out, but it ends up that I have each class about twice a week. Some more than others, because Art I only have once a week.

The classes aren't too hard. Here, I'm in the 12th grade, and since school ends and everybody graduates in November, the teachers are pretty much done teaching. We normally do a little bit of work but not much. And here's where I get lucky: because I'm an exchange student, I'm not expected to do anything but try and learn and improve my Spanish. This means no homework! Or any school work of any kind. It's nice just having to show up and not have anything expected of me for once. Don't get me wrong, even though nothing is expected, I'm still learning. I remember my first day of school, I didn't understand anything any of the teachers said. And now, I understand almost everything. Take today for example, in Literature this afternoon we ended up watching the movie Black Swan, and I actually understood enough to get some of the jokes made in the movie! Everyday Spanish gets easier and easier, so much so that Rotary might just be right that it'll only take 3 months for me to be fluent, I am looking really looking forward to that day!
                                           ~Tengo que dormir, Hasta Mañana!

10 Days Later

Hola!...Well 10 almost 11 days have passed since I arrived here in Sucre. It's passed so quickly I can barely believe that in 4 days I'll have been here 2 weeks. I really want this year to take forever, but sadly I think it's going to be the opposite and I'll wake up one day and only have a week until I leave-- I am so NOT looking forward to that!

I've spent my first 10 days here making friends, going to school, hanging out at the Plaza, helping mi mama in her store, and taking photos...LOTS of photos, especially of La Entrada which was yesterday. La Entrada is a huge parade(sorta) in honor of la Virgen de Guadalupe who is the protectress / patron saint of Sucre. The parade consisted of many many many different dance groups who danced traditional dances of Bolivia. They all wore elaborate costumes many of which I posted pictures of on Facebook. La Entrada started on the outskirts of Sucre, and went throughout the city, to the Plaza, and then to the main church. It started before I was even awake, I don't know exactly what time, and went until like 2:30 or 3 in the morning. However, I didn't stay that late only til 6 because my host mom was afraid of los borrachos, the drunks. I'm not sure what else to say about it, so just look at my pictures!
Tengo que irme.                                            ~Saludos!