Pick Your Poison: A Mountain or a Room Full of Nine-Year-Olds

This week, I have faced two nearly insurmountable challenges: teaching 4th grade and hiking over 10km of El Avila.  I'll start with the harder of the two: teaching 4th grade.  

Now, for those of you who have paid attention to my professional life at all, you will realize that younger children are not really my jam.  I have a gift for teenagers, and well, when you have a gift for teenagers, you work with teenagers, because Lord knows no one else wants to.  And truly, that is the majority of my job- navigating the dark underworld of adolescence.  However, I have been given the unique opportunity to co-teach the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade counseling classes at our primary school.  It's really a win-win, because my job is to help the elementary counselor with her English, and she in turn helps me with everything else, like how to deal with it when out of nowhere in the middle of a lesson one kid is suddenly screaming on the floor while two others pull his hands and feet in opposite directions.  Fourth grade contains a particularly challenging set of 18 little personalities, and I find myself utterly exhausted after every 45 minute lesson with them. It is remarkably hard to teach values and higher order concepts like respect and tolerance to a group of ninde year olds whom more than half of don't speak English as a first language. What's more, we've got kids from all over the globe, from every continent but Antarctica, just in the fourth grade! Talk about challenging.  And don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it- the challenge of coming up with pertinent lessons and the reward when you can tell they really grasp it is worth it, but boy, this venture into elementary has kept me on my toes.

So now, the Avila.  Ivan is very lucky that he did not show me the map of our hike until I was actually already on the trail.  First, he showed me the inch between the start and the first stopping point, then the inch between the first and second stop.  The second stop was where our first hike terminated.  Then, he showed me the 6.5 feet between the 2nd stop and the 43 subsequent stops we would have to make between there and the teleferico which would finally, at the end of our quest, mercifully take us down the mountain for a mere 36 B's.  The only reason I agreed to go is because I had a whole chocolate bar in the backpack and Ivan said I could eat a little at each stop and he wouldn't make me share it.  

It was brutal.  My cavs were killing me.  My knee braces were rubbing. My back hurt.  I had convinced myself that I couldn't make it.  No way could I make it over 10km of 3rd world mountainous treachery!  This trail was more rock climbing than hiking!  And all I had to work with were two bad knees, and old pair of tractionless running shoes and a chocolate bar!  By the third stop Ivan could tell I was freaking myself out.  He gave me a sincere pep talk, and helped me to mentally focus on my steps and my posture.  He even showed me some good stretches to get my cavs back into working order.  Sometime in about the 2nd hour, the endorphins began to kick in and I mentally shifted to a more positive place.  It probably also helped that a nice guy hiking in front of us was playing Katie Perry on blast. That in fact may have had more to do with it than the mental focus.  Most likely.

Anyways, we got to the peak and the view was absolutely phenom.  You really must check out the pictures on facebook.  I have never seen a view like that, probably because I had never been that high in the air while not in an airplane. I had such a sense of satisfaction, having struggled so much to reach the top.  It was a really remarkable feeling.  Almost as good as the feeling of drinking smuggled beers on the ride down in the teleferico!  Holly, Ivan and I capped off our terrific day with fresh ceviche and some Solara Verde's- I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday!

As this week draws to an end, I am looking so forward to our trip to Angel Falls.  Gordon, Walli, Jackie and I are in for an adventure I think!  I can't wait to write all about it when I get back. Pray for safe travels for us all, and no malaria!  :)