5 months away!

Hi all! Unfortunately, this will be a short entry. The good news is that I´ve found a reliable internet cafe thats relatively cheap so I´ll be able to post on a more regular basis. I have gotten some questions about whether I was continuing with my blog, so I just wanted everyone to know that I am! Today marks 5 months away from home. In some ways it feels so much shorter, and in others so much longer. I have been teaching for about a month now. I have 8th grade. My students ages range from 14 to 18. My average class size is about 60 to 65 students and I have 7 classes in total that I teach. They are called `turmas.` Instead of the students walking from class to class, the same 60 students take all of their classes together and the teachers walk to the different rooms. Teaching is much harder than I could have anticipated, but I´m sure it´ll just take time to get used to. The kids here are used to being taught at, without asking questions and without active participation. I am trying to change that, and sometimes it is like pulling teeth, but I think they will get used to it after some time. It´s very tiring! I try to keep my energy up to get them excited (but really, how excited can a teenager get about articles or personal pronouns?) and at the end of the day I am very ready for a nap. There are about 45 teachers at my school in total. I am one of 3 English teachers and I am one of 5 female teachers at the school. Most everyone has been very nice...though there are exceptions, of course. Not everything is done in the most time efficient manner, and that has been frustrating, but I am trying really hard to be more relaxed about everything. I´m so sorry this is so short and lacking detail, but I promise to write more next week. It´ll be rich in detail and a more accurate description of what my daily life is like. As always, I miss everyone back home very much. Please stay in touch! Much love.