So speaking of that air conditioned, englished speaking, fluffy couch sitting, home away from home...I came into the capital today to turn some surveys into my boss at the office. I'll have you know that this is the first post I've written from the office. And the computers here are free! I can spend all day on the internet if I want and not have to pay a peso. Imaginate. I've tried to write something from here before and can't. I've started things and then said to myself, "this is dry, nobody wants to hear about that." I was thinking about it on my way in today, and I think the reason why I haven't been able to write anything from here is that it's too comfy and too easy. I think the message gets accross better when I'm dripping sweat on the keyboard and my shirt is soaked and I am packed into a 8x12 ft with about 15 computers. Anyway, here's comming straight from the PC office.

What's the first thing I do when I get into the office? Check my mail. And it's great! Imagine not being able to walk out to your mail box for a few weeks or months at a time and then that excited you would have when you open your mailbox. And what made it even better this time is that I got something. A letter from my Grandma. She's doing good too. One of the things she mentioned was about how she is fortunate to be able to read and write me letters. Not because she is old but because she is educated. And I don't know if she was touching at something I wrote her before or hinting at something she wants to hear about, but it made me think about education. And then I thought about the sign in sheet I passed around at soccer practice the other day. I remember watching the kids, over half of them, struggle to sign themselves in. And one or two of them practicaly couldn't do it. I just stopped and stared. Caughten off gaurd once again by what would be a trivial event in the states, but here has so much more meaning. How can they even get through a day at school? What do they even do at school? These kids were between 8 and 13 too. Then there was the other time when I visited a family and their kids where in the middle of doing math homework when I walked in. They were 12 or so and still counting on their fingers.

The thing is I know what they do at school. I know how many days school gets cancelled a week. I've seen the "library" and the bathrooms and the classrooms. I've talked with teachers and the director. I remember complaining to my parents and teachers during highschool about how I was going to have back problems when I got older because of the weight of all the school books I had to carry around. And it was legit, it was heavy. At least the kids here don't have that problem. They don't even have a single book. The teachers have the book. And class is composed of the teacher dictating and students copying. There are no art classes, or a work shop, or a gymnasium. There are two different daily sessions. One for the older kids in the morning from 8 to 12 and one in the afternoon for the younger ones 2 to 4.30. And those hours really are negotiable. I'll let you imagine the rest of the story. So my grandma is fortunate to be educated. As am I. And I think so many other Americans.