on-the-job perks.

One thing I've quickly realized is, as librarian, I receive a lot of on-the-job perks. Why? We have the only TV available to the teachers. Whenever they want to show their class a movie, they bring the students to the library. They usually bring snacks too. A class last week watched The Incredibles while chomping down on hot dogs topped with ketchup, mayo, and onions. They kindly offered me one. A hot dog at 9:30 in the morning? Sure, why not. Yesterday, another teacher decided her class had behaved well enough to watch Chicken Little. These kids got a lot luckier. There was chicken salad sandwiches, the most delicious fruit salad doused in syrup, chicharrones (a local sort of chip), orange jello, and soda! I gladly accepted the offer for some chicken (something that is lacking in my Guatemalan diet) and yummy fruit. I also may have sneaked a couple glances at the movie when I got the chance :)

But that's not all! The classroom downstairs has shared too. The Etapa class was created for those kids who come to the orphanage with little to no education. Thus, it is typically a class of kids ranging anywhere from 11 to 16 who have roughly a 1st or 2nd grade education. They take on a sort of "life skills" approach to the class, which is why they have a kitchen available to them. The other week they made mole! I originally thought this was a dish typical to Puebla. Turns out the salty kind is local to Mexico, but the sweet kind is common elsewhere. The Etapa kids made a sweet mole with plantains and chocolate. Boy, did I say yes to that offer!

Oh, by the way, if you were expecting this post to go beyond just the food perks, you obviously forgot who you're dealing with :)