When I get tired of thinking.
On Wednesday I arrived at school in my fancy-shmansy uniform so that at 8 o'clock (in Mexican time: 8:30) Monica could take Emma, Ricardo (Ana's little brother), Yair and I to the Math Olympics. We ate quesadillas and then after a while of saying good-bye to friends and standing around, we finally left in Monica's red sedan.
We arrived there cold and more than a little confused; as Monica registered us we stood around and talked. We ate a sandwich, some juice and a banana while everyone else sang the anthem and listened to a speech. Then we walked around in circles trying to find out where all of us were going to take the test. There were too many kids to fit into the number of rooms they thought they would need, so they opened another and that is where Emma, a bunch of other kids and I took our test.
We were given four hours to take a test of four questions that were not easy!!! At one point, I was trying to solve this problem that asked how many numbers there were between 1 and 2012 that were divisible by two but not by three! I started a list of numbers divisible by two and and then crossed out every third number (those were the ones divisible by three). I made it all the way to one thousand and as I paused to take a break, the teacher saw my work and said, "Oh that is too long!! There is a shorter way; try using numbers." I thought, 'Lady, I am using numbers' and as much as I wanted to just keep going, those words burst my bubble in which I thought I could really write over a thousand numbers. I later figured out another way to solve the problem. In the end I solved three out of four (the fourth I just left blank).
During the test, I looked out the open door and saw Ricardo wandering around aimlessly and for some reason that made me speed up and try to finish everything faster. I finished soon and after turning my test in, I walked out and found Ricardo. When he saw me he gave me a big hug and asked me how it went. Evidently, I was the second of our group of four to finish. We walked around in the weather that seemed to show signs of an oncoming rain. Yair came out next and felt a little less sure about the test than Ricardo (who seemed to think it was easy).
We waited around before Emma finally came out, and remembering Monica's promise to let us leave after the four of us finished, we set out with the goal of finding Monica and leaving. That hope was swiftly deemed as un-likely because she thought Emma was going to take a long time, so she went into a teacher room to grade exams. We were waved away by other teachers every time we tried to reach Monica. We stood outside the room and fantasized about how we could buy food (we were starving) and leave this cold place. The suggestions were anywhere from: Asking a teacher if we could borrow money (Yair's suggestion); to stealing Monica's car, selling it and then with the money, buying food and getting a taxi back to school (my idea). We never went through with any of these ideas and when Eloina came to pick us up, Ricardo and Yair ran to her and gave her a big hug because she was our ride home.
We arrived back at school and my class was going to have math and after I claimed that I was tired of thinking, they let me sit and knit instead!!!
On Wednesday I arrived at school in my fancy-shmansy uniform so that at 8 o'clock (in Mexican time: 8:30) Monica could take Emma, Ricardo (Ana's little brother), Yair and I to the Math Olympics. We ate quesadillas and then after a while of saying good-bye to friends and standing around, we finally left in Monica's red sedan.
We arrived there cold and more than a little confused; as Monica registered us we stood around and talked. We ate a sandwich, some juice and a banana while everyone else sang the anthem and listened to a speech. Then we walked around in circles trying to find out where all of us were going to take the test. There were too many kids to fit into the number of rooms they thought they would need, so they opened another and that is where Emma, a bunch of other kids and I took our test.
We were given four hours to take a test of four questions that were not easy!!! At one point, I was trying to solve this problem that asked how many numbers there were between 1 and 2012 that were divisible by two but not by three! I started a list of numbers divisible by two and and then crossed out every third number (those were the ones divisible by three). I made it all the way to one thousand and as I paused to take a break, the teacher saw my work and said, "Oh that is too long!! There is a shorter way; try using numbers." I thought, 'Lady, I am using numbers' and as much as I wanted to just keep going, those words burst my bubble in which I thought I could really write over a thousand numbers. I later figured out another way to solve the problem. In the end I solved three out of four (the fourth I just left blank).
During the test, I looked out the open door and saw Ricardo wandering around aimlessly and for some reason that made me speed up and try to finish everything faster. I finished soon and after turning my test in, I walked out and found Ricardo. When he saw me he gave me a big hug and asked me how it went. Evidently, I was the second of our group of four to finish. We walked around in the weather that seemed to show signs of an oncoming rain. Yair came out next and felt a little less sure about the test than Ricardo (who seemed to think it was easy).
We waited around before Emma finally came out, and remembering Monica's promise to let us leave after the four of us finished, we set out with the goal of finding Monica and leaving. That hope was swiftly deemed as un-likely because she thought Emma was going to take a long time, so she went into a teacher room to grade exams. We were waved away by other teachers every time we tried to reach Monica. We stood outside the room and fantasized about how we could buy food (we were starving) and leave this cold place. The suggestions were anywhere from: Asking a teacher if we could borrow money (Yair's suggestion); to stealing Monica's car, selling it and then with the money, buying food and getting a taxi back to school (my idea). We never went through with any of these ideas and when Eloina came to pick us up, Ricardo and Yair ran to her and gave her a big hug because she was our ride home.
We arrived back at school and my class was going to have math and after I claimed that I was tired of thinking, they let me sit and knit instead!!!
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