First Day of School

To begin with, here's an update on the housing situation: we are now settled into a hostel, Amigos de La Casa Roja, where a group of around 20 volunteers with a different organization are also staying. Many of the houses and hostels here have these beautiful courtyards inside while our room is little more than a bed and dresser. It's about as nice as I could ask for for $100 a month. As a bonus, the mosquitoes are not as bad here. However, the number of small red dots covering my legs may suggest bedbugs. This hostel is further (just under 15 minutes) from La Esperanza Granada's office and most of the other volunteer houses, but we are just down the street from the outdoor market and two blocks from Pali, the grocery store here. The fruit stalls here sell mangoes and bananas for just 1 cordoba, which is less than 4 cents! I wish I could take a picture of these bustling streets but pulling out my phone in these crowds seems unwise. Although it is easy to find meals here for $4-5 dollars, I'm excited that we've started cooking again and unsurprisingly, that is even much, much cheaper. I am thankful to have a new home base where we can settle in some!   

          

Today TC and I went into La Esperanza Granada headquarters for an orientation where they told us some of the expectations of us as volunteers and some of what to expect from the volunteering experience. We met some of the other volunteers and found that we are on a team with six other people, two of whom are French and speak little English, and the other two of whom are American. We then found out that we would start working in the schools starting today. So with less than an hour, we had time only to grab a smoothie for lunch before embarking on the 45 minute walk to the schools. Although the walk felt quite long, it was amazing how quickly the colorful, busy streets became less populated, the roads deteriorated, and within half an hour walking we were on a dirt road passing grazing horses and goats.

When we got to the school, we found that we would be rotating teaching the same lesson, each about 45 minutes, to four different classes. There are around 25 students in each class, but the ages range anywhere from 8 to 13 years old. This week we are helping the students to review for the test which we will give them in a couple days on foods. We broke the students up into teams and they made a list of however many English words of the category (fruits, vegetables, drinks, etc.) that they could come up with. Although they were allowed to use their notes from the previous lesson, many of the students had not taken notes, said that they did not have a notebook, or simply did not have interest in participating. The volunteers walked around the classroom trying to encourage them to come up with ideas, but it was constant work to try to engage them. However, I was told by Matt, one of the volunteers in my group, that these classes are angels compared to the classes we will teach tomorrow at another school. We rotate between two schools every other day, while Friday is for planning.

The children, while easily distracted, seem very sweet. Already, some of the girls were clinging to my arm and stroking my hair while the boys seemed eager to catch my attention as well. As always, the students vary greatly and some excitedly wrote down answers to compete for points while others did not bother to get out their books. It is difficult as a new foreign teacher to come into a classroom and expect that students will want to learn from me, but I am excited to start to get to know them and for them to become familiar with me. I'm also excited to get to know the other volunteers! Everyone I have met so far seems really nice, friendly, and interesting. Many are European and there are also some Americans, but I have yet to meet anyone else from Seattle.

I have also yet to meet any other Asians. I've seen maybe three. Today, the children made jokes about me being from China and one bowed to me. But I'd rather hear it from a ten-year-old than the twenty-something man who said "Sayonara" as we passed by, or just all of the men who stare at me. Being female may have something to do with that, but I do not get as many catcalls as the other White volunteers. TC may have something to do with that.