June 13
(This was written on my cell phone, so pardon any grammar/spelling errors. I have fat fingers.)
Pure genius is taking a (cold) shower on the evening before getting up by 5 am to go to the beach and remembering once your hair is (cold) wet that you have no towel because it is still on the line drying. Thank goodness for two clean wash rags! Anyhow. I survived.
Over the course of this trip, which is now 75% over, I have had the opportunity to compare/contrast my life on this sojourn to Central America to my life back home in estados unidos. Some comparisons have great depth and breadth while others just scratch the surface. My next observation falls into the latter category. Tonight, my tica mama asked me what I preferred for dinner. I told her I would eat just about anything (while hoping organ meats didn't end up being a choice). She asked if I liked Cantonese, a mixture of pork, ham, and chicken. I said that was fine. so, I had my first Chinese food takeout while here-fried rice with some veggies, chicken and ham. I didn't notice any other pork besides the ham. It didn't have any egg in it, nor did I taste soy sauce. And it came with a side of French fries!
Today we had another school visit, this one to a small elementary school in the village of San Rafael. The school sat high on the side of a mountain in a very tranquil setting. This k-6 school has 118 students and 13 teachers. Due to space limitations, the school day isn't always your typical 7 hours as some kids don't go all day everyday. I didn't quite catch the entire picture here, but know that today other kids were coming at 10. I started out in a kindergarten room with my beginning Spanish classmates. As Catherine was reading the book, two of us were asked to go to a 6th grade classroom and read a book (en espanol) while asking students to say specific worlds in English. The specific words were just the ones that we knew--not many. Though we asked them to correct us when we pronounced words wrong, they didn't. The class of mostly boys just smirked at us, though one boy in particular spoke up more than the rest when asked for English words. It was awkward the entire time we were there, but then it ended. I am not a fan of being in vulnerable situations where I feel out of control. Standing in front of a 6th grade class reading a book in a language I am not near fluent in is one of those situations, but it is over and at least they didn't throw rotten tomatoes at us. :)
After we finished the activities with the classes, we waited around until their recess at 8:30. Seem early for recess? Well, school starts at 7:00 here so that is about right, and I assume that they have 1-2 more recesses throughout their day. During recess, I participated in my first ever soccer game, barefoot and wearing a dress I might add. Those boys are scrappy and competitive. My team won, I believe. We had about 8 of our group playing and we all had a good time.
(This was written on my cell phone, so pardon any grammar/spelling errors. I have fat fingers.)
Pure genius is taking a (cold) shower on the evening before getting up by 5 am to go to the beach and remembering once your hair is (cold) wet that you have no towel because it is still on the line drying. Thank goodness for two clean wash rags! Anyhow. I survived.
Over the course of this trip, which is now 75% over, I have had the opportunity to compare/contrast my life on this sojourn to Central America to my life back home in estados unidos. Some comparisons have great depth and breadth while others just scratch the surface. My next observation falls into the latter category. Tonight, my tica mama asked me what I preferred for dinner. I told her I would eat just about anything (while hoping organ meats didn't end up being a choice). She asked if I liked Cantonese, a mixture of pork, ham, and chicken. I said that was fine. so, I had my first Chinese food takeout while here-fried rice with some veggies, chicken and ham. I didn't notice any other pork besides the ham. It didn't have any egg in it, nor did I taste soy sauce. And it came with a side of French fries!
Today we had another school visit, this one to a small elementary school in the village of San Rafael. The school sat high on the side of a mountain in a very tranquil setting. This k-6 school has 118 students and 13 teachers. Due to space limitations, the school day isn't always your typical 7 hours as some kids don't go all day everyday. I didn't quite catch the entire picture here, but know that today other kids were coming at 10. I started out in a kindergarten room with my beginning Spanish classmates. As Catherine was reading the book, two of us were asked to go to a 6th grade classroom and read a book (en espanol) while asking students to say specific worlds in English. The specific words were just the ones that we knew--not many. Though we asked them to correct us when we pronounced words wrong, they didn't. The class of mostly boys just smirked at us, though one boy in particular spoke up more than the rest when asked for English words. It was awkward the entire time we were there, but then it ended. I am not a fan of being in vulnerable situations where I feel out of control. Standing in front of a 6th grade class reading a book in a language I am not near fluent in is one of those situations, but it is over and at least they didn't throw rotten tomatoes at us. :)
After we finished the activities with the classes, we waited around until their recess at 8:30. Seem early for recess? Well, school starts at 7:00 here so that is about right, and I assume that they have 1-2 more recesses throughout their day. During recess, I participated in my first ever soccer game, barefoot and wearing a dress I might add. Those boys are scrappy and competitive. My team won, I believe. We had about 8 of our group playing and we all had a good time.
My Spanish class
La Escuela--this is the whole thing, other than the soccer field behind me.
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