Long Overdue...

It’s Friday the 23rd of september and I’ve officially been here over a month. Is this real life?

No.

Absolutely not.

But I’m loving it.

Actually, I take that back…sorta. My students are more real than anything I know in the comfort of the United States and more of an economic representation of most kids in the world than the spoiled kids I went to school with in Catholic school for 20 years, but my time here is just a glimpse of that understanding and I know that…so for the next 11 months, I will do my best to continually grapple with the economy, poverty, child labor, and the incredible strength of these people to live, work, play, and grow the way they do everyday.

I digress.

I was inspired to write a post because one of my best friends in the entire world, Katlin Hess, and her hysterical little sister started a blog. Granted, there are two of them so blogging is divided in half, but I still felt the pressure to write and that I had been slacking off. Thanks guys!

While I am writing this I am in my “nivelacion religion” class. The girls had an exam yesterday (I haven’t corrected it yet to see the damage), but today we connected creation, talents, and their future. I’m either a master bullshit artist or actually have a grip of the religion thing by now because day after day, I surprise myself with the material I come up with for class. This same effort also drains most of my energy and time, but it’s getting easier every week. Two new girls joined the class on Wednesday (day before exam) which really stressed me out thinking that I would have to catch them up on 3 weeks of material, but I think I will get them there slowly. They are both really quiet and have no idea what I am saying like the other girls did in the first week or so, but im sure they will get used to my poor Ecuadorian accent. Also note that I am not usually just giving my class work and playing around on my computer. This is what’s happening: we read together the parable in Matthew 25: 14-28 about how 2 of the three men who were given talents by god went out and multiplied them, but the third one dug a hole and buried his. So we talked about the creation story, which we read in the first week of school, how God created all of us in his “image and likeness” and how all things that God created are good. I asked them what their talents were and how they could use their talents now or in their future job or to achieve a certain goal, and they had to draw this.

So naturally, any opportunity to subliminally corrupt these kids when we are not reading the Bible together is to play a little music. They all reggaton which I’m getting into a bit, but Cindy, this one girl who I should probably be annoyed by but I secretly like her a lot, insisted that we listen to Michael Jackson. Luckily, I have the classics and was happy to appease her as the girls drew.

We put the pictures up on the wall around a poster I made that says, “Yo soy inteligente. Yo soy importante. Yo puedo llegar a ser cualquier cosa yo quiero porque Dios me creo,” which translates “I am intelligent. I am important. I can be anything I want to be because God created me.” This was adapted from the book and movie, The Help, from I believe the African American nanny in the story. I haven’t read it, but a lot of the colegio (middleschool-early highschool) volunteers have used this phrase (minus the god part) for their classes. The most important thing for these girls beyond their education with us and is to understand and truly believe that they can have something better if they work hard enough for it. Julie (other volunteer) and I did this in our English class before doing occupation vocabulary and the girls came up with some interesting things: a few clothing designers, clothing store owners, news anchor, breakdancer, movie star, vet, doctor, the people at car dealerships who help you with paperwork, astronomer, bank teller, etc. One of the girls in my religion class told me she wanted to be an “enfermera” or nurse, and I proudly told her of all my awesome friends who are nurses and how great, rewarding, and economically advantageous the field is.

Anyway, things are really good. I’m waiting for my immune system to crash with a cold once again as I can feel my ears and back of my throat a little sore, but I went to bed early last nite and I think I am staying in tonite because I have to be up at 7am to get my Census (I will be counted as part of quitos population!). I’m not looking forward to tomorrow morning because others who have went said it takes a few hours to get through the line….but I want to play futbol! Bah!!!

I’ve been running a few times this week for about 30 minutes and let me tell you, IT IS HARD. Not only because I’m running up hills the entire time which I hate and avoid like the plague at home, but also because of the level of oxygen! THERE IS NONE!!! I’ve been told it takes about 3 months to fully adjust. I’m gona stick with it because I know what an advantage it is for people who like to run to run at elevations, but its hard to fit in everyday. If I get to it 4 times  a week, I will be happy.

Ah, in other news, my “special ed” classes. I probably mentioned I am working with a few boys—alex, alex, and Roberto. They are 13-15ish and started school late so they’ve been put into “special ed” because they can’t keep up in a regular class, except all three of the boys are very capable (when they want to be!) So the boys are fine, but the two women who are in the classroom are completely aweful. First, I’m not entirely sure of their level of education(Maggie and Ligia).  The one claims to be a doctor, but as Madres have told us, if you can pay the money, any idiot can be a doctor. I’m not also sure how whatever degree Ligia has (shes the “head” of this operation) translates to the states, but I’d imagine maybe a masters degree. So these two clowns have insisted for the past few weeks that these three boys are on the same level for reading and math. (falso) They’ve insisted that they’ve tested them accurately (falso). They were tested in JUNE, and their “test” consisted of a series of bull shit questions that I really cant understand what they would show because when I saw them “test” the boys, they basically fed them the answers after they told me not to. They’ve told us that the volunteers are responsible for creating lesson plans for them with a list of 4 objectives. FALSE.  Everyone has told us that we are there to work with them with the plans from them. So these poor 13-15 year old boys are in the same room sitting at kindergarten tables and chairs next to kids that are 7-9. How are they supposed to get out of a classroom and be taught in a setting fit for their age when they are surrounded by little kids in a room with zero organization? Luckily, we’ve all been fighting this hard, but the only people to listen to us are Corry and John, the two retired special ed teachers from WNY who then relay the information to Marco Polo (the man) and the Madres. But there’s a disconnect and the Madres seem to think that we don’t know what we are talking about. TRUE. For the most part, I don’t have the first clue where they need to be or how to get them there. All I know is that something is wrong in the situation I am in, these boys are being held back, and on the path they are on, they are going to be in the kindergarten room for the next 2 years. NOT IF I CAN HELP IT. Oh. Here’s a fun fact. Alex and Roberto weren’t doing their work, so they were blaming one another for the reason they weren’t working, Roberto got pissed, said something nasty to Alex which I didn’t catch, and Alex responded that he was going to “screw” his sister. Mind you, his sister is about 4. AWESOME.

I digress. Things are starting to turn up. Corry and John had a meeting with the powers that be and apparently, William (who has a severe hearing problem and just got hearing aids last year who is 15 and hearing words correctly for the first time…such a good kid), one of the Alex’s, and this other kid (who had a swastika around his neck today….I ALMOST RIPPED IT OFF HIS NECK), are being moved to another program which is specially for boys in their situation. Why they weren’t there to begin with is beyond me, but since they work and have carpentry and whatnot, maybe the morning was the only time they could to it….i’m not sure, but I know this is for the best. We are also going to be starting a program called “Read Naturally” and I’ll be trained on how to do that this weekend so the boys can get their levels up.

So now im left with Roberto, who is obsessed with my love life (err, lack thereof lol), tries to tackle me, has outwardly touched my boobs when im not paying attention, and today was kicking me. He’s a good kid, but obviously a tad hormonal and likes to mess around instead of doing his work. I try to remember that when I want to ring his neck, but this is the same kid I wacked with a notebook. TOUGH LOVE. J

So there’s a bit to chew on for now. I will have to write about my adult ed classes because they are really a trip. I saw Madre Miguel take a picture of me trying to explain what we were doing in class that day, so if I can get my hand on it, I will post it because Im pretty sure she caught me in an action shot.

Stay cool and enjoy the fall weather if its there!! So JEALOUS!!!

Jams jams jams jams