Sunday, September 30, 2012

End of September

It's hard to believe, but it's already the end of September. Four weeks of classes have flown by and I'm still trying to figure out how it happened. Didn't I just get here?

While this strange structure of time is somewhat alarming, it's telling of the love I have for my work, the kids, the families, Ecua-Life in general. If I hated it here or was in any way miserable I'd be complaining about how its ONLY the end of September. Instead, I'm trying to figure out how to stop time, soak in every hug, every smile, every class a little more. Right now I feel like I am going to wake up and be back in my bed in Hamburg (which isn't a bad thing since Jeeves will probably be snuggled up next to me), but I am in no way ready to think about that!

September has been a month of change to say the least. Last Friday (9/21) I picked up an 8th grade boys class in Cotocollao. It was kind of against my own plans, but since I was the only one who stepped up, I was given these 14 thirteen year old boys who were well, much like the other 8th grade boys class I had for 3 days--INSANE. THEN, in the past few days, one of the new vols asked me if she could take the class since she knew how busy/overwhelmed I was with all my classes and she also really wanted it. I thought about it for a few days, and while I feel a bit guilty about it, I really missed going to mass/lunch with the kids, felt like my other classes were suffering, and really could use the time I was putting into these boys (a lot for a 5 hr a week class), for my other classes which I was originally given. So, now I will just see them once a week when I take them down to mass. Tomorrow will be her first day with them...I wish her the best!

On a completely different note, part of my Friday schedule is to visit the different neighborhoods, visit families, make sure the boys are out working instead of playing video games, and talk to people about joining the Center. Two weeks ago I went with two of the ladies at the Center who are in charge of this (Elsa and Teresa) to visit my student Armando's house because earlier that morning, Armando's mom came into special ed to explain to Dr. Elizabeth a.) why Armando hadn't be in class all week and b.) that they had a fire at the house. Obviously, I was extremely concerned, not only because Armando is my student, but because I know the family well and wanted to make sure they were okay. They way his mom described the fire sounded like they lost everything. Luckily for me, I have barrios (house visits), so in the afternoon, I asked Elsa if we could go visit the family to survey the damage.

After scaling the side of the mountain (almost to Pichincha), we found the house, and Armando, his siblings Ruby and Oscar, and his mom washing clothes. After preparing for the absolute worst, we found out that they only lost one section of the house (where his oldest brother Vladamir sleeps) and the storage area. This was a big hit for the family, especially for Vladamir since he had bought a lot of his own clothes, bed, etc as he works a lot, but no one was hurt. The crazy thing is that the nite of the fire, for whatever reason, Vladamir decided to sleep down where the rest of the family sleeps in a different part. If he had not made that random decision, he might not have been so lucky. Where his room and the storage area was were bags and bags of ash, just sitting until someone moved it. It looked like a grave yard, but again, I was relieved to see that the family was physically okay.

While at the house, Armando, Ruby, and Oscar showed me where they sleep, where they keep their clothes, etc. Armando also proudly showed me some of his school work that he had done with Dr. Elizabeth and Julie (former vol). He reminded me of how hard I need to work everyday for him.

This past week in barrios was also interesting in that after almost being attacked by stray dogs several times, climbing the side of gated pastures for cows, almost being attacked by said cows, and talking with people about the Center (I feel like a Jehovah's Witness a little!), we visited the house of a girl who was in my religion class last year (Jadira), and her grandmother (Maria) who worked with Jana and I in Adult Ed last year. This lady is a character. She's probably about 75 years old, teeny tiny, and very very indigenous. She brought Jana (who worked with her directly) liters of fresh milk from her cows last year. It was interesting and eye opening to see this tiny, frail lady lead 4 cows (2 angry males!) in from pasture to give them some dry corn husks (as there isnt anything else for them to eat since it has been so dry). It was cool to see where she lived (awesome view) as she would always tell Jana and I how hard it was to come down to the Center for class some days because of her bad knees and how high she lived. She was NOT kidding! I give her props for doing what she does at her age!

So, this week, we FINALLY begin adult classes and reflection, so there goes the remainder of my free time....should be interesting.

So that's me for now, all over the place, thinking and doing 5 million things at once and somehow remaining sane through it all.....with a smile on my face :)

until next time.







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