So I have LOTS of thank yous for birthday cards and random letters (Lisa, Katie McManus, Jerica, Uncle Tim, Auntie Barbe, GM, Mom and Dad, Katie Kristen Jill Kara, Christa) plus belated birthday wishes (Abby B, Kate L, my birthday buddies Tommy EBell Felix Amanda etc.). Keep the LETTERS and EMAILS and PRAYERS coming!! Thank you SO much!!! Thanks Karen O for the inspiration (re: your similar entry last year), here goes in a typical weekday of my life here!
****Side note: If you are musically inclined, we would LOVE some cd´s with current music down here... you can mail them in normal mail! Were three months behind and cravinggg some new American tunes!****
CHICOS
6:38 AM -- wake up in my little room in the Antonio Jose de Sucre house. I get ready in my Rostro polo and capris, then eat a piece of bread while we gather to do morning prayer. If you have any prayers you like, send them my way ... were always looking for new ideas!
7:26 AM -- Jessie and I finally make it out the door. We take the red 2 bus and get off right after it crosses over the highway. As were waiting, we see lots of the usual crowd -- the woman with bleach blonde hair, the guy with big ears, baseball cap man, a whole collection of characters. Board the blue Yaguachi bus with a fellow Chicos student (we often see our kids on the same buses we take!).
8:12 AM -- finally arrive at work! Sit down in the chapel as we wait for Buenos Dias to begin, a traditional Salesian way to begin the day. This 15 min chat is Padre´s opportunity to chat with the boys about good values or important info before beginning classes. We greet all our kids with a handshake and a smile as they head off to their first period class.
8:32 AM -- I greet my boss, Nuria, and the secretary, Marta, along with whatever other staff are around. Jessie and I have spent a lot of time with some of the taller staff, Wacho Beto and Edwin, since they´re pretty close to us in age. It´s a great staff dynamic though, really a community feeling all around!
9:10 AM -- I head down to Aula 4, where my décimos are waiting for english class to begin. Today, were practicing words in the community by cutting and pasting the picture to the english word. I teach two english classes -- novenos (equivalent to our eighth grade, 14 kids, their second year of English) and décimos (about to graduate from the shelter and hopefully continue schooling, only 7 of them, their third year of English).
9:47 AM -- the horn sounds for refrigerio! Sit with some of my décimos as we discuss what we did this week and what we will do this weekend over these corn tortillas stuffed with cheese.
10:05 AM -- the boys head off to class and I spend the next hour and a half in the social work office. Usually this entails taking attendance, height and weight or maybe writing house visit reports. There are a few house visits each week, which Im just starting to do and really enjoy. Its a great way to get more insight into the boys´ lives!
11:42 AM -- finally make my way to taller. I spend most of my time in Mecánico, though Im warming up to Carpentería. One of my students sanded with me on Tuesday, which was really fun! Chances are, during this last hour, you´ll find Jessie in the Carpentry workshop and me in Mechiancs. I wander around for that hour, usually talking to most of the boys at some point as they do their work. They work really hard in Mecánico, so mostly I just learn what they´re doing by watching them. It´s so fun though to see the things they make!
12:49 PM -- the horn finally sounds for lunch. One of the students leads us in a Padre Nuestro and some special petitions, then they file in by dorm groups to find a place to sit. Usually I sit at the second table from the left on the far side, with a few of my students from Mecánico, but Im trying to spice things up a bit here and there. Lunch is pretty good, always some sort of juice, a soup, rice, meat and veggies. Glad to see big, nutritious portions for the boys.
1:07 PM -- pretty much everyone has cleared out now, time for recess! I wander over to the cancha (cement soccer court) to watch the boys play. Usually most of the older boys and some staff play together on the bigger cancha, so I´ll generally sit down with a fellow observer and chat during the game.
1:52 PM -- Jessie and I say our goodbyes and head out to our afternoon programs. We take the blue Yaguachi bus again, then part ways on Primavera Uno as she heads to the 28 de agosto community and I return to AJS (though sometimes not before getting a Yugoso, this wonderful 15 cent froyo treat!). I take the yellow 2 and get off right on the main street in town. Walk down the street, with as many as 11 kids trailing behind (usually though it´s just four).
VALDIVIA
2:36 PM -- arrive at the church for Valdivia. Kids begin to read and do their homework as Tasha, Diana, Pedro and I settle in. We collect their ``tarjetas´´ (attendance and behavior reward system) as they usually help us bring down the pens, rulers, scissors, glue, pencils and markers from the bodega upstairs to the homework room.
3:17 PM -- finally finish awarding stickers for our reading completion challenge as we gather the students to line up. We greet each other with a big BUENAS TARDES and ask how they are going to behave today (the answer better be BIEN) before praying a Padre Nuestro.
3:21 PM -- split up into a homework group (Pedro), big kids activities and little kids activities. Tasha, Diana and I rotate doing different stuff for criticial thinking, arts and crafts, geography, english, math, science, you name it! I like the little kids the best, theyre usually a small group and we have a lot of fun doing simple stuff!
4:02 PM -- time for recreo! chicos versus chicas, and on a good day, the chicas definitely have a fair advantage to win! other options include legos, jump rope, hide and seek, freeze tag, twister, etc.
4:45 PM -- call TIEMPO! the kids run to get water, sit down for 20 seconds in silence. then we discuss who got a Valores de Valdivia (we do the Villanova V when talking about this, obvs). These 4 necklaces reward the kids who we catch doing a great action during the day, like cleaning, good sportsmanship on the cancha, persevering in activity or hw, etc. It really has made a difference, since kids want to do things to be that good example! All of us rotate one day a week in giving the charla, a simple little chat about the theme for the week (respect, responsibility, trust, kindness, justice, citizenship and spirituality). We also do annoucements, prayer (either the Valdivia prayer we wrote or some combo of Padre Nuestros and Ave Marias) and lend out the soccer ball for the night if someone deserves it that day. The 4 kids with necklaces head to pass out bread, bananas and vitamins as one of us calls each kid over to get their treats.
5:03 PM -- give one of the kids ten cents to run and buy Tasha and I each a chocobanana (banana, covered in chocolate and sprinkles, frozen). We walk the kids home then finally arrive at our house after a long day. We take some time to shower, nap, journal, chill, whatever.
HOME
6:07 PM -- As someone is cooking dinner, we often run across the street to chat with Jesus´ family, the house on the corner, or Wellington´s family. We spend a LOT of time with those families in particular, though Im also starting to get to know Gabriel and Theresa, Emma, Cira, Mercedes and Santo, Alicia and many more! Everyone here is so friendly.
7:22 PM -- dinner is finally ready! Often times we´ll make something simple, like pasta with tomato sauce and veggies (tomatoes onions peppers a standard), fried egg sandwiches, or stir fry. Sometimes, usually Celso Tasha or Mark, will try a creative meal, like potato soup, empanadas, ground beef in pasta, some kind of fun sandwich, etc. Sometimes well even have juice or Big Cola with our meal, what a treat! And yes, we usually have fruit too, like mandarins or pineapple.
8:05 PM -- the night is ours! we plan for our classes the next day, study spanish, or listen to music usually. Were learning some popular reggaeton stuff here (Niña Bonita being a fave for sure), haha! Usually by 11 were all asleep, exhausted but ready to start it all over again!
Love you all!
Isa (which btw comes from Isabel, my name here because the ``th´´ ending is tough for Spanish speakers)
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