Our first refuerzo English class with the 8th grade went great! This particular class has 53 students and if the students received an 8,9,or 10 on their last report card (grades are based on a scale of 1-10) they didn't have to come. Only 3 have these scores.
Nonetheless, because the class is after lunch, and all classes except for the high schoolers are done at lunch, half the class didn't bother to stay for the refuerzo. Hence the reason for the great class. We only had 25 students. You know, a normal class size.
Well, the class went well, but all the students are required to be there. We took role, we gave this to the principle, I'm sure some phone calls were made, and next Friday we should have a full class, which add that with their normal English classes through the week means 4 days in a row with 8th grade - yikes!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Refuerzo
During our time here teaching English Solidea and I have also been teaching an additional English class every Friday for the Juniors to help reinforce what was taught in English during the week. This is called the Refuerzo or Reinforcement class. Since we have been teaching this class from the beginning of the school year we were a bit surprised when we entered the class two weeks ago and another teacher had the class quietly working in groups.
Standing in a dazed and confused way some of the students took pity on our uninformed status (since the teacher wouldn't talk to us and seemed upset that we had even entered the classroom - FYI, this is not a full time teacher, I had never seen her before, so she is not a reflection of the other teachers who are quite nice) and told us they no longer have reinforcement English classes, now they have a different reinforcement subject every month.
Taking our cue, we left the class much bewildered and wondered, "what does this mean we have to do now?"
Turns out we have to start another reinforcement class with another grade we are teaching, the one doing the worst in English. Today we start our first reinforcement class with 8th grade.
Standing in a dazed and confused way some of the students took pity on our uninformed status (since the teacher wouldn't talk to us and seemed upset that we had even entered the classroom - FYI, this is not a full time teacher, I had never seen her before, so she is not a reflection of the other teachers who are quite nice) and told us they no longer have reinforcement English classes, now they have a different reinforcement subject every month.
Taking our cue, we left the class much bewildered and wondered, "what does this mean we have to do now?"
Turns out we have to start another reinforcement class with another grade we are teaching, the one doing the worst in English. Today we start our first reinforcement class with 8th grade.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
FYI
In case you don't know this, you can view larger versions of the pictures in the slideshow on the right of this blog by simply clicking on the picture (not the forward or backward controls). After clicking, a new window should pop up and this will be my Picassa web album. From there you can see bigger versions of the same pictures and can view all my albums I have loaded.
Let me know if there are any questions.
Let me know if there are any questions.
Back in El Salvador
After a surprisingly long car trip down to Chicago with Fr. Mike and Joe (14 hours) I found my plane back to El Salvador and arrived in half the time it took to reach Chicago. (the car trip was way more fun though!)
Something Fr. Mike said on the way down really stuck with me. He said when learning another language, you're a different person. It's true. I am not myself when I converse in Spanish, mainly because it is very difficult to be humorous when I don't know the words. I have learned to make various types of jokes and so still am able to laugh with people, but having lost something so basic to my identity really changes how people perceive me. I realized that I have no idea what everyone here thinks of me, hadn't considered that I come off differently than I normally would. I'm going to think about that more.
When I got to El Salvador yesterday I got my first surprise when I went through immigration. I am in the process of getting a residential visa and since it was taking a long time (more than the 3 month tourist visa I had) I got an extension to July 13th. I was hoping that by leaving the country I would be able to purchase another tourist visa for another 3 months.
Well, I did have to purchase another tourist visa. I thought I was getting another 3 months. No. Because I had left the country while still in the process of applying for a Visa the extension to July 13 was null and void. The lady in immigration had me buy another tourist visa and graciously gave me 10 days to complete my application for the Residency Visa. sigh. All right. I wonder what will happen if I don't have the visa after 10 days? Next week should be a stressful week. We'll see how it goes.
Something Fr. Mike said on the way down really stuck with me. He said when learning another language, you're a different person. It's true. I am not myself when I converse in Spanish, mainly because it is very difficult to be humorous when I don't know the words. I have learned to make various types of jokes and so still am able to laugh with people, but having lost something so basic to my identity really changes how people perceive me. I realized that I have no idea what everyone here thinks of me, hadn't considered that I come off differently than I normally would. I'm going to think about that more.
When I got to El Salvador yesterday I got my first surprise when I went through immigration. I am in the process of getting a residential visa and since it was taking a long time (more than the 3 month tourist visa I had) I got an extension to July 13th. I was hoping that by leaving the country I would be able to purchase another tourist visa for another 3 months.
Well, I did have to purchase another tourist visa. I thought I was getting another 3 months. No. Because I had left the country while still in the process of applying for a Visa the extension to July 13 was null and void. The lady in immigration had me buy another tourist visa and graciously gave me 10 days to complete my application for the Residency Visa. sigh. All right. I wonder what will happen if I don't have the visa after 10 days? Next week should be a stressful week. We'll see how it goes.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Note to Self
Remember to Appreciate:
1) Silence
2) Friends
3) Family
4) Cereal
5) Silence
6) Grass
7) My Car
8) English - the ease of conversing
9) Couches
10) Rainy, cool days
11) How safe my home is
12) Freedom from bugs
13) Wearing my hair down
14) Orderly traffic
15) Down time
1) Silence
2) Friends
3) Family
4) Cereal
5) Silence
6) Grass
7) My Car
8) English - the ease of conversing
9) Couches
10) Rainy, cool days
11) How safe my home is
12) Freedom from bugs
13) Wearing my hair down
14) Orderly traffic
15) Down time
News
Thanks to Erin for her help naming my amoeba. His name is Abe. Knowing his name made it easier to say goodbye when I killed him. Abe is gone now. Goodbye Abe. I hope his friends don't seek revenge on me. I'll just tell them Abe liked the USA so much he decided to stay.
Road trip to Chicago tomorrow with my NEWLY ORDAINED A PRIEST friend Mike. We will begin our journey at the very early hour of 6am. sigh. The good news is that this will allow me to start the day with a mass said by my very own friend! Such a new and exciting concept. From Chicago I catch my plane back to El Salvador.
I have really, really, really enjoyed my time home, but am happy it is only a week long trip. Now, it just feels like a regular quick vacation home before returning to work, except I have farther to travel to get back to work. Not only that, but my digestive track still hasn't completely adjusted to the food from home, so I hope it will be a quick adjustment back to the food from El Salvador.
Road trip to Chicago tomorrow with my NEWLY ORDAINED A PRIEST friend Mike. We will begin our journey at the very early hour of 6am. sigh. The good news is that this will allow me to start the day with a mass said by my very own friend! Such a new and exciting concept. From Chicago I catch my plane back to El Salvador.
I have really, really, really enjoyed my time home, but am happy it is only a week long trip. Now, it just feels like a regular quick vacation home before returning to work, except I have farther to travel to get back to work. Not only that, but my digestive track still hasn't completely adjusted to the food from home, so I hope it will be a quick adjustment back to the food from El Salvador.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Amoeba
I've got some time to kill before I leave for the airport for my trip home, so I'll use this time to fill you all in on what's been happening with me the last 2 weeks. I've been sick. Not stay in bed and drink only liquids sick, but mild diarrhea, pain, and fever sick. No big deal, initially. But when I still had the same symptoms, only worse, after 8,9,10 days, I knew I had to see a doctor since self medication wasn't working.
I talked to one of the doctors that comes to the school and he told me to have a couple tests run. So I did. I talked to the doctor at the lab where the tests were run and she told me I have an amoeba. She then went on to explain that EVERYTHING in El Salvador (food, water) is contaminated and she gets a ton of foreigners in her office with the same thing. On a side note, it's interesting how quickly people's voices rise when they get excited here. Is it like that at home too? Maybe it's more common here, but she started speaking in a very spirited manner about contamination and amoebas in El Salvador and her voice rose a good 2 octaves.
Then she told me that if I had my HepA vaccine I would be safe from contracting that from this Amoeba. Is that how you get HepA? How little I know. Of course, now having read a lot about Amoebic Dysentery, I kind of wish I didn't know so much. Let's just say I want all the amoebas to die. Quickly. Amoebas, you are not my friends!
Right. Then she wrote a prescription for me, I went to a pharmacy, and started taking the pills right away. Felt better a few hours later and by Sunday morning my fever was gone. Yea! Now I'm ready to go home. I continue to take the pills until Thursday. Then if the problem returns, the amoebas are of another strain that requires different medicine to be taken for 10 days. I hope they are not of that strain. Until I know, I won't be sharing any food or drink with friends. Well, some food, I'm sure individual french fries, pizza slices, vegetables, you know, items that can be easily stolen off another plate, aren't a problem. ;)
I talked to one of the doctors that comes to the school and he told me to have a couple tests run. So I did. I talked to the doctor at the lab where the tests were run and she told me I have an amoeba. She then went on to explain that EVERYTHING in El Salvador (food, water) is contaminated and she gets a ton of foreigners in her office with the same thing. On a side note, it's interesting how quickly people's voices rise when they get excited here. Is it like that at home too? Maybe it's more common here, but she started speaking in a very spirited manner about contamination and amoebas in El Salvador and her voice rose a good 2 octaves.
Then she told me that if I had my HepA vaccine I would be safe from contracting that from this Amoeba. Is that how you get HepA? How little I know. Of course, now having read a lot about Amoebic Dysentery, I kind of wish I didn't know so much. Let's just say I want all the amoebas to die. Quickly. Amoebas, you are not my friends!
Right. Then she wrote a prescription for me, I went to a pharmacy, and started taking the pills right away. Felt better a few hours later and by Sunday morning my fever was gone. Yea! Now I'm ready to go home. I continue to take the pills until Thursday. Then if the problem returns, the amoebas are of another strain that requires different medicine to be taken for 10 days. I hope they are not of that strain. Until I know, I won't be sharing any food or drink with friends. Well, some food, I'm sure individual french fries, pizza slices, vegetables, you know, items that can be easily stolen off another plate, aren't a problem. ;)
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