Last night was a moving night for me. One of the girls of the Internado asked my advice about dating after she clarified that I am really religious and so I could give advice to help her with her situation. I asked another girl if she was sick because she had been unusually quiet that night. She confessed that she wasn't sick and was having family problems and asked if she could talk to me later. After dinner I found her sitting on a bench, so I joined her and she explained she had been told that afternoon that her parents are getting a divorce.
I feel so bad for her and the worst is that there is nothing I can do. She explained everything that had happened that day and began to cry, so I just hugged her as much as I could. I told her that whatever she feels, it isn't her fault. Today I gave her a little stone angel (thanks Deb and Jim!) with the words "I will never leave you." I told her I pray every day to God to send an angel to watch over and take care of her and this is her reminder that He is always with her. With a beautiful smile of appreciation she gave me a hug.
I love these girls!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Bus Racing
We exited bus 44 once we got to San Salvador and headed over to the next bus stop a few blocks away. Getting to be around 5:30pm we knew it would start to get dangerous in that area soon so we jumped onto bus 41C to take us to the school. This 41C was a small bus, which means craziness, and this trip only helped reinforce that perception.
Our trip began smoothly, well, as smoothly as they can on the little buses, until our two lanes of traffic merged down to one. Not normally a big deal, but there happened to be another little bus next to us and neither wanted to give ground, so both sped up to pass the other before the second lane ran out. Thus the race began.
Our bus ended up slowing down as the other had the lead by a head, but shortly after the lanes merged down to one, they quickly multiplied to three. Our driver took his opportunity and sped around the competition. In an attempt to keep the lead, he only slowed down at the bus stops, didn't stop, and the two guys who hang out the doors to encourage people to get on the bus only gave half-hearted calls, then banged the side of the bus signaling to the bus driver to haul ass. Which he did.
Swerving around impeding vehicles, the two guys from the doorways shouted directions to the driver about open lanes or the location of other vehicles. Solidea and I were laughing, but it was a kind of "this would be really funny if we weren't in danger of dying" laugh. The driver did stop to let people off the bus, but the race continued until we ran into congestion on the road and were forced to slow down. Alleluia. BUT, we made really good time back to the school.
Our trip began smoothly, well, as smoothly as they can on the little buses, until our two lanes of traffic merged down to one. Not normally a big deal, but there happened to be another little bus next to us and neither wanted to give ground, so both sped up to pass the other before the second lane ran out. Thus the race began.
Our bus ended up slowing down as the other had the lead by a head, but shortly after the lanes merged down to one, they quickly multiplied to three. Our driver took his opportunity and sped around the competition. In an attempt to keep the lead, he only slowed down at the bus stops, didn't stop, and the two guys who hang out the doors to encourage people to get on the bus only gave half-hearted calls, then banged the side of the bus signaling to the bus driver to haul ass. Which he did.
Swerving around impeding vehicles, the two guys from the doorways shouted directions to the driver about open lanes or the location of other vehicles. Solidea and I were laughing, but it was a kind of "this would be really funny if we weren't in danger of dying" laugh. The driver did stop to let people off the bus, but the race continued until we ran into congestion on the road and were forced to slow down. Alleluia. BUT, we made really good time back to the school.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Refuerzo Part 2
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!
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!
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
