3rd day of not teaching...

So today we arrived at school to learn that after about an hour of lessons in the morning the students would go to PE for most of the time. The high school students would not have any English because they would be gone the whole time we are here. After planning a nice lesson for the day, we got to play games at the place where they have PE and watch the kids swim. It is amazing how the school can get such donations from people. The gym where we went has a huge open area with soccer nets and basketball hoops and then a huge pool for the older kids and a little bit smaller one that’s not as deep. It was just so generous that people are here to lend what facilities they have. That is how the school gets by, with many generous donations from people. If anyone would like to make a contribution to the school, they would be more than grateful. I guess then more history of the school and the kids should be mentioned. The school was started 6 years ago by the two people I mentioned before. They wanted the students that live on the streets to have a place to go to school. They opened the doors of the school to feed and educate the children. These kids are so smart, after one and a half days of learning they already greet us with Good Morning and My Name Is…! It’s amazing to see the progress already. The high school kids I have a feeling will be moving on to verbs and prepositions soon because they already know so much. I will post pictures of the work that we have done in class for examples. These students are so grateful with everything they have and don’t realize what they are missing, which is hard for us. As easy as it is to feel sorry for them it is better to sympathize with them, but still lend a helping hand. That’s why I encourage everyone to let me know if they want to help, rather by sending donations, such as school supplies and shoes, or monetary donations. Shoes is a big one because some of the students where shoes that are too small for them and they have big blisters on their feet. Another is health care, here the nurse (also the principal) pulls the rotted teeth out the of the mouths of students. In a society where if we have a tooth ache we can have it nicely removed and no pain afterwards, these students experience a lot of pain that hinders their academic performance.

Anyways, back to what we did at school today. I helped out with the elementary class again and we went over family and colors. The teacher had them play a matching game with family that was really fun. Then we reviewed the colors and did some more with those. Lastly, we taught them red light-green light, which was a big hit! Like I said I didn’t get to teach today, but the other teacher that is going to be in my room and I decided to split the class in half for the time that she is in there and then I can have the whole class once she leaves. With our personalities and styles I think this will work best. I look forward to my lessons on Monday.

Also on Monday, I think we are going to visit the homes where the students live. By homes I mean the places at the dump that the students and their families have made into their homes. The group that went yesterday said it left them speechless and they understood fully where their students come from. I think it will be an eye-opening experience. Tomorrow we are going to the history museum, the children’s museum, the zoo, and the mall! A busy day but it should be fun! Then Sunday I think we are going to the beach with the black sand. They say it’s only one of a few in the world, so that will be exciting to get some sun and relax!

Pictures!! Finally, I know! Sorry if they are blurry or rainy. It’s winter here and it rains EVERYDAY at 3, literally you can set your watch to it. But that is when we go on our tours, so it’s hard to take pictures, also we are in the car, thus the blurry photos. But most of the places are where we have visited. The large elevation map is of Guatemala and shows the mountains and volcanoes. The random buildings are just important places in Guatemala that we have seen along our trip! The gas prices are about the same as ours except here they look like $34 even though they are not. They have a lot of US places down here like all the fast food places and car places, even Chuck E. Cheese! I’m sure I will have more pictures after the weekend from the museum, mall, and zoo!

This evening we got a tour around the city again and visited the university that the girls in our family go to and saw the high school that the younger daughter goes to. It was a lot like our university actually, just a little smaller. We of course had to try something along the way, tonight was a type of milkshake but with cinnamon in it. It was good, kind of tasted like lobster though. Then we came home and had pizza from Pizza Hut, funny right? for dinner while watching The Wedding Date and then starting a scary movie. Due to our apparent fatigue we retired to our beds, got on our computers for just enough time to write an entry and now are going to bed! Busy day tomorrow!

High of the day: Figuring out with the co-teacher (other girl from my group) how we are going to teach for the hour that she is there. Seeing how many people are able to help the students be sponsoring the school. It was so nice to see such happy kids after they went swimming.

Low of the day: Just being lost in translation a little. I understand the concepts usually and am learning really quick, but still the details and full conversations I can't follow.

Funny moments: One of the kids today in the elementary class goes, "Oh my God, thank you!"I feel like there were a lot of other funny moments, but I'm so tired from watching movies and playing soccer most of the day!

2nd Day of Teaching:

The day started off great! After Tiffany and I accidentally slept from 6 pm until the morning, we were well rested. Again when we arrived at school we started off with hugs, then breakfast. Then I observed and helped out in an elementary classroom where they learned My Name Is..., the colors, and a couple other basic things. It went really well for the rambunctious group that we have. The we had our class which consisted of talking about upcoming papers and such, so fun! Then I finally got to teach the 9th graders and it was a lot more fun and easier than I thought. They honestly want to learn, which is great! They already know so much which is great, so we can move onto other things. Today we talked about family, their lives and about them. I also have them write about what they already knew in English, which is a lot.
After the school day ended, our host dad likes to show us places in the community. Today we visited the university, which was really neat to see the similarities because our school and theirs. There is actually a lot in common with the schools. We tried a Guatemalan hot dog at the school which consisted of beef, guacamole, cabbage, mustard, and a few other things. Let's just say luckily there was Pepsi to wash it down. Our dinner was much better tonight though. After trying lots of different fruits, some sweet and some sour, we sat down to a dinner of bean paste (black beans prepared as mashed potatoes) with cream cheese, eggs and hams, and bread. It was actually pretty good. Tonight we hung out with the family a lot just talking and telling stories so we could make up time from last night.

Low of today: Figuring out who was in control of the classroom in the afternoon and just how it was going to go.
High of today: Getting to teach and realizing that the students do know a lot. Spending time with our family!
Funny things of today: Here yellow sounds like jello, it makes me giggle every time! Also alcohol down here is around all the time and the dad is proud of his stash. Today he had us try a couple different sips of something. It was interesting because we didn't need chaser, we could just drink it straight because it is so sweet. The funny thing though was that the dad wanted me to smell one of the drinks, but I didn't know what he meant and I thought he wanted me to try it. Tiffany was lacking in her translation, so I was about to take a sip and they were like no, no, no! It was really funny!
Tomorrow I look forward to seeing how the days goes, the kids go to PE for part of the day and I'm not sure what to expect.

-Sorry for the lack of pictures, again I don't have a way to upload them, but hopefully soon!

1st Day of Teaching

Today we left promptly at 5:50 to travel to the school to get there by 7am. It is not a very long journey, but we have to leave plenty of time for traffic. We arrived at school to meet Yosepi (the founder) and Tanya (the principle). After a morning prayer and a couple stories the buses arrived. Everyday Yosepi, Tanya, and the teachers greet the children by giving each child a hug. It was such a rewarding, comforting feeling to hug nearly 100 students. After the hugs, we served breakfast. Wednesday is pancake day. My host family insisted that we have oatmeal before we left so we were stuffed, but I'm sure the pancakes were great. A surprising thing about breakfast was that EVERYONE drank COFFEE! Even the preschool kiddos were drinking coffee. It looked to be sweetened with milk and sugar, but still coffee as kids?! Once breakfast is all cleaned up the students go to the classrooms. Today I observed a classroom of students that seem to be in the remedial classroom, as they need extra attention and guidance. While in the class, I felt like I was there forever mainly because I didn't know what anyone was saying. Yeah NEWSFLASH: NOONE SPEAKS ENGLISH!! They did math todays and luckily numbers are the same or  I wouldn've been lost. The classrooms are very different. Small rooms, little decoration, and NO RULES! That's right, the kids do whatever they want basically. There is never a quiet moment as the kids can talk whenever they want. I'm sure it's nice for the kids to have such freedom, but as a teacher I would imagine it's exhausting. Guess I'll find out soon enough, tomorrow. I have already learn a lot of Spanish from listening to the family, my friends, but mostly the children. They like to play a game where they say the Spanish word, then we try to figure out what the Spanish words means and tell them in English. There's already a lot of learning going on already. That is why I want to be in an elementary classroom because I know they really want to learn English. The high school classrooms are so confusing and I'm only in there an hour that I feel like it's not enough time to do anything. The classroom I was in in the afternoon was actually 9th grade, and it's even more challenging than the first because the students talk so fast and the teacher talks even faster because he doesn't have to slow down for the students. I can usually understand the concepts, but not the details and if he asks me questions, not so much.

A low from today was that I'm exhausted: from getting thrusted into the culture and trying to understand what's going on, it's exhausting. I also wish I had more time with the older kids to teach them, but maybe it will be a good thing that I'm not there very long with my limited Spanish.

A high from today was getting all the hugs when the students walked in. We also got to nap a lot when we came home from school, which was nice.

Something funny: One of the little boys in the morning class was differentiating between me and another Andrea in the class. His words to make the difference were "White Andrea and Brown Andrea." It just made me giggle because it's not something I hear everyday.

I apologize that there are not pictures, I promise I'm taking them! I just don't have a way to upload them onto my computer right now. I just hope that tomorrow it will go a lot smoother because we will be starting to teach English and I think that will be fun!

-Andrea

First Day in Guatemala

Today start out with lots of flying and praying that we landed okay! Once we got to Guatemala I knew that I should be here to see the kids. We drove through the city to a hotel where we met and chatted for a bit about questions we had. We met the principal of the school and learned more about the school. It was started 6 years ago to help kids that couldn't afford private school. It sounds like an interesting place and I'm excited to learn more about it! We then met our families which was a surprise as all of us thought we were staying at the hotel for the night. My friend Tiffany and I are together at our families house. They seem very nice and I'm sure I will have pictures of them up very soon. The parents do not know English and I know very little Spanish, but luckily their 3 daughters and Tiffany are bilingual to help with any translation issues. The family told us that we were going to get to go see the beach with the black sand and a couple other places on the weekends! Pumped!

High of today: Finally realizing that I should be excited to be here! Getting a great family that will be really nice!
Low of today: It was kind of rainy, saying goodbye...

Funny thing from today: The flight attendant on our plane from Guatemala was asking the group of us in the exit seats (it was a large plane) if we all knew English and about the exit seats. We all responded yes, but this Spanish speaking man didn't respond, so she asked him in Spanish and he responded. She then proceeded to ask him if he really knew English and what to do at the exit row. He answered her in perfect English and then talked to us throughout the plane ride in perfect English. Just amusing.

I apologize for the pictures, I uploaded them really quickly and didn't edit. Google bog likes to put everything else except my typing in English so I can't edit the photos now. But I will be putting up more and hopefully have time to edit them so they look good!

Excited to see what tomorrow brings,
Andrea

Arriving in Guatemala!

I have arrived! We are waiting for the principal of our school and she just arrived! I have lots of pictures of the flight, which was great and the trip! We are now in a super swanky hotel about to learn more about the school we are working at and then meeting and going to our family's houses tonight! So fun, can't wait!

Pictures:

Night Before!

In 5 hours I will be getting ready to head to the airport for my journey to Guatemala. After finally looking over all that I have packed I think I might just be ready for the 3 week stay abroad.

Essentials on the packing list:
-Bubble gum
-Shampoo/Conditioner/Soap...
-Books: Chelsea Handler's "Lies that Chelsea Told Me" and "Water For Elephants"
-Lots of items to donate and use with the children
-Clothes: including some awesome, high fashion skirts ;)

-And of course I couldn't forget my new teddy bear!

So for the rest of the time I think the format will be "something I learned throughout the day," "something that was good and something that wasn't as good," "something that was really funny," and maybe a song that sums up the day. Sounds good?

My next post will be from Guatemala, stay tuned!

Three Days: Far Too Much To Do

With only three days left, starting to finally get ready and get things in order. Said a goodbye tonight that was really rough, but hopefully the trip will go by fast! Decided tonight would be a good night to find my passport, make copies of important papers and register with the state in case I go missing. Made a list of all the souvenirs that I need to get, if anyone wants something small, let me know! Three days, going on 23, almost there.
-Andrea