Sigo Buscando

Friday, February 12, 2011

With the money we raised from the Cine (about $50) we have started moving forward with our other projects. All around town the walls are covered in peoples names as promotion to win an election in the local government. However, they used paint, painted walls and now long after the elections their names are still on the walls and fading and ugly. We’ve painted two walls (separated by a door) in the main center white and we are waiting a nice-non rainy day to paint 2 murals…one of a mountain (green) next door and the other of a local waterfall. In addition I think we’re going to write something like care for the environment. We also found a trabajador to work in our huerto (with a machete) and clean it up (all the weeds) so that we can plant platano and other things.
We’ve also planned another cine this Monday…el dia de amor y amistad. We’re going to show the movie “diario de una pasion” or “the notebook.” Except this time were going to do it in the high school because the last time in the huerto was a ton of work cleaning and bringing everything we needed there (amplification, computer, projectoer, chairs, kitchen, etc) and making the roof. Where as in the high school they have most everything were going to need. Hopefully we get a good turn out.

Besides the work with Consejo Juvenil I have started teaching English and health for vacation classes in the high school. Basically everyone in vacation now (summer) and they wanted classes that the students could take so that theyre not acting reckless in the streets. I agreed to teach (after some drama) with some reglas…I would teach but I only wanted 3 days and only in the mornings (so that I can work in the afternoons/travel if I want on the weekends), I would teach but I only want 25 students max in each class…I’ve never taught before and I don’t know how to control a class, and last I would teach but I want to teach health as well because that is why I’m here (not for English). The three days a week is really the only thing that has worked out from that agreement. I have 50 students mas o menos each class every day and they change regularly (new ones come, old ones leave). And they were so rowdy during health class (I think because theyre fairly young—12 years old average—that they don’t really want to learn health) I cant really get through the class because they wont be quiet long enough for me to teach anything. Entonces, what I think I’m going to do this upcoming week is split my English class in two and not teach health at all. Theyre young, don’t really get it and definitely wont be able to apply it to their lives and don’t want to take it.