I only have a week and a half left. I have taught kindergarten, but what else? I had this great plan when I was first looking into this trip…well not GREAT bc I still knew that it was just a little bit that I could do as a recent college graduate with a (very broad) degree in public health, being here for only a little under 2 months. (At least for now, as I thought then and still now, although now I doubt what I can contribute without more schooling even more than before.) When I first started looking into the trip I was hoping I would be able to talk with the public health contacts that I have to get ideas and donations for medical supplies for a clinic and curriculum for health classes….but realistically, in my last quarter of college, with school, work and jumprope (not that it’s different than my whole school carreer!) I’m not quite sure how I convinced myself I was going to do that, even if I only believed it for a little bit. Still, I thought that coming here I would be the BEST kindergarten teacher the kids have ever had, teach a jumprope class and maybe even get them to want to have a little team! And teach them about health. Well, I have done a little bit of all of those things, but coming up on the last full week of my time here, I can’t help but think that I have failed them a little. I don’t always feel like I have done enough with my teaching. I have only done one health presentation. And the jump rope class kind of fizzled. Part of the time the ropes were locked in a closet we didn’t have keys to…but still.
I found myself feeling very unconfident as I tried to prepare the health talks. I really have not wanted to be up in front of the whole school and I have had a hard time deciding what to talk about. I have ideas, and things I want them to learn about, but it has been difficult to get it together into something that is concise enough, simple enough, deep enough, interesting enough, for a group of kids from 6-15 years old…in another language. I get discouraged and then I tell myself to just bite the bullet and do it. Who cares if you are afraid? Who cares if you don’t do it exactly right? At least it is SOMETHING!!! I finally started thinking that, and feeling selfish for not wanting to do it bc it’s hard or scary. But, still it hasn’t happened how I wanted it to, for various reasons, but I can’t help but feel at fault. I guess I still have a week and a half to make up for it! Monday I am talking about mental health, the talk I was supposed to give last week…but didn’t :/ that is, unless I change my mind and decide to make a completely new presentation tomorrow! I’m really gonna try to just bit the bullet and get over myself. But it’s scary! But now I’m thinking…probably better to fail trying than to fail by not trying eh? Ok, here I go…to read a bit and then to bed! Tomorrow is my second to last time at church, and then it’s to work on the presentation again, and lesson plans for the week! So that I am comfortable enough to not worry so much about the microphone that they said I have to use this time! I might make Elise do this one with me!
Oh yeah, I am gonna miss these kids like crazy! My beautiful, funny, so so adorable kindergarteners (who are graduating in December, by the way! And look so cute in their little caps and gowns!) and all of the students at AFE as well as some of the boys from the Micah Project. I can’t get enough of them! Oh yeah, my little crush, Axel, told me he liked me today! It was great to get to know some of the older boys better too. They are characters! A great gang of guys. I got to spend a bit of time with them today since we went with a group of North Americans to Valle de Angeles. They are here for the graduation of three of the guys that was last night. It was pretty amazing to see these young men, who came from a life so far from what mine has been, from being helpless, homeless, without family, standing strong and confident in front of a crowd who loves and supports them. They all have so much promise and potential, and I don’t doubt one bit that God will continue to do great things with their lives.
sheesh, that one was more like a blog wasn't it? shoot.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Old news/I’m very behind!
Ok, a couple weeks ago there was a team visiting (there is almost always a team visiting! Which is great in many ways, but makes it very difficult to have any sort of regularity in the kids’ class schedule!) who happened to be a medical brigade…who happened to have a few dentists, along with their pharmacists and other helpers who were doing vision tests and checking the basics, weight, temp etc….aaaannndd….i got my teeth cleaned. :/ :D <--that’s me having mixed emotions about the experience!
Again, mixed emotions. For those of you who know me and my teeth well…this was kind of a big deal!! I was a little nervous, but after a lot of prodding and questioning the dentist more than once to make sure it was “just a cleaning”, I gave in. I felt guilty getting my teeth cleaned before the kids, but he didn’t have people waiting yet and he wanted to do it then since the kids weren’t ready yet. However, by the time he got the squirty thing working and finished, our little library was full of kids ready and waiting. I felt bad for one of the girls who upon her little inspection found out that she had to get a tooth pulled. She was scared and crying with her head on the table. She wouldn’t agree to let them pull it, and bc of my first dentist experience, I was worried about her not getting it pulled. I tried to tell her it would be better if they took it out now so that it didn’t get infected and that it would hurt later if she didn’t let them take it out now. Even knowing that I lived through my teeth pullings (so far two new words in this post ) didn’t convince her. I don’t think she ever got that thing out of there. It was great that even some of the family members got to come and get some teeth pulled that were hurting them though.
It was mmm interesting to see a pharmacy giving out all sorts of pills to 6, 7, 8 yr old children without much instruction other than take this 3 times a day.
Again, mixed emotions. For those of you who know me and my teeth well…this was kind of a big deal!! I was a little nervous, but after a lot of prodding and questioning the dentist more than once to make sure it was “just a cleaning”, I gave in. I felt guilty getting my teeth cleaned before the kids, but he didn’t have people waiting yet and he wanted to do it then since the kids weren’t ready yet. However, by the time he got the squirty thing working and finished, our little library was full of kids ready and waiting. I felt bad for one of the girls who upon her little inspection found out that she had to get a tooth pulled. She was scared and crying with her head on the table. She wouldn’t agree to let them pull it, and bc of my first dentist experience, I was worried about her not getting it pulled. I tried to tell her it would be better if they took it out now so that it didn’t get infected and that it would hurt later if she didn’t let them take it out now. Even knowing that I lived through my teeth pullings (so far two new words in this post ) didn’t convince her. I don’t think she ever got that thing out of there. It was great that even some of the family members got to come and get some teeth pulled that were hurting them though.
It was mmm interesting to see a pharmacy giving out all sorts of pills to 6, 7, 8 yr old children without much instruction other than take this 3 times a day.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
cake for dinner
I'm eating chocolate cake. This is not going to help the fact that I have not worked out nearly as much as I should have/would like to thus far...oh well, seguimos.
Today I ate a bowl of cereal, some little snacky things at the church, and a big piece of chocolate cake for dinner. But, the day was great! I got to go hiking with a group of boys from the Micah project. For those of you who don't know, this is a project that takes young boys off of the streets of Tegucigalpa, helps them get off of the glue that they sniff on the streets to ease the harsh realities of their lives, disciples them, and provides them with food, shelter and education. http://www.micahcentral.org/ here is the url if you'd like to learn more about what they do. Some of their stories, found on this web site left me in tears. But anyways..it was a blast to get to hang out with some of these guys today! There were also 3 boys with us today who have not yet joined the Micah Project. I am looking forward to getting to see them again on Thursday, as some of the leaders of the project have invited me to join them on the streets. I have been told that it will be "interesting", I think for lack of a better word, to see them on the streets while they are in their more common state, high on glue, and environment. They did well today on the hike without their glue; I'll soon see the difference. I'm excited and sad and curious. Back to today...This morning I was dropped off at the Micah house where they were throwing together sandwiches made of very white bread, frozen bologna and cheese or pb&j. I went with the pb&j. We then piled 20 of us into the old van that would take us about 40 minutes away to La Tigre National Park. It was a squished and bumpy ride but I enjoyed it and we made it there safely! We hiked about 2 hours in? I think. I was told it was a 3 hour hike, so divide it up how you like; I wasn't keeping track of the time! We hiked in to la cascara/a beautiful waterfall; all but 3 of us that is. Oscar, on of the older boys as well as two of the little boys who still live on the streets, Hector and Daniel, went off ahead and didn't know we were taking the trail to the waterfall and ended up going to the mines instead. We found them once we got back to the van though! The hike was beautiful! It was so nice to get out of the city and in to the naturaleza, not to mention the exercise! That felt great too! Once we finally got back to the van we realized that we were missing one more! Oscar’s younger brother, whose name I cannot get for the life of me, wasn't there. After waiting, sending back runners (who had to run back over the whole trail looking for him), getting notice through one of the workers with a radio that he had arrived at some other post after taking the wrong trail and was on his way back down, sending part of the group home on a bus while part waited for those who had gone back to look and the lookout who had stayed at the bottom of the trail....they finally found him! While we were waiting I got to take some fun jumping pictures with my new friends (although only one of them actually turned out), show off my aerial for some of them :) and get hit in the head with a rock! I have a chichote! a bump on my head! We were juggling and I had dropped my rock and bent down to pick it up when Charli, who is actually a very good juggler (and a self taught gymnast!) dropped one of his right on my head!
When I finally got home it was time for a snack, my bowl of cereal, and a bucket shower. The water still hasn't come! Here the govt. sends the water when they want! There is a big barrel that fills with water and gravity takes it down through the pipes to the pila (where you wash clothes if you don't have a washing machine like the Diaz family!), the sinks, the toilets and the showers. That tank has been empty now for 5 days...so, we shower with a bucket and only flush when completely necessary. haha. The only problem is, as of now we are using the drinking water you buy from the store and it's getting kind of expensive. So, hopefully the water comes soon or we're going to have to find another water source. So, bucket shower, and off to the church for the opening of the new building! Bc of the rain they weren't able to put in the foundation for the floor but the rest was done, and very quickly at that. Tonight they had a little opening celebration/service. I finally got to see some of the girls to a performance de danza. Here it is bad for Christians to bailar, but they can danzar. The latter is a form of worship, a dance you do for God. Elise and I have been trying to figure out what exactly the difference is...initially it was: ok, they can move their arms, but then, we saw in a performance that some of the kids did at AFE, they can move their feet. So maybe they can move their arms and their feet but just not anything in between! Tonight it looked to me like a form of ballet. Anyways, it was fun to be there tonight and to get to see the kids from AFE, the Ordonez family, as well as some of the group from the hike who came out to support. I really enjoyed getting to get out of the house and hang out with new friends today. I was very ready for it! It left me feeling like I could definitely stick around here for a while, reinforced my desire to come back!
ok, i don't know how this thing works, but I am going to try to post some pictures of the day...
Today I ate a bowl of cereal, some little snacky things at the church, and a big piece of chocolate cake for dinner. But, the day was great! I got to go hiking with a group of boys from the Micah project. For those of you who don't know, this is a project that takes young boys off of the streets of Tegucigalpa, helps them get off of the glue that they sniff on the streets to ease the harsh realities of their lives, disciples them, and provides them with food, shelter and education. http://www.micahcentral.org/ here is the url if you'd like to learn more about what they do. Some of their stories, found on this web site left me in tears. But anyways..it was a blast to get to hang out with some of these guys today! There were also 3 boys with us today who have not yet joined the Micah Project. I am looking forward to getting to see them again on Thursday, as some of the leaders of the project have invited me to join them on the streets. I have been told that it will be "interesting", I think for lack of a better word, to see them on the streets while they are in their more common state, high on glue, and environment. They did well today on the hike without their glue; I'll soon see the difference. I'm excited and sad and curious. Back to today...This morning I was dropped off at the Micah house where they were throwing together sandwiches made of very white bread, frozen bologna and cheese or pb&j. I went with the pb&j. We then piled 20 of us into the old van that would take us about 40 minutes away to La Tigre National Park. It was a squished and bumpy ride but I enjoyed it and we made it there safely! We hiked about 2 hours in? I think. I was told it was a 3 hour hike, so divide it up how you like; I wasn't keeping track of the time! We hiked in to la cascara/a beautiful waterfall; all but 3 of us that is. Oscar, on of the older boys as well as two of the little boys who still live on the streets, Hector and Daniel, went off ahead and didn't know we were taking the trail to the waterfall and ended up going to the mines instead. We found them once we got back to the van though! The hike was beautiful! It was so nice to get out of the city and in to the naturaleza, not to mention the exercise! That felt great too! Once we finally got back to the van we realized that we were missing one more! Oscar’s younger brother, whose name I cannot get for the life of me, wasn't there. After waiting, sending back runners (who had to run back over the whole trail looking for him), getting notice through one of the workers with a radio that he had arrived at some other post after taking the wrong trail and was on his way back down, sending part of the group home on a bus while part waited for those who had gone back to look and the lookout who had stayed at the bottom of the trail....they finally found him! While we were waiting I got to take some fun jumping pictures with my new friends (although only one of them actually turned out), show off my aerial for some of them :) and get hit in the head with a rock! I have a chichote! a bump on my head! We were juggling and I had dropped my rock and bent down to pick it up when Charli, who is actually a very good juggler (and a self taught gymnast!) dropped one of his right on my head!
When I finally got home it was time for a snack, my bowl of cereal, and a bucket shower. The water still hasn't come! Here the govt. sends the water when they want! There is a big barrel that fills with water and gravity takes it down through the pipes to the pila (where you wash clothes if you don't have a washing machine like the Diaz family!), the sinks, the toilets and the showers. That tank has been empty now for 5 days...so, we shower with a bucket and only flush when completely necessary. haha. The only problem is, as of now we are using the drinking water you buy from the store and it's getting kind of expensive. So, hopefully the water comes soon or we're going to have to find another water source. So, bucket shower, and off to the church for the opening of the new building! Bc of the rain they weren't able to put in the foundation for the floor but the rest was done, and very quickly at that. Tonight they had a little opening celebration/service. I finally got to see some of the girls to a performance de danza. Here it is bad for Christians to bailar, but they can danzar. The latter is a form of worship, a dance you do for God. Elise and I have been trying to figure out what exactly the difference is...initially it was: ok, they can move their arms, but then, we saw in a performance that some of the kids did at AFE, they can move their feet. So maybe they can move their arms and their feet but just not anything in between! Tonight it looked to me like a form of ballet. Anyways, it was fun to be there tonight and to get to see the kids from AFE, the Ordonez family, as well as some of the group from the hike who came out to support. I really enjoyed getting to get out of the house and hang out with new friends today. I was very ready for it! It left me feeling like I could definitely stick around here for a while, reinforced my desire to come back!
ok, i don't know how this thing works, but I am going to try to post some pictures of the day...
Saturday, October 25, 2008
un besito
I got kissed today. looks like i've found my honduran boyfriend! His name is Axel and he's so so cute! Today I got to go with him and some of the other Micah boys and leaders to La Tigra, near the national park where we went last weekend, to run and ride bikes. It was pretty cold and drizzly and muddy, but it was fun! It felt good to run, even though I feel out of shape! Axel and two of his buds road their bikes. Him and his friend Hector got new bikes today so it was fun for them to get to try them out. They dropped me off at my house, and that's when it happened! My honduran novio, who happens to be 12 years old, gave me a hug and a besito on the cheek :) I think I have a crush, or two or three...I could definitely take some of these little guys home with me!
ok here's Axel and I at the waterfall we hiked in to. Just pretend that it's not a terrible picture of me!
oh yeah, while I am updating this little post...I made him bleed the other day! oopsies. He was chasing around one of the other boys outside the Micah house and then he walked over to me and I put my arm around him in a very friendly little choke hold and then he started trying to trip me and so I faught back a little...just kind of playing around and I told him "what you didn't know is that I have 3 brothers!" He stopped so I relaxed and then he went for me again and my reflex sent my thumb right into his gums...oopsies! sorry little brother!
ok here's Axel and I at the waterfall we hiked in to. Just pretend that it's not a terrible picture of me!
oh yeah, while I am updating this little post...I made him bleed the other day! oopsies. He was chasing around one of the other boys outside the Micah house and then he walked over to me and I put my arm around him in a very friendly little choke hold and then he started trying to trip me and so I faught back a little...just kind of playing around and I told him "what you didn't know is that I have 3 brothers!" He stopped so I relaxed and then he went for me again and my reflex sent my thumb right into his gums...oopsies! sorry little brother!
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