The second week here was even busier than the first one, I wasn't sure that was possible but it is! On Saturday we ran the "marathon at the Ark. This was an interesting experience in itself. The marathon was around 3 miles and the majority of it was uphill! It was around 96 degrees that day and around 85% humidity probably. Needless to say it was a long day and I thought I might die, but we all finished!
Our first week of summer school started Monday. Let me tell you it was nothing like I expected, which was both good and bad. In my fourth grade class we had nine students show up the first day and 10 the rest of the week. The week was filled with chaos and naughty kids, but I managed to survive. I have a lot to work on when it comes to the teaching aspect of things, but it is a work in progress. I was having a hard time this week trying to figure out what my purpose was and was just really frustrated. On Thursday during our lunch break we went to the barrios where two of my students live along with some other kids from school. This was an eye opening experience to see where some of my students live and come from. We spent time visiting their houses and hanging out with them while they swam in the river. We saw a little girl who was pregnant and only 13, it made me so sad for her that she quit school because of this and most likely didn't even know who the father was. She was watching the other kids swimming and just looked so sad. It made me sad for one of the girls in my class who lives in the area and is 14, and the chances of her facing the same fate is most likely good. It was just the attitude adjustment I needed. It made me realize that even if I was frustrated with teaching and not being able to communicate well that the most important thing I can do is love these kids and for the 3 hours I am with them everyday to help them escape from the harsh realities they come from.
In the afternoon one of the other interns and I have been teaching a photography class to the middle schoolers. This has been a lot of fun since it is just a fun relaxed time. We usually talk about some lesson of the day and then go and walk around town and let the kids take pictures. Getting to know the middle schoolers has been fun, they are so full of energy and actually know some english so we can communicate really well. It is fun to see how excited the kids get over getting to take pictures, they are so proud of themselves! There is no school on Friday so in the morning we plan and prepare for the next week of school, as bad as it sounds it was almost a relief to be able to catch up without all the kids around.
On Saturday we sat out on a trek to hike Mt. Magote. All of us interns had heard bad things about this hike but we decided we were going to try and master it. It was quite the adventure! About 3/4 of the
way to the top some of made it across this part where the land was sliding away
but the rest of the group did not. Those of us that had made it across
kept going up to the next clearing to wait for the others to find an
alternative route to meet up with us. We spent over an hour waiting when
the conclusion was made they weren't going to make it so instead of continuing
to the top we needed to turn around and head back down. The only problem
was because of the bad area we had to find an alternative way down. We had to
create our own path part of the way to meet into one we could see, as to which
Vic stated we would be "bushwacking" it, this of course was pretty
funny to all of us and became the summary of our day. After much
adventure, some wild dogs, and trespassing on some guys we met up with the rest
of the group and headed down the mountain. While on the hike we came
across a field with some cattle and I was amazed to see how many of my fellow
interns are scared of cows!! I got a pretty good kick out of this, the cows
were simply curious as to why we were there and weren't mean in the least bit.
Our leader Vic claimed he could speak cow and was trying to get them to
go away, which was also quite funny! Coming from Wyoming and raising cows I had
never thought about how other people reacted to cows. On the way back
through the pasture several of the girls claimed the cows were chasing us and
took off running to the nearest fence, in all reality they were just following
us! All in all it was a long day of hiking, we went about 10 miles, but
it made for a good story for sure.
Please continue to keep our group in your prayers, especially since this
will probably be a hard week for all of being the 4th of July this week and
all.
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