Typical day teaching & going to school

Well, not quite, but kind of.

My day began without milk for my nescafe which was a bummer for me...could hardly drink half of it although I needed the caffiene. I was the first to the pickup point (I was on time at 6:45am) for our ride to the schools and tried to get some peanuts at a little store to supplement my lunch, but no luck.  Thankfully I did get a small package of small ritz crackers, because then I found out that my salad from the GVI house wasn't put on the van, so for lunch I had with me a banana, an apple and a jelly sandwhich on a day old croissant that I really did not want to eat.

On the way up, I worked hard on reading aloud "Perro Grande, Perro Pequeno" (Big Dog, Little Dog), working on my pronunciation.  The book has both English and Spanish, so it was pretty easy to understand anyway.  We stopped at a little town so one of the teachers could make a phone call.  I think it had something to do with school, so she couldn't make the call earlier in the morning.  We were also slowed down a bit by this:

When the other volunteers and teacher got off at the first stop, Patrick ran back and asked Jaime to call Tracey when he got back into reception -- but I didn't understand what it was about.  When we were just about to school, the teacher got out at one of the houses and gave me the school keys and said she would be there in about 15 minutes.  As we drove off, Jaime very kindly told me that school would only be to 11:30 as the teachers had to go to a meeting in the afternoon.  I say "very kindly" as he had to say just key words and say them slowly, but I did understand. 

When we arrived at the school, it was the usual: kids waiting for us right where the van stops and calling out Buenos Dias and reaching out to shake our hands as we get off the van.  Today was the big food day -  most of the food for the rest of the week - and kids took it into the kitchen.  When I followed, I found the 15 year old older sister of one of my students doing the cooking - her mother had gone into Otavalo the day before and it was their day to cook.  (The 15 year old goes to school on Saturday and Sunday in Otavalo -- it takes longer than going all week, but allows her to help around the house & fields during the week, and not have to pay too much for a place to stay in Otavalo.) I separated out the food to be used for the day and later in the week with the help of another student -- we had fun with the Spanish and English words.

By the time I came out of the kitchen, the rest of the kids were playing in the yard between the two class buildings. The were playing a game much like hopscotch, but the blocks were named the days of the week and they were kicking the stone from one "day" to the next while hopping on one foot the whole time.  I got my two students (one is in Otavalo and the other two are sick) started on the new monthly calendar and then let the other students into their classroom.  As I was leaving, the teacher arrived, so I was able to go back and work with my students.

They both colored in the day on their calendars and wrote their names on the board which is our usual morning return before going to the Banos and washing our hands.  When we returned I decided to give it a go on the book.  It turned out well, with identifying colors throughout the book also.  I think I only mispronounced a few words to the point of being unintelligable! Since they were getting a bit antsy, I grabbed the tub of colored magnetic plastic letters and we went outside onto the futball pitch and sat on the grass.  (Mind you, the futball pitch is in the middle of the road, but no trucks came by while we were there!) We spelled our names, separated them by color, counted them, etc. When we were heading back into the classroom, the teacher came and asked if I could make a phone call on my cell phone.  So we walked to one of the places where there is potential of service, but couldn't get it.  So we walked up a hill and tried there.  Still no luck.  Tried again at the magic spot.  Still no luck.  By this time, it was 10:15 and time for lunch.

A few parents had begun to come and gather at the school -- they did last week also, so wasn't surprised, but didn't really understand what it was about.  I dished up the soup for the kids, trying to make sure I got about the same number of pieces of meat into each soup bowl.  There were a few extra young kids, so they got soup as well.  The teacher never came in for her soup and when I finished serving seconds, I went out and found the teacher was in her classroom with the parents - which was different than the prior week.  I went into my room and ate my "lunch" and while there, some of the older kids started wandering in and wanted to play with stuff.  So I pulled out the vowel BINGO game I had made for my kids and we played that.  They had fun and wanted to keep going. One girl stood there awhile, but there were not enough game boards, so I told the kids to share.  That didn't happen and the girl and others wandered in and out.  After a bit, the girl came back with two pieces of paper and handed them to me and said something.  So, I promptly cut them in two and made more game boards.  While I was making her game, I was still calling out vowels for the others, and she kept saying something to me, but I wasn't paying much attention.  When I gave it to her, she said no and I finally paid attention.  She was asking me for more paper for the teacher!!!  I had a good laugh at myself and the kids did too.  As the kids left, I had them take this back outside with them:

Our closing up of the school was the usual chaos.  My room got partly cleaned; I left to give fruit to the kids; make sure the beans for tomorrow that need to be soaked and cooked were given to the right kid to take home and the kitchen door is locked after all the kids have come in to get the fruit.  Heading back out I get the key from the teacher (only today, I was asking her for it, and I had it from opening up) to lock my classroom, gather my stuff and climb into the van.  Besides myself and the teacher, there are usually other community members climbing in to catch a ride to town and kids who get a ride back up the mountain a ways towards their houses. 

We arrived at the pickup point about 1/2 an hour later and waited for the other volunteers and teacher.  Today they were later than usual: we had to wait a half an hour for them.  Usually it is just 5-10 minutes.  I used the time to study my Spanish and try to read another book to prep for later in the week. We arrived back into Otavalo close to 1pm - about an hour and 15 minutes earlier than usual.  I got off early and went to my home stay to change clothes, get my computer and credit card and some dirty laundry, then took a taxi ($1) into the center of town to the laundria. While at home, I told my mom I would not be home for dinner, as I planned to stay in the center and work on my computer.  Although my homestay does laundry, I have found I need to do my clothes for the weekend during the week and leave my school clothes for the homestay. From there off I went to get a sandwhich at a favorite place. I then remembered that my favorite place to use the wi-fi and my own computer is closed on Tuesdays!

I went to an internet cafe and phone place and tried to call the travel agency for making my reservation to the Galapagos, but no luck.  I decided I would go to the Spanish school early and try to use their wi-fi internet, but they weren't there.  So I went to another internet place and posted my earlier post, checked email, etc. and then got to Spanish class by 3pm.  I had a good class with my reading yet another story book with my teacher helping with the pronunciation and meaning and then doing some work with grammer.

After the lesson at 5, I headed to the GVI house to think about and get materials together for my classes tomorrow.  Decided I didn't need to do much, as I hadn't used my materials from today.  But, I do need to prepare for the one hour English lesson I am supposed to have with the older kids on Wednesday -- will see if it happens!  I then found out while at the GVI house, that both of the teachers had not done required paperwork for the government regarding the school uniforms for the kids, and that was the reason for all the hubaloo today.  My teacher was typing up statments and having the parents "sign" them.  (I saw one that was "signed" with a finger print.)

And here I am, at another place I found that has food and wi-fi, allowing me to upload photos from my own computer and uploading blogs I had written previously.  But, most important, keeping me up past 8:30 as that is the time I go to bed once I have had dinner!