Today was my last day with my morning kids. whoa.
Tomorrow I will spend the morning at colegio Maya, a private school to see how things work. Friday morning I will be at la guarderia with little kids. Thank you to everyone who has sent me encouragement and messages since I've been here. I really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.
Today when one student, Guillermo and myself were bringing the snack dishes back to the kitchen to wash we had to wait for other students to finish at the sink before we could do our dishes. While we were waiting I started playing the (badly tuned... a couple notes completly non functioning) piano. Guillermo is one of the ones that can be the most challenging. He's perfectly charming... when he wants to be, and has SO much potential. I am not just saying that. This kid has a brain. While most of the time he doesn't listen to Profe Johanna, or any other authority figure, he stopped to listen. I started to teach him to play coldplay's "The Scientist" (beautiful song) and he was very attentive, reflective, and patient. While most of the time he is preoccupied with getting his class mates to laugh, it was SO nice to have him be a little serious for once and concentrate his efforts on something. During my lunch a younger student (I want to say second grade) came up to me and said he heared us playing and singing. I went over to the piano to teach him a couple songs. He was great at immitating the one line melodies and rhythms I punched out. We were able to play a sort of made up duet by the end of lunch. I played the left hand and chords and he played a melody. Any time he messed up he would bury his head in my stomach. Today was a good day. It is nice to end on a good note.
You can see here a couple of the volunteer's cheering on the teams.
The beautiful Antgua City lies below. That's Volcan de agua behind me. It was named that after a Spanish settlement was destroyed by flooding and mudslides from off the dormant volcanos sides. There is also Volcan de fuego... that is the active volcano. Fuego is fire.
Tomorrow I will spend the morning at colegio Maya, a private school to see how things work. Friday morning I will be at la guarderia with little kids. Thank you to everyone who has sent me encouragement and messages since I've been here. I really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.
Today when one student, Guillermo and myself were bringing the snack dishes back to the kitchen to wash we had to wait for other students to finish at the sink before we could do our dishes. While we were waiting I started playing the (badly tuned... a couple notes completly non functioning) piano. Guillermo is one of the ones that can be the most challenging. He's perfectly charming... when he wants to be, and has SO much potential. I am not just saying that. This kid has a brain. While most of the time he doesn't listen to Profe Johanna, or any other authority figure, he stopped to listen. I started to teach him to play coldplay's "The Scientist" (beautiful song) and he was very attentive, reflective, and patient. While most of the time he is preoccupied with getting his class mates to laugh, it was SO nice to have him be a little serious for once and concentrate his efforts on something. During my lunch a younger student (I want to say second grade) came up to me and said he heared us playing and singing. I went over to the piano to teach him a couple songs. He was great at immitating the one line melodies and rhythms I punched out. We were able to play a sort of made up duet by the end of lunch. I played the left hand and chords and he played a melody. Any time he messed up he would bury his head in my stomach. Today was a good day. It is nice to end on a good note.
The girls this afternoon were great. A couple of the girls and I were doing some research for a school insect project when a huge lightning storm started. It had been hot, hot, hot earlier in the day, and the storm produced hail. We are on the third floor of Safe passage, so everyone went to peak out the windows and watch the marble sized ice fall on the roof of the comedor below. Some of the girls got really excited and grabbed bowls to stick out the window to try to catch the hail before we pulled them back inside. There is still branch lightning going on outside right now and on our way driving home we passed a bus crash. It looked like everyone should be okay, everyone was out of the bus by the time we passed it. The guardrails for about 20 to 30 feet before where the bus ended up were torn up well, as well as the front and left hand side of the bus. Luckily the median was big enough that it didn't crash into any other cars (that I could see) and it didn't roll or go off the side of the mountain/volcano.
I didn't mention earlier but last friday the teachers had a football (as in what americans call soccer) match. They have one every friday at 8pm in antigua within walking distance from where I live. I was thinking about joining in... but I would be the only girl and they play a bit rough. Here is a picture... my camera doesn't really work in the dark. (PS thank you a million Missy! Not sarcastic... don't know what I'd do without you:)
Its great because teachers of all ages participate, and the game moved fast because the field- which is a kind of false turf- is small.
Its great because teachers of all ages participate, and the game moved fast because the field- which is a kind of false turf- is small.
You can see here a couple of the volunteer's cheering on the teams. I went back to la alta cruz like I said to get a better view. It was worth it.
The beautiful Antgua City lies below. That's Volcan de agua behind me. It was named that after a Spanish settlement was destroyed by flooding and mudslides from off the dormant volcanos sides. There is also Volcan de fuego... that is the active volcano. Fuego is fire.
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