Well, I survived the first week of camp! On Monday, the children arrived, and Megan and I were shocked into action. Really, we had some figuring out to do the first day. We had anticipated about 25 children (some from San Jeronimo--in Cofradia--and some from Vida Nueva, a school that BECA is just starting to work with), but instead we had a few more than 35. And because Vida Nueva had just begun its bilingual program, these second graders (making up about 25 of the 35 students) speak NO english. Our plans of speaking only English went down the drain pretty quickly, when the kids were begging me to go buy a snack at a nearby pupuseria, but couldn't understand why I said no, I gave in and responded in Spanish. As the days went on, we realized more and more how to handle such a large group of students, with so few understanding English. Gone was our total dedication to the weekly themes (space last, safari next), although we have still followed as best as possible, and gone was our dedication to English only. We also realized that because simple instructions were hard to follow, and because the group is so very large, that we'd need to take all of our plans down a notch.
The week got progressively less crazy, although we are definitely very worn out by the end of every camp day (9-12:00). Before camp, we have a walking caravan of volunteers and students going to school. It's cute, and so are the kids, but it takes a while because the kids are so slow, and we get to school already quite sweaty! After camp, we have an hour break, and someone (I think a mother of a student) brings the volunteers delicious food. Lots of rice, beans, egg, vegetables, tortillas (soooo much better than the US version), etc. From 1-3, we tutor various students. I'm tutoring a 6th grader in math and english and a 4th grader afterwards in math and english as well. It's interesting tutoring these kids. They really need my help, and it's nerve-wracking to know that I am the one who will come up with the lesson plans for Michael to learn long division and that I am the one who will figure out a way to help Efferson work through his speech impediment to pronounce English words. The speech especially worries me. I will do my best, and I've told Efferson's mother that I will help him, but I have no speech therapy training. At all.
After tutoring, the walking caravan returns home, usually meaning that I'm back around 4. The day continues with things like a run with Natalia (and Nolbin, our 8ish year old friend who sells bottles on the street and likes to race us down the boulevard and back), a Gillian Michaels workout video with Maddie, preparing for the next days camp and tutoring, and preparing and cleaning up dinner.
It's a full day. And after waking up around 7 every day, I generally crash around 10:30.
This weekend, a group of us took a break from the heat of Cofradia and traveled up the mountains to Copan. We stayed in a fantastic hostel for just under $5 per person the first night. Sarah Hamilton and I had our own room, and the shower was nearby. We went to dinner at a restaurant right next door (oooh, a restaurant!), showered, changed, and went out for the night. Copan has a fun nightlife--very different from the nonexistent one in Cofradia, since it caters much more to tourists because of the ruins.
The next morning, we woke up early to go eat pancakes at Max (SJBS graduate and general friend to Cofradia's gringos)'s cousins house. The pancakes (with mantequilla and honey) were great, but we were all going off of about 4.5 hours of sleep, so we weren't particularly talkative. At Max's cousin's house, we met a peace corps volunteer who is living with them, engineering a water system for Copan.
We then went to the Copan Ruins! They were beautiful, and well worth the visit. It was interesting to learn about the culture and religion of the Mayans that lived there. Rejjie and I decided to pay the extra to see the tunnels that show some of the temples that are underground--Mayans would cover the temples to preserve them after a ruler died. All very cool!
After the ruins, we made the last minute decision to stay one more night in Copan! Max's cousin invited us to stay at her house; her hospitality was limitless it seemed! So that night, we checked out the hot springs about an hour and a half from Copan. Kyla, the peace corps volunteer, let me and Sarah H borrow bathing suits! Ben, BECA's administrator, met up with 4 of us to go. He was in Copan visiting a friend from college. On the back of a truck, we went up the mountain to the ridiculously named Luna Jaguar Spa Resort. It was incredible. The ride up the mountain was beautiful, and the area around the springs was as well. There were several different springs. One was a mud bath, one was a natural foot massage, and most of the rest varied in heat, from luke warm bath water all the way up to a far far too hot bath water. I didn't make it into the hottest! It really was relaxing though, and because we were there for the 2 hours before they closed, it emptied out, and we were the only people there...enjoying the hot springs in the darkness! After not having a hot shower for a week and a half, it was wonderful!
On the ride back down the mountain, we got to watch lightning light up the whole sky, and it was beautiful! When it started to rain, though, it became less ideal!
When we got back to the house around 9, we were EXHAUSTED and cold from the rainy ride down the mountain. I showered in a shower that had heat! Apparently, Max's cousin's boyfriend's aunt (complicated, I know), had designed the house to be very American, so it had space for a washer and dryer (they didn't actually have one) and had hot water! We had a big group dinner with homemade tajadas (plantain chips), and after, I was so tired, that I fell asleep right next to a speaker playing Justin Timberlake. About an hour later, everyone else was tired as well. Kyla let us borrow t-shirts to sleep in, and we all went to sleep on several mattresses on the floor of the living area. Kyla was so nice, and insisted that this was totally peace corps style!
We woke up early again this morning to catch the 7 am bus back to Cofradia! The heat difference is amazing in Cofradia--it's so much hotter because we aren't up the mountain! Nevertheless, it's starting to feel like home!
Now on to planning next week's camp!
Sorry for the extremely long, extremely detailed account of camp and the weekend. I try not to bore my wonderful readers, but sometimes, it happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment