Espera, Espera, Espera

April 4, 2013. Woo! Cheese and jamon! I think it's growing on me and Dad, you'll be proud to know that I can eat in the morning now and had two sandwiches today at 7am ;).
Today was our presentation and I think it went really well. The other two groups had great activities to implement with their power point and a few people afterwards said that they really enjoyed the session as a whole. We discussed blended pedagogies, building school and community relationships, and co-planning and co-teaching. I do love doing things like that so it was a good way to start the day.
At 10am, however, we were on our way to the schools that we will be working in for the next 4 weeks. And let's just say... I left frustrated and torn. We were split up into groups and sent to various schools. I'm with Susan, Keegan and Caitlin. We just found out today what our school was and that we were just observing. So far, that's all we know about the work we will be doing here. When we arrived, the director gave us a tour but when he introduced us, he had to ask on numerous occasions what we were doing that day and afterwards, he just let us go to observe whatever classroom we wanted. I thought the classrooms were already set up for us and that we'd be observing the classroom that we will be working in. Luckily, I'm not the only one lost. A few people have agreed that they've just been learning day by day and making mistakes because nothing seems to be clear. Then the director made it sound like he was so happy we were going to be there to work because they need so much help. He had a list on four pieces of paper (front and back) of the things he feels need improvement in his school (not for us to do but just in general). But we're only here for five weeks and a small total of 10 hours will be in that school. After talking with my group, we're only doing pull-outs with students who need extra help. What good will that all really do in the long run? The people at the schools seem to have this crazy high expectation of what we will do in the short amount of time here... I observed two classrooms today and I cannot even begin to explain how opposite they were and my opinions of the one will have to remain my own.. I just don't understand our purpose since there seems to be two perspectives here (ours and the school's).
Then there's the Spanish. Even Keegan and Caitlin who are a few levels above me are concerned. We've heard twice now from teachers in the schools that we need to be doing well with our Spanish because there's no other way to reach the kids. I literally had to write down a list of education words that I need to look up after today. I have a degree in education, which only about 5 others out of the 19 of us have. Okay, cool. But what good does that do if I can't communicate what I know in Spanish? And especially when these teachers seem to think we're going to be doing wonders in 5 weeks? We're only in training for goodness sake. And I feel like we're using the schools and not being realistic with them about why we're here; training... Not to bring about long term fixes for them... Or at least, that's what I thought CBT was. Maybe I was wrong? But what if I am right? Something feels wrong here.
Okay. Espera, espera, espera. Wait, wait, wait.
Well just as every other day here is a complete roller coaster ride, today was no different. I wrote the above during lunch. It is now 9:15pm and the day made quite the turn-around. First, Spanish. Nothing too thrilling here but it went well. Afterwards, we went to play volleyball. Holy shit. Haha the guys were amazing. But they let us play and it was a blast! Didn't do as well as I would have liked and they raised the net too high (but for good reason cuz the guys were destroying the ball on a low net-wasn't really fair). But like yesterday, I cannot tell you how good it was to be active and on top of that, do something familiar and something I love. Tomorrow, they have practice at 5pm which is right after our exam (perfect!). So we're gonna bring our stuff to change into to our training center so we can blow off steam after failing our test ;).
Then after. I had seen Amber (our Peace Corps Volunteer Leader who is in her third year now and helping with training for us) before volleyball and asked her if we could set up a time to chat. I just felt more comfortable approaching her about the above concerns than our technical trainer since she's still basically one of us; just... Two years ahead lol. Anyways, after volleyball, a shower, and dinner, she came over and we sat on the front porch and chatted. Conversation was easy, stress-free and successful. She absolutely understood my concerns. First, the confusion with the schools shouldn't have happened and will be fixed. There is supposed to be one classroom in which we will be working with; mostly with student pull-outs. Second, the schools will be getting a little out of us being there and though their expectations sound high to me, the materials they will get actually meet their expectations when I didn't think it would be enough. Third, I need not worry too much about my Spanish although she understood completely. Tomorrow (talk about perfect timing), we will be receiving materials centered around education. These manuals have resources for us to use with the kids, videos in Spanish, but also scripted lesson plans in Spanish that we can use. The vocabulary will be there and I just need to bring my personality (basically :P). Lastly, in regards to training as a whole, she is going to bring up with our director that we need to communicate better. That the gaps in this last week are not because of the volunteers' lack of personal responsibility, it's just in the lack of communication between those that know everything (our technical trainer and Amber) and those that know nothing (us). We're going to start by simply going over each weeks' plans every Monday morning so that everyone knows what to expect and doesn't have to guess every day and guess wrong. Simple, but absolutely needed. Take a deep breath... And smile. Like usual, it's all going to be okay (Yea, yea, I can hear the I-told-you-so's from all the way back home)
Amber and I then spent another hour just chatting about life. The Peace Corps, our families, our significant others, home, being addicted to novellas and how good they are for learning Spanish, experiences, etc. She talked about how she had a discussion with our technical trainer about how she needs to be careful with her expectations of us. That while we are capable of so much, there is much change going on in our lives and thus, there are some reasonable limits right now. Not only are we trying learn all we need to do here (Education and Spanish) but we have to constantly think about the simple aspects of life in a new country. How we shower, how we brush our teeth, what we are eating, how to act in front of Dominicans, wearing bug spray all day, etc. Ugh, yes thank you! She also shared with me that she had never traveled anywhere outside the country before the Peace Corps (!!!). Hooray! I'm not actually alone in that! It was just what was needed and I'm so glad I worked up the guts to ask her for some time when I know I'm really good at letting things boil to not bring about confrontation. She's an incredible person and I admire her a lot. After tonight, I feel as though we started to develop a friendship, not just a trainer-trainee relationship. And as lame as it sounds, that's a pretty damn good feeling :). So on that note, I'll study more tomorrow during lunch and just go to bed smiling. And laughing with my Dona since she just sneezed for the 6th time and I finally yelled out "Salud!" from my dark room to hers. Don't make fun; it's just the little things :) Buenas noches.