This Too Shall Pass!

April 19, 2013. Today I had eggs for breakfast but scrambled and I think mixed with some sort of salsa? And plátanos y yuca. Delicious but sat heavy in my stomach. At training we worked on our presentation for Tuesday. And what presentation is this you may be asking me from way up there? Well, with our group at the school (Susan, Caitlin, Keegan, and I), we are having a charla (workshop) about classroom management. And we have 30 teachers signed up for it... Oh god. Haha. But! I really love our plan. I know I explained it a bit already but here it is in more detail (skip here if bored!) First, we are going to have brief introductions and a review of the day. After, we have two skits; one as an example of good classroom management, and one as an example of bad classroom management. That should be pretty fun and funny (and doable for my Spanish level!) :P. Then, we will lead a discussion about what they noticed and write what they say on charla paper. We have created posters for the walls in the good example skit so hopefully all that we incorporated into it will be noticed. Next we are going to split up into groups of 4-5 teachers and they will make their own charla paper with things that they have used or seen that are successful. This way, we're not coming into their school as Americans with limited Spanish and just telling them what to do. We will share ideas and when our group is up, we can then share what we know. I'm excited to use my example of Pepe (a child I struggled with when I was student teaching) but I need to do some serious scripting! Ah! Anyways, so yea. We'll share and wrap up with snacks and questions. Also, throughout we have a raffle system so when a teacher participates or volunteers for anything, they will get a ticket as one example of how to motivate children. At the end we have stickers for every teacher that has a ticket (hopefully all of them!). I like this set up because it relieves a lot of the pressure on us, is participatory, and hopefully eliminates any cultural offenses.
We worked until lunch but I didn't end up eating anything. My stomach is doing some funky things (not diarrhea yet, thank god!) so I just couldn't. My poor host mom thought it was her food and that was a challenge trying to explain that it wasn't! But she understood me. I rested before Spanish and after she asked me if it was intestinal (don't think so), I headed out lol. Spanish was short since we had a test on literacy and classroom management at 4pm. It was pretty easy and ended historically with Ivette and Maegan locking themselves in the bathroom. We had to fetch a guy that works at the Multi Uso for the key. That didn't end up working because the deadbolt was messed up so Greg kicked open the door, breaking the hinges. Haha So good.
I returned home after that episode and my host mother pulled me aside and asked if what I was feeling was menstruation (sorry if that grosses anyone out) haha She was so cute about it; pulling me away from her son and Alfredo and whispering the word! And she just went on and on about how she cares so much about me and doesn't want me to be feeling bad :D. So much love here.
I ended up heading out anyways to the house of the teacher who opened her wifi for us volunteers. I got to see my munch and Dad! Ugh, love you both so much. And thank you for the prayers, they're definitely being answered! I'm so incredibly blessed here! And even though I'm feeling awful, this too shall pass (hahaha) and too many other awesome things surround me every day to care.
Around 7:30pm we headed home. On the way, a woman actually came up to Caitlin and I and asked for a favor with her adorable baby girl... She needed milk. I honestly didn't have money... But damn it I feel awful... Anyways, I got home just as my host mom was leaving for church. She asked for the 100th time if I was sure I didn't want dinner (in case you were wondering, yes I was sure). She left, I watched a bit of Dulce Amargo but decided to shower and head to bed. I just want to sleep this off. And I'm a bit chilly and loving it. For the first time outside of the mountain trip, I put my long sleeve shirt on! Woo! Buenas noches!