When a Bucket Shower Gets Even Crazier

April 5, 2013. Today we had technical training on lesson planning and teaching materials were passed out. One book was filled with various literacy worksheets. The other was called Escojo Enseñar and this was the Spanish manual for teaching. Lesson plans, activities, and videos; all scripted for us to use with the teachers. Super exciting but my favorite part? Escojo Enseñar means, I Choose to Teach. LOVE that. Especially here when teachers are underpaid and unappreciated as much as they are? This gives them a sense of pride and appreciation for what they do everyday...
Raini (our technical trainer) also approached me and apologized about the school situation from yesterday. She also made a few announcements to the group. First, that we would go over the week's schedule every Monday. Also, that sometimes she forgets that we don't know everything and can't read minds (ha). So if we are ever unclear about something, unsure of our purposes, or if things are going too fast, we need only to say something :)
Afterwards, we had more time to work on our community diagnostic seasonal calendar. We did a few more interviews and though it didn't go as smoothly as the last one, we got some interesting perspectives. We've got a lot of work to do for our presentation Monday though... Have I mentioned yet that it has to be in Spanish? ....
Lunch was chicken, pasta with corn, and mashed potatoes. And como siempre, it was phenomenal.
Spanish class followed and then we had our CRT (test) about community diagnostics at 4pm. It was pretty easy, I think. And I could probably argue any of my answers and prove that they're correct even if I didn't word it perfectly lol No biggie ;P
Next? Volleyball! First, Amber and I warmed up peppering. We then joined the girls playing. I have to say, seeing so many girls playing was wonderful. Most of the time here, from what I've been told, there aren't enough activities for girls. They go to school and then have to go home to take care of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry with their mothers. Most after school activities are for boys. There were at least 3 teams worth of girls and some of them were really good!
I then joined the guys again. That was interesting haha but still fun. After sweating way to much, as per usual, we left and headed home.
As soon as I got there, I yelled, "Mi mama!" And she said, "Mi amor!" Haha We're so in love :). She explained all that I need to do if I leave while she's at church in regards to the door (that's such a crazy sentence right there lol my apologies). And repeated 100X that I need to lock the door if I am going to shower while she's gone. And then she left. As I was showering, some people came by and started knocking on the door. Then fiddling with the windows, yelling for who was inside. I freaked out, put my towel on and snuck my hand out of the curtain to turn the TV off and... stayed silent pretending no one was home. haha. Real smooth. Cuz I'm sure they didn't notice that the TV was on and then suddenly, it wasn't... Eventually they went away and I got back to the bucket. About a minute later, the power went out! Haha I hand-felt my way out of there wrapped in a towel and into my room to get my head lamp. I finally finished the crazy process that was today's shower, ate dinner by head lamp light, and shortly after, la luz returned. And Nate called! Win! It was hard to hear him, possibly because of where I am, but it was wonderful.
Keegan and Cailtlin's host mom really wanted people to come over just to hang out so a few of us volunteers headed over there around 8:30pm. It was nice and chill and we just chatted about various things. I left around 10:30 because I didn't want my Dona to be up waiting too late. She ended up being awake and watching a movie with Alfredo and had two grandchildren (or just neighborhood kids?) over too. One was sleeping already though. She said as I came in, "You didn't like dinner?" And I was like, "Yes! Of course I did!" And tried to really convince her I did even though I didn't finish it (its always so much food!). She didn't seem to believe me but didn't seem mad, either. I watched the end of the movie with them and then went to brush my teeth. I came back out and said, "Gracias por todo y en serio, me gustó la comida!" She laughed and laughed and laughed and repeated what I said two more times with lots of drama (EN SERIO) Haha either I said something wrong, or I was just really that funny :D Either way, I think she believes me now and maybe even thinks I'm super funny. I'll take it!
Buenas noches!