It has been insane lately but it is finally raining and I've finished (at least I think I have...) all of my plans. Let's backtrack together, though, shall we?
Monday I arose at 6am and headed out to Villa for the talleres, or teacher workshops. I didn't know where the school was so I asked the driver. After asking a few random people on the street, he found out, dropped everyone else in the car off first and then drove me all the way up to the school-which is totally not normal. But man was I grateful! I arrived on time at 8am (which of course means early here) and we started by 9. Seeing all the teachers again for the first time since the end of last year was pretty awesome. It was wonderful to see familiar faces in a sea of teachers I didn't know. We sat together and worked in groups together for the next three days. I felt welcomed, they were patient with me, and I wrote on every charla paper for every activity because apparently my handwritting is a thing of God here hahaha. The workshops were...interesting. Let me just put it this way: the definition of working hard is quite different-and that's not to say it's wrong. It's just different. For example, a group activity that the Ministry of Eduction allotted an hour and a half would have taken maybe thirty minutes in the states. Also on the first day, we weren't given breakfast. So the hour before lunch time was spent arguing with the directors (who weren't to blame) about how we couldn't work if all we were thinking about was how hungry we were... Which then the hour following lunch was an argument of how hot and tired we all were. Haha
Then there's the whole disconnect between the Ministry of Education and reality. Basically the first two days were spent "dreaming." What would your perfect school look like? What would a perfect school in your students' eyes look like? Etc. Then the pedagogy manual. Everything that should be done in the schools according to the big guys at the top of the pyramid. Except... In so many cases here, the utopian dream is nearly impossible. Whether it be due simply to the size of the school and the classrooms or due to the lack of proper teacher training, it just didn't make sense. And just made my blood boil. I saw passion. I saw hope. I saw a desire to change and make things better. But then once an activity was over, there was a break, or the session finally let out at 5pm, the truth escaped the lips of the ones at the bottom of the pyramid and the dream was stomped on by the high heels of reality (I have no idea how these women wear heels in the hills of Villa or the dirt roads of their campos...). And I get it. They're not paid enough. They're not appreciated. They don't get the help they need. But the other half of me is screaming, "BUT THE CHILDREN AREN'T TO BLAME AND THEY'RE THE ONES SUFFERING" and I'm at a loss for how to feel. And then I whisper to myself, "And what kind of change am I supposed to make...?"
Wednesday was my last day because of the work load I had (have) and I thanked God for that. I nearly lost it all day. I was losing patience, losing hope, hearing more things about the reality that I can't post publically, and just plain tired. But towards the end of the day, Nati all of a sudden goes, "Okay we need a dinámica to wake us up. Julie, get up here!" What?? Haha She made me do Alele with 30 grown men and women and it was hysterical. I introduced it saying that it was a dinámica for children and that they absolutely love it, no matter the age group. Also, I love it because it's not in Spanish! But it's not in English either! Haha So I did it with my whole heart (and body) and they loved it too! The rest of the day teachers were chanting it, calling me Alele, and laughing about it. There was also a video taken of the whole thing... And rumor has it that it might go up on Facebook. Haha I'll be sure to share that if it does.
Thursday Lula and Greg came to visit me! We spent the day just chatting and comparing lives. It's amazing how different we are living and we're just 10km away from each other... They headed out around 4, and I spent the rest of the night doing what I had been doing all week: working on my Community Diagnostic presentation. Oh. That's the other thing I found out Tuesday-Nati, the person I want most with me to plan for this upcoming year, can't come with me next week for the presentation... So I was back to square one: alone. I was able to get Juana Iris but she can't come until Tuesday... Which required lots of emails and rescheduling my presentation. Boy do I love causing problems :P
Friday, I spent the morning trying to wash my clothes but the luz went at 9am and I only managed to get one and a half loads done... So I started plans for the six hours of adult literacy I was supposed to teach Saturday and Sunday. And I have to use the book that doesn't teach squat. But I made some materials, alternative ways of teaching what the book was trying to teach, and incorporated the book activities in the midst of my plans. After all, I firmly believe that adults learn in the same ways as children so I've got dinámicas, big charla paper activities, a crossword puzzle I had to draw by hand with awesome pictures:
(cuz printers are a luxury :P) haha, and more... (Also, that sexy mouth you see above is for the math portion of Saturday's lesson where we will learn about comparisons-less than, greater than- and that the mouth always wants to eat the bigger number-that's how you know what direction the symbol goes haha). That literally took me until 3pm and I finally stopped and headed abajo. I needed to ask Junana Iris if she could come over to practice the presentation in the morning on Saturday and go talk to the pastor. As Lula and Greg and I were planning the trip to the outskirts of the other side of the capital, we decided it would be best if I went to their place Sunday and left with them early in the morning Monday since I was traveling without my project partner. Because of this, however, I can't teach Sunday's class. So I needed to tell him and I had materials for him to use that I made. Of course, a simple visit turned into three hours of us chatting-and of course, I loved every minute of it. He forced me to talk and share my views and opinions on things and he rambled on and on about his (I even translated Adele's "Someone Like You" because he had downloaded it to practice pronunciation and wanted to know what he was singing lol). I finally told him I needed to go and work some more so he let me go.
Upon walking back, however, I noticed quite a few people leaving the school dressed in nice clothes. Oops. I forgot about mass. I saw China, who yelled at me for missing it but then laughed and kissed me on the cheek. Haha I went home to a dark house and continued to work by candlelight. We didn't get luz until 10:30pm that night.
Today, Saturday, I arose and continued my laundry. To which my luck, bad luck that is, continued as the rains came and the luz cut out at 9am yet again. We finished my last load by hand, I hung string across my room to hang clothes, and Dulce put up rope in the back room to hang up more. 
It's just not the same as the less-than-an-hour-dry outside in the DR sun...
But I spent the morning working more and waiting for Juana Iris to show up... She didn't. It was raining on and off yes, but there was plenty of time in between to make it to my house... I finished my adult literacy plans, finished my presentation as best as I could without the very, very, very needed corrections by a native speaker, and realized it is Saturday and I also had English class at 2pm.. So those plans followed. I managed to finished everything by the time Dulce placed lunch in front of me and told me to stop working so hard haha. But the rains continued and the reality of having both my English class and literacy class slowly disintegrated. And I got pissed. I worked way too hard and too long to not have class because of the rain.
To calm myself, I went into my room and laid in bed for an hour... Letting the thunder in the distance beat at a slower pace than my heart.
Only to be "woken up" (wasn't actually asleep) by Alex poking me in the back and Lili crawling in next to me... Oh man did I feel like heat in my head haha. We chatted for a second and then I took my iPad out in the gallery and blasted upbeat English music and started dancing like an idiot. Alex joined me a bit and I felt 99% better. It was so funny. I guess sometimes all you need is a little music to dance like an idiot to to end a crazy week.
English class didn't happen of course but the rain stopped before 3 so I headed out for the adult literacy class. And it went... AMAZINGLY. haha I was in my element. The Spanish wasn't perfect but they understood me. The dinámicas were hysterical. They expressed out loud that they felt as though they were learning something. And one guy was going to tell the pastor (he wasn't there, his wife was) how well the class went and was upset I wasn't teaching again tomorrow lol. :D I was flying high despite not being completely proud of the plans due to the lame book.
Timing was perfect too and we ended right at 6. I went to Juana Iris' house to see if she could come over to practice and she was working... Until 2am... Looks like I'm gonna have to go to her house early in the morning and drag her to my house before I leave for the capital...
And with that, I'll leave this novel to a close. It's 6:30 now and all I wanna do is eat dinner, drink coffee, and hopefully go out and dance to celebrate the end of this week. Though I probably shouldn't go abajo every Saturday, I really want to this Saturday. Haha Vamos a ver!
Buenas noches.
Update at 9:45pm: Moreno went abajo without Dulce and I. And the luz just came back... *sigh*
Hey my little girl, you really not so little are you? Very proud of all that you are doing! The adult literacy must have been amazing, you actually liked it! WOW! Ha Ha. Keep believing sweetie , you have what it takes, success is with you! Love you, pops!
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