Ending the year

So I know everyone told me you can’t get anything done in December and January, but for some reason I thought I could. I was wrong. Kind of. And that’s why I’ve been putting off writing this blog, because well, I don’t have a lot of positive things to say. However, let’s discuss the one success I have had.

Don Rodolfo, our English teacher who has better bilingual skills than I do (his English is better than my Spanish, if that makes sense), and I have been teaching biweekly English classes for the past three weeks. Next week is our last week, as I am going to the States, but it has really been a good experience. We get adults in our classes, and we get people from all around the area, but for me I really enjoyed seeing our school’s students attend. Before the school year ended, I was teaching classes nearly every day. I enjoyed it, but part of teaching during school hours requires me to deal with all the students, including the terrors. This time around, I avoided them, because in my class are students that want to be there to learn, motivated kids who have chosen to spend part of their Summer learning a new language. Hallelujah. It made me think, I should really start some classes or activities outside of school hours. Before, I didn’t think anyone would show up, and to be honest, I don’t know if they will now, but they did come to this class, and they did keep coming. As I build a relationship with these kids, I hope that their participation will grow.

On the other side of the spectrum we have the things that didn’t succeed. The things I will try to resurrect in the new year.

First, my women’s group. We have had one meeting. Cervical cancer. It was great once it finally came to life. Our second meeting failed before I could even present my ideas to my health promoter. After another string of failed preparation meetings with her, I have given up. I called her again this afternoon to remind her that she missed our last meeting, but I would like to try again. She then proceeded to tell me we needed a new topic. I then reminded her that we had decided on one and I had done all the preparation. I was really excited about it too, we were to discuss domestic violence and I was really excited to present the information I had gathered. And of course, after explaining to her that I was leaving for the states in two weeks, she told me we didn’t have sufficient time to prepare. Well, I have a new plan. The first part requires me to start next year, when I get back and the community is out of vacation mode. The second part requires me to find someone new to work with. I still want to invite my health promoter, but I need a more reliable source to keep things moving. I have someone in mind. So that’s that.

Second, the library. What a disaster. So way back when, I went to a library training with a few people in my community to learn how to organize the donation of 500-1000 books we would be getting, card-catalog style. And I thought great. No. I have spent long hours in the library with the eighth grade boys, cleaning, organizing and taking an inventory of our materials. We’re still not finished with that. There are tons of old books and textbooks that we’re adding to the hodge podge of books we received from Rotary International. I am grateful for their donation, but we got about fifty copies of twenty or thirty books. So, it’s not exactly the library I had imagined. And, we’re definitely not cataloging the same book fifty times. Anyway, once this all gets in place, as I explained to a few people, this will be a library for teachers only. They can come in and check out a set of books to use with their class. I was thinking perhaps I’ll start a reading group or something, but we’ll see. I mean, it’s not the library I had wished for, but that’s how it is out here in Peace Corps. And, I still want to get some good use out of it, I’m just afraid people will lose interest in it. In the meantime and am looking for book donations in hopes the library will improve and grow over my remaining service.

Oh yeah, and our computer lab is a wreck. I’m not good with the more technical aspects of computers, AKA the virus infested monsters that scare the hell out of me that are currently sitting behind that closed door. One of the teachers told me she would bring some anti-virus in for me to install, but that didn’t happen. Ugh. I’m in the process of looking for a professional.

So, here I am, more anxious than ever for this upcoming trip, wading through these last eleven days. For now, I relax. I’ll spend the some of the last week teaching English. The rest of the time I’ll be laying in my hammock and playing checkers with neighborhood kids (I swear these kids are little cheaters, making up rules as they go, convincing me that their rules are the right ones).

One more exciting event before I leave. I’m going to visit my host family from San Vicente for the first time in months! I lived with them during training and I miss them dearly. Can’t wait to see them next weekend!

And, that’s it, probably until I get back in January. So. . . see you soon?