Rainy Season

Sorry I haven’t been blogging in a while! School has kept me pretty busy! Let’s see, last week was a really good week. I started to meet with all of my pull out groups. The first, second, and third graders are really doing well. We have been working on letter sounds and then using poems, songs, word cards, etc to help them remember each sound. I also started working with the 7th grade classes for the first time. To be honest, I was really nervous! I was not nervous because they are mean or anything, I was nervous because I didn’t know how to teach older kids how to read without being “kid like” if that makes any sense. But it turned out really well. The 7th graders were really trying and we had some fun along the way too! Now, everyone in the pull out groups say, “are we going down to the reading shed today?” or “are we practicing reading today?”
This was the first week that I got the pleasure of experiencing the rain. Oh boy, did it rain this week. On Wednesday the rain poured so hard, but I still hopped on a mini bus and headed to school. I had to hop across this huge puddle that was blocking the entrance of the road…I hope these black flats last me a while! So when I got to school, I was the only teacher there for the first half hour or so…the Head Mistress wasn’t even there (all day). I was thinking…what in the world am I going to teach all of these students?! Finally the 2nd grade teacher came. She said, “I was not going to come to school today, but then HM called and said she wasn’t coming.” Either way, I was very glad she was there! I had to teach the first grade and the 4th grade students, while the second grade teacher taught the 2nd grade and the 3rd grade students. There was not teacher in the 5th and 6trh grade classes either, so they just wandered around all day, a lot of them stayed in my room. So…what to do with 20 1st and 4th grade students…? I ran to the “library” and grabbed some books to read. I asked the children what they thought the book could be about and they had fun guessing. We started reading and the children were really into it. I am pretty sure that it was the first time that some of the students had ever been read a picture book. A lot of the students came up to me and said they didn’t have books at home. The 4th grade boys even said that they loved “Angelina Ballerina” (yeah I know…I was so excited that the school “library” had this book!) As fairytale like as this might sound…it was less than ideal. The rain fell so hard on the tin roof that I was shouting the words. “ANGELINA DANCED DURING BREAKFAST, SHE DANCED ON HER WAY TO SCHOOL, SHE DANCED AWAY FROM THE BOYS ON THE PLAYGROUND…” haha yes seriously it was so hard to hear anything. I couldn’t even hear someone talking next to me. So now I am slowly starting to see why so many children don’t come to school on days like this. It was almost impossible to teach. My throat was so sore by the end of the day and I had a screaming headache. But the rest of the week panned out nicely.
On Saturday, another PCV had a birthday party at her house and we each brought a covered dish to share. Let’s see, we had black bean burgers (amazing), veggie pot pie (also amazing), salsa (so yummy), veggie lasagna (de-licious), spicy bread (awesome), and garlic humus (which is what Alicia and I brought…so obviously it was amazing!) It was nice to hang out with a bunch of Americans for a couple of hours! The on Sunday, Alicia and my neighbor wanted to come to church with me. We sang two songs that I recognized and it made me feel close to home. I was also asked to do the second reading. I didn’t want to at first, but I thought, “I might as well give it a shot!” It’s funny though because I have never even done a reading at Holy Family!
This past week has been…uhh...how do I put it…a challenge. Yes. I spent most of the week in the first grade room filling in for the other teacher because she wasn’t there. The children have slowly started to realize that I won’t “lash them” if they do something wrong. Let’s just say that they have taken advantage of my gentle ways! The class was running around like crazy! I was trying to be firm. Didn’t work. I tried to send them outside to run off some of their energy. Didn’t work. I tried to do engaging activities. Didn’t work. I tried separating some of the students. Didn’t work. Ahh I was at a lost for words. The day that I needed the HM the most, she wasn’t there. So I just tried to keep a positive attitude and try to talk with the kids and see if I could help them in anyway. But I could not hide my sheer excitement when the 1st grade teacher came back. I shouted, “Halleluiah!” I am really struggling with the discipline here, though. I am obviously not going to beat a student, but the children are not listening to what I say because there are no consequences. My HM said that the parents just don’t really care that much. She said that either they don’t have an education and therefore, don’t want their children to be educated. I don’t know what the case is..but I really feel like I want to try and work with the parents so that I can get both the students and the parents on board together. With the support of the parents, the child can do so much better.
There was also a national Guyanese holiday on Thursday. It was Independence Day! There was a parade and a Family Fun Day. The Family Fun Day had different games like, “sack races” egg with spoon races,” and “lime and spoon races.” There was also modeling (they pronounce it (mud-uh-ling). Girls came out in whatever outfit they wanted and posed a couple of times. It was interesting.
The puppies have been getting SO big. We have been taking them on walks around the neighborhood. Earlier this week, we saw a bunch of guys playing volleyball at a field. We were so excited because there was a net and everything! So Alicia, the neighbor kids, and I walked over and sat down to watch. All of a sudden this cow comes over. We thought that it would just pass by (because cows are usually scared of humans…because they get beaten by them), but this cow was not scared. It walk right up to us. The pups were so scared! The cow just wouldn’t go away. So we ended up petting him. Maybe he sensed that I didn’t eat him, and he felt like we could be friends? Haha. I also have been trying to train Odie to run with me. So we went out to the back dam (near the rice fields and the water). She is actually pretty good! Unfortunately, both times that we have gone it has been SUPER muddy because of all the rain. There was so much mud stuck to my shoe that I felt like I was running with 20 lb. weights on my feet (good work out, huh?) Poor Odie, though, she had to not only dodged the mud puddles, but also the mud flying off my shoe!
So although this week was challenging…I am hoping for a better one next week! This weekend was pretty good. I finished 3 books! I also went to watch some of the local guys play cricket. They are trying to start a women’s cricket league. That could be fun. I really want to start a football league (soccer) here. So maybe I will keep pushing for it! I also made banana bread this weekend. People have been continuously giving us bananas…so they were going bad before we could eat them all (and I seriously eat like 4 bananas a day!) So it was perfect ripened bananas for the bread! We also have started making wheat bread…really good!
Anyways, I am not going to read this blog over because there is a ladt standing over my shoulder waiting to use the only working computer. SO I am going to be nice and finish up. No emails this week :( Sorry fam. I love you all and miss you! Don’t stop sending letters…they totally make my day! Lots of Love!