domingo, 25 de octubre de 2009
Beans Everday does NOT keep the doctor away...
Instead of spending a nice weekend at the beach I was stuck in my bed with the dreaded travelers diarrhea. Yup that's right and who knew it could be so miserable because I didn't! I woke up in the middle of the night with chills and body aches like I've never felt before. But gracias a dios I'm on the road to recovery. The best part of this whole experience is that I'm likely to have it several times while I'm here. The sisters here are finally beginning to understand that eating beans three times a day every day is a huge change in diet for their volunteers. It has taken 4 volunteers getting sick before the light bulb came on. Apparently at dinner they asked Gina, Jodi esta enferma porque tanto frijoles? It's really hard for them to comprehend how the food they eat here is hard on the body. For breakfast they usually have beans/cheese and sometimes tamales. Then for lunch soup, rice, beans, and chicken. Then dinner beans and rice. Oh and with every meal they have homemade corn tortillas. Don't get me wrong, the food here is delicious but after so long it takes a toll on the body. The sisters are always telling Gina and I we need to eat more, since we're vegetarians they really worry about us. One of our first weeks here one of the sisters asked me why we weren't eating ham and I replied well because it's meat. De verdad? I don't think they really understand it but it provides momentary comic relief. Well I'm off to rest for the last week of school with the ninas...
lunes, 19 de octubre de 2009
A day in the life...
Here's mi horario diario....
5:15 Wake up
5:30 Morning Walk in the Gym
6:20 Breakfast
6:55 Buenas Dias (school announcements/prayer in gym w/ girls)
7:20/30ish - first class begins
7:30-9:25 - I accompany the school psychologist and help with kinder and pre-k small groups. She has been working to help develop their listening and social skills. (since i have a psy degree they think i am a qualified psychologist which i would be fine with if i could speak spanish!)
9:25-10 - RECREO (a break for all classes aka time to eat pupusas :)
10:00 - 12:20 - Work with psychologist or help Karina & Gina with English classes
12:20 - Almuerzo/Lunch
1:00 - 3:00
Monday & Tuesday Gina and I are the basketball coaches. Depending on the day we have 12 to 16 girls. It's pretty much a crazy house, street ball kind of game. We are starting with the basics, dribbling dribbling and more dribbling , rebotar in spanish as we quickly learned)
Also, Gina nad I have started teaching English to a few of the sisters, they are really cute :). This happens either on Monday or Tuesday depending on their availability.
Wed - Friday
I help Karina with her afternoon English classes.
4:30 - 7:00 - Homeowork/Chores/Rosary with the internas, the 14 girls that live here at the school (this is basically a time we "supervise" them as they finish their chores and prayer time)
7:00ish - Cena/Dinner
8:00ish - Time to go to my room because they let out the guard dogs and everyone has to be in their rooms so they don't get eaten hehe
I have put a lot of "ish" because everything here runs on Latin America time which means that things happen when they happen. Although you have a schedule does not mean they follow it!
5:15 Wake up
5:30 Morning Walk in the Gym
6:20 Breakfast
6:55 Buenas Dias (school announcements/prayer in gym w/ girls)
7:20/30ish - first class begins
7:30-9:25 - I accompany the school psychologist and help with kinder and pre-k small groups. She has been working to help develop their listening and social skills. (since i have a psy degree they think i am a qualified psychologist which i would be fine with if i could speak spanish!)
9:25-10 - RECREO (a break for all classes aka time to eat pupusas :)
10:00 - 12:20 - Work with psychologist or help Karina & Gina with English classes
12:20 - Almuerzo/Lunch
1:00 - 3:00
Monday & Tuesday Gina and I are the basketball coaches. Depending on the day we have 12 to 16 girls. It's pretty much a crazy house, street ball kind of game. We are starting with the basics, dribbling dribbling and more dribbling , rebotar in spanish as we quickly learned)
Also, Gina nad I have started teaching English to a few of the sisters, they are really cute :). This happens either on Monday or Tuesday depending on their availability.
Wed - Friday
I help Karina with her afternoon English classes.
4:30 - 7:00 - Homeowork/Chores/Rosary with the internas, the 14 girls that live here at the school (this is basically a time we "supervise" them as they finish their chores and prayer time)
7:00ish - Cena/Dinner
8:00ish - Time to go to my room because they let out the guard dogs and everyone has to be in their rooms so they don't get eaten hehe
I have put a lot of "ish" because everything here runs on Latin America time which means that things happen when they happen. Although you have a schedule does not mean they follow it!
Que semana!
So many things have happened these past few weeks! The top three that stand out for me are
1) Michael Jackson Thriller Skit where Gina and I "danced" with the teachers in front of the entire school
- i put dance in quotations because we only practiced the routine like 5 times and so as you might expect we only knew the first few moves of the dance. well i really am glad that we had awesome costumes because the dance was a lot worse than we expected! we basically did the first move and then everyone started doing something different and so at some point of the teachers yelled, caminamos and so we just started walking around like zombies. it was pretty hilarious! the skit was for the celebration of dia de los ninos which apparently is an important celebration for the country of el salvador. however, as we have found out, they have important celebrations for just about everything here!
2) Last Thursday I woke up from a deep sleep and thought I was dreaming because it felt as if my bed was moving. Then I soon realized that it was not a dream, it was in fact a tremor from a terremoto! It lasted for several seconds and was it was over I heard all the sisters come out of their room and talking about it. At this point I was too tired to get up. So the next morning I asked Gina if she had felt anything and she was like what are you talking about. I then started to doubt myself, maybe there wasn't one. Then the topic of breakfast was the terremoto! We couldn't believe Gina hadn't felt anything!
3) Unfortunately the sickness has found us. Gina started feeling weird this past Friday and soon was burning up with a temperature of 102.8. We headed to the clinic the following morning and found out she has the amoeba! The doctor gave her pills that should hopefully clear it up. Apparently she had the highest level of amoeba and infection possible! They tell us it's common and so no need to worry :) The experience of the clinic and being it was the first time we dealt with sickness here was an adventure in itself.
1) Michael Jackson Thriller Skit where Gina and I "danced" with the teachers in front of the entire school
- i put dance in quotations because we only practiced the routine like 5 times and so as you might expect we only knew the first few moves of the dance. well i really am glad that we had awesome costumes because the dance was a lot worse than we expected! we basically did the first move and then everyone started doing something different and so at some point of the teachers yelled, caminamos and so we just started walking around like zombies. it was pretty hilarious! the skit was for the celebration of dia de los ninos which apparently is an important celebration for the country of el salvador. however, as we have found out, they have important celebrations for just about everything here!
2) Last Thursday I woke up from a deep sleep and thought I was dreaming because it felt as if my bed was moving. Then I soon realized that it was not a dream, it was in fact a tremor from a terremoto! It lasted for several seconds and was it was over I heard all the sisters come out of their room and talking about it. At this point I was too tired to get up. So the next morning I asked Gina if she had felt anything and she was like what are you talking about. I then started to doubt myself, maybe there wasn't one. Then the topic of breakfast was the terremoto! We couldn't believe Gina hadn't felt anything!
3) Unfortunately the sickness has found us. Gina started feeling weird this past Friday and soon was burning up with a temperature of 102.8. We headed to the clinic the following morning and found out she has the amoeba! The doctor gave her pills that should hopefully clear it up. Apparently she had the highest level of amoeba and infection possible! They tell us it's common and so no need to worry :) The experience of the clinic and being it was the first time we dealt with sickness here was an adventure in itself.
jueves, 1 de octubre de 2009
La Primera Semana en Soyapango!
Gina and I arrived Saturday Sept. 26 around 1130am to the wonderful humid weather of El Salvador! It was such a joy to have our friend, Molly, pick us up from the airport with the sisters! Immediately we stopped at a vendor to buy agua de coco with semi-clean water. Era muy rico. There´s currently another American volunteer here with us, Karina, that has helped make our transition easier. Our first dinner with the sisters was a bit overwhelming because there are 8 of them and each of them talk so fast! My duties basically include helping the school psychologist, because I´m a psychologist since I studied psy in college ha NOT, but here that doesn´t matter, if you have a degree then you are qualified. It´s a great position minus the fact that I don´t understand half of what they are saying! The school psychologist, Jessica, is extremely nice and so patient.
In the afternoon I have basketball practice on monday and tuesday since Gina told them that I was a great player, they decided that I then should be the coach! We had our first practice Tuesday and it was awesome even though we didn´t know how to say anything but the girls taught us all the major vocab and now we just have to study! It rains every evening and throughout the night and is hot the entire time but you learn to deal. There are 15 girls that stay here at the school, they are called internas, and in the evenings we stay with them to help with their homework and make sure they complete their chores before bed. They have such a busy schedule, class all day, homework, chores, dinner, and then bed! They are amazing and have taught me soo much. I really enjoy spending time with them, they are full of energy! Speaking of the internas I have to run, it´s time for the rosary, did I mention that in between their chores and dinner they pray a rosary! Until next time....
In the afternoon I have basketball practice on monday and tuesday since Gina told them that I was a great player, they decided that I then should be the coach! We had our first practice Tuesday and it was awesome even though we didn´t know how to say anything but the girls taught us all the major vocab and now we just have to study! It rains every evening and throughout the night and is hot the entire time but you learn to deal. There are 15 girls that stay here at the school, they are called internas, and in the evenings we stay with them to help with their homework and make sure they complete their chores before bed. They have such a busy schedule, class all day, homework, chores, dinner, and then bed! They are amazing and have taught me soo much. I really enjoy spending time with them, they are full of energy! Speaking of the internas I have to run, it´s time for the rosary, did I mention that in between their chores and dinner they pray a rosary! Until next time....
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