Friday, January 28, 2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Today was a fun day teaching about colors with the M&Ms that some of you brought in.  We used the M&Ms to teach colors, counting, graphing and saying sentences in English.  For example they had to say:  “I have seven blue candies” etc.  In teaching colors we used a color wheel that matched a picture with the color wheel to get them to say a sentence such as “A banana is yellow.”  Tomorrow is our last day of classes.  It will be so sad to tell many of the students and their teachers good-bye.  The students have been so excited about the things we have done.  We have had so much fun sharing an evening meal with Williams, Cristian and Freddy each night.  The conversations are a combination of Spanish and English with much laughter.  We will all be laughing about something said and then they will translate for Freddy who starts laughing and then we all start again. J

Tomorrow we will also celebrate Cristian’s birthday at Pizza Hut, and Friday we will go to Antigua to go shopping and eat lunch.  

Tuesday, January 23, 2011

Today the morning came much to quick for us after our exhausting first day, but by 8:00 we were back at Amigos school teaching our first class.  We reviewed yesterday’s concepts, and then we worked on introducing or reviewing shapes in English.  After reading the book “Mouse Shapes” we gave them foam shapes and paper and let them create their own pictures.  WOW!  They are so creative.  We started running behind in our classes because they loved the activity so much they did not want to stop.  By the time we got to the morning 7^th grade class, it was their recess time and they wanted to have the English class instead.  I was amazed.  They stayed on task and continued to become more creative with each grade level.  After teaching 8 classes we returned to the house for a lunch of spaghetti, radish salad and tortillas (that were crunchy).

In our afternoon classes, we have a boy in 9^th grade and a girl in 8^th who are new to the school.  After living in Delaware for 10 yrs and going to the state of the art schools, their father was deported and they are living with an aunt.  They are so sweet and love being able to talk to us in English.  Sometimes we allow them to translate for us so they can share their knowledge.

Today after school, we went to visit the homes of the 2 students that we sponsor.  Angel, who is in 4^th grade and Darlin who is in 2^nd.  Angel was so excited.  His mother told me that Saturday he waited by his door all day because he knew that I was coming to Guatemala that day.  It was so humbling to go into their home and see my picture and the pictures I have sent of my family hanging on their walls along with their family pictures, and to know that they pray for me, as I pray for them.  It has been a very emotional time to get to talk to them, touch, hug and spend time with them in person.

Monday, January 23, 2011

Today was our first day of teaching English classes.  My big surprise was that school starts in Guatemala at 7:00 a.m. and is over at 12:00.  The morning is for PK/K to one class of 7^th grade.  The afternoon classes are 7^th-9^th grade and is from 1:00-6:00!

Jodi and started teaching our classes at 8:00 and by noon we had taught 8 different classes and grades.  To work around the soccer tournaments, we were up and down the steps for the different classes, taking all our supplies with us.  I have an even deeper appreciation for our specialist teachers who do that all the time! 

This morning we worked on teaching them names for the body parts and action words. In the morning, depending on the grade, we taught then the songs “I’ve Got the Joy Down in my Heart”, “If you are happy and you know it”, and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”  By the 8^th class I couldn’t do that one anymore. LOL.  We read the classes the book “From Head to Toes” by Eric Carle, played games, taught them how to write words to finish a sentence, and made paper helicopters.  All in 30 minutes!  By the time we came back from lunch Jodi and I dropped on our beds for a quick nap before lunch.

Lunch was a great meal made by Anna and Elsa of rice, chicken, broccoli and homemade tortillas, which they eat like we would bread or rolls. Yummy!

By 1:45 we were back to school and working with the 9^th graders.  While we taught them some of the same things that we did in the morning classes, we worked with them on writing sentences.  Then we worked with the 7^th and eight graders.  Because there is not many options for Middle School and High School in Guatemala, since most do not go to those grades, those classes were the largest with 2 sections each.  Jodi and I taught until 5:50 and then helped Senora Hall with her meeting for those families that have sponsored children.  I got to take the pictures of all the children and their families for their sponsors.  It was so emotional for me to see them holding pictures of people I know and see how much love they have for their sponsors!

It was a long and exciting day, and I am totally exhausted, but yet it was a great day!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Our first flight left Akron Canton Airport at 6 am!  We flew to Atlanta were we had a layover until 10 am, then off to Guatemala.  The flight was 3 hrs 45 min. and went very quick between having a “purchased meal” and getting to watch a movie.   After we found our luggage, we went to the doors to find Danna (Sra Hall).  Both Jodi (Mrs. Orihel) and I said we felt like a monkey at the zoo because we had to wait in a horseshoe shaped roped off opening.  All the people who were picking up others had to wait on the other side of the roped off area (several people deep), since they were not allowed into the airport.  Senora Hall had told us not to leave this area until we saw her on the other side. There were people asking to shine your shows, give you a ride, get you a drink, etc….anything to make money.  One guy in a wheelchair had ball point pens taped to a piece of cardboard that he wanted to sell you one.  And everywhere all we heard was Spanish.  Well we meet up with her after only a few minutes and then waited for the Montgomery family, a North school family, who was arriving a half an hour later.

 The ride to Danna’s house in a rented van was something that would have made an exciting movie and I found it was better not to watch.  It was fast, with cars, motorbikes etc crisscrossing and weaving in and that was the least of it, all on  twisty, turny roads!

 When we got to Danna’s house, we unloaded and had time to settle our things in our rooms.  Danna’s house that is for the ministry is in what we would call row houses, since they are all connected.   It has three floors.  The first floor is where Jodi and I are staying and it used to be the floor where a pastor and his wife lived with their 3 children. It also has a bathroom (shower is outside) and the area that we use as a dining room. The second floor is where Stephanie Hall had lived when she lived here.  It has the living room, Danna’s bathroom, kitchen and and another bathroom.  The third floor is the roof and another bedroom that the Montgomery’s stayed in.  This is where Cristian and Williams lived when Stephanie was here.  From the roof you can see the neighborhood, the school and hear all the sounds.

 We ate our lunch/dinner that Anna (Carlos’ mom) and Elsa make for us everyday. It was a wonderful meal of a really interesting potato salad, rice, black beans, salsa and bread.  Yum!

 After dinner, we went for a walk to see some of the neighborhood.  We stopped to see Cristians’s puppies (which he pronounces poopies), and then we visited with Anna and we ran into Jenny as we were walking.  After our walk, we came back to the house and many visitors came to see us.  I told Cristian that I felt I already knew him, since I had seen pictures and heard stories about him since he was a little boy and now he is a teacher in the Amigos school (and Danna’s faithful helper).  It was the same way with the others who came.  I knew their faces and names, and sometimes stories.  We meet Mildred, Freddy, and our driver’s family.

 Finally we all had to turn in because we could not hold our eyes open much longer.  It is different here at night.  It is never quiet.  You can here music, firecrackers, cars, motorcycles, dogs barking and people talking and shouting to each other all night.  During the day you add in the sounds of kids playing and roosters crowing.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

 We got up, showered, ate breakfast (I had Danon yogurt, banana and bread), and then we had devotions in Danna’s living room before we went to church.  We walked to the church, which is a part of the school grounds.  I finally got to meet Angel and his mother!  What an emotional experience to meet someone who you love and pray for as a son from a far.  I knew him as soon as he walked up.

 For Sunday school we went to the kids Sunday School and sat in on their lesson about Moses getting the 10 commandments.  The Pastor’s wife, who is the morning principal of the school, taught the lesson and it had all the elements of a great lesson, including snacks.

 For the service, they sang a lot of worship songs, and had a worship team.  Even though I do not understand Spanish, it was beautiful and moving.  When they sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness” I was so moved thinking about all the worship in the world going up to God in all languages!  The Pastor preached from Romans 8:35-39, which are great passages.

 After church we walked down some of the side alleys, to see the difference in their yards and houses.  It was so much quieter!  We saw many yards with dogs, cats, birds in cages, chickens and even some cows!

 Anna and Elsa brought lunch to us (and ate with us).  We had thin steak cooked “outside”, rice with the crispiest peas, salad, and homemade tortillas.  I wish you could taste how wonderful it was.

 Jodi and I decided to spend sometime organizing our teaching materials, while Danna and the others took a taxi to another village, so she could go to the market, and Troy and Brooks were meeting Cristian and Williams at a McDonalds so they could watch the American football games on the television.  Which is the only place they could watch it.

 We are soon expecting visitors to start coming over again!