My Job

I have been working at my job for 2 weeks and thought that I should post and let you know how it is going. I work in an after school program at the Guardería Moises. From 8:00 to 11:30 I work with my first group of students. There are 11 in my morning group, but not all of them come everyday. Most of them are in second or third grade. For 2 1/2 hours we work on their homework and then there is a snack and an hour of recess. There is a group that stays for lunch and then after lunch I usually have an hour break before the next group comes from 2:00 to 5:30. There are also 11 students in my afternoon group, but usually not all of them are there at once (although this thursday afternoon they all were present). These students are in third or fourth grade. It sounds like my job is not too hard...just help students with homework and then give them some practice pages to do if they finish early. However, I have found many challenges in working with my students. The main challenge is the language. The students speak a lot faster, less clearly, and have more slang words then I am used to. It is difficult for me to follow their conversations. It is also a challenge to get them to follow my directions and to complete their homework. I don't know the Bolivian curriculum and sometimes it is hard for me to know how to help them with their homework. This job is very different from my teaching job in the U.S. Despite the challenges, there are several things that I do enjoy about this job. First of all, the other teachers who help the students are all really great. Most are around my age or in college and they have helped me out a lot and really included me in their group. Second, I enjoy different moments that I have had learning with the kids as they teach me how to play soccer or play games. And third, I am learning a lot, and it is only when we are challenged that we grow.

I am living with an amazing host family here in Santa Cruz. Ona and Lucy (my host parents) are family friends who know my parents well. Ona is the pastor at one of the Mennonite churches here and so I find myself once again a PK (pastor's kid). I have 4 brothers and sisters who range in age from 16 to 1 1/2 years old. There is also a cousin that lives with us. When we sit down for a meal there are 8 of us and I love that I am part of a big family. I grew up with only 1 sister and my parents and I have always wanted to part of a big family. We do not have any pets, so there is no dog (yes!), but there are sadly no pet cats. Some of my favorite evenings are when we all sit outside on the patio furniture and hammock and talk about life. I have been shown so much love and hospitality here, and this family has been a real blessing to me.

One last thing I wanted to write about was that last weekend I went to a "Campamento de Jovenes" (a camp) this involved youth and young adults from a wide range of ages. We went outside of Santa Cruz to Don Lorenzo which is more in the country. There were several dorm rooms that we stayed in and we spent the weekend going to woship sessions, talking, and playing many games. When we first arrived we were each given a colored wristband which divided us up into 4 teams for the weekend. We played some familiar games like volleyball and tug of war, but on the last day we played "juegoes extremos" (extreme games) which involved rolling over people, crawling through mud, walking like a duck, and hopping in a sack with 5 other people, among other things. It was like a random obstacle course/games that you had to complete as a team. There are some pictures posted of me playing these games on facebook. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, although the frogs that lived in the toilets of the bathroom gave me quite a scare (not joking).