Sunday, June 22, 2008

June 15th to 22nd

Week 8: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Sunday

Today was mostly uneventful, except for one thing. I slept in this morning, and then had brunch with Flor and the girls. They've recently come into possession of some Prison Break DVDs, so that was the viewing choice - I watched for a little while before I realized that it's really not the kind of show I enjoy, so I retired to my room.

Once there, I made a nasty discovery. A few mornings ago, one of the more scraggly chickens flapped up and perched on my windowsill for a moment. Apparently she returned during brunch, because there were globs of chicken poop on the windowsill and floor, and a long stripe of it down the wall. Disgusted, I went to Flor for cleaning supplies, and spent the next half-hour scrubbing. I learned that powdered detergent is not the best stuff to use for this - it doesn't stick, it barely foams, and it took the paint off the wall (though a stripe without paint is preferrable to a stripe of chicken poop, probably). To cap it all off, as I was leaning out the window to pour some water over the sill, the same chicken lept up onto the sill right in front of me. I yelped in surprise and jerked back, spilling water all over myself and everything, and gave the chicken a good hard whap, sending it clucking to the ground (don't worry, it wasn't hurt). As I went to return the cleaning stuff, I grumbled to Flor, "Un pollo muy, muy malo." She thought this was very funny.

Monday onward

Since this was my last week of classes, I decided to shift focus away from just copying and repeating, and try to do fun stuff instead. With the older classes, I drew labeled diagrams of the face and body (Me, with an embarrassed smile: "I'm not a good artist" or "It's an ear. It's not pretty, but it's an ear"). After those, I moved on to the five senses, because I wanted to teach the kids a song about that:

With my eyes I see
With my ears I hear
With my fingers I can touch
With my nose I smell
With my mouth I taste
Now thank you very much

This song is from Barney & Friends, I'm ashamed to admit, but I shortened it and modified the lyrics a bit to make them simpler. Regardless, the kids loved it - I got standing ovations every time, and while I'm not sure the kids will actually remember the song, they did well repeating it with me. I'll leave the lyrics in case the next volunteer wants to use it.

With the two youngest grades, I made the rounds with Can I Keep Him?, a Steven Kellogg book about a boy who brings different animals home, only to have his mom explain why each wouldn't make a good pet. This book was one of my favorites when I was a kid, and it was a bit hit here too. The kids especially loved the picture that goes with the mom's explaination of why a tiger is a bad pet (Me, in a Mr. Bill-esque voice: "Oh no, ¡el tigre comio la mama!").

Puerto Lopez is holding the 'Fiesta de las Ballenas' on the 25th, celebrating the humpback whales migrating here to breed, and the school's been preparing for it all this week. The older kids are practicing a dance that looks like monkeys jumping (even in class - I have to ask them not to jump in their chairs). The teachers, meanwhile, are building a big cardboard float shaped like a clamshell, about the size of a big wading pool. I tried to help put the cardboard sections in place, but ran into conflict when the others didn't understand my suggestions, so instead I just took photos of the float at their insistence.

I took lots of photos this week, in fact. The older grades knew that I was leaving, so at every last class, they always wanted me to take their picture, and I did, as well as some video clips because they kept moving around so much. The fifth grade was especially cute - there were three little girls who latched themselves onto me and begged me not to go. I hugged them and said I was sorry, but my family wanted me to come home, but they still held on. I ended up swarmed and having to pry them off. I'm going to miss these kids.

On the home front, to save time and make sure I'll have enough room, I packed everything I knew I wouldn't need this week at the start, and I've been adding things to the suitcase each day as I finish with them. I've decided not to buy another suitcase, so instead I'm trying to unload and leave everything I possibly can. There wasn't even the pretense of room for that white volleyball I bought a while back, so I peeled the tape off and asked Denise if she'd like to keep it - she did. Things like shampoo, sunblock, what bug spray there was left (not much), and other things that take up space and can be easily replaced were all left behind, as were the most worn-out of my socks and such. When all 'twas done, I think there may be room for those presents yet!

On Friday I made my last afternoon expedition to Lopez, to write up notes on what I'd taught so the next volunteer can pick up where I left off. I also stocked up on snacks for the bus ride - I don't want to go hungry like I did on the ride here. The house was locked when I returned and the keys that were left didn't work, so I made my third ninja escapade over the backyard fence. I'm getting good at it.

Friday evening over dinner, Flor and I talked about the last two months, and my general thoughts and feelings. She's still puzzled that I was sick so much, and I tried explaining about being new and not having immunity, but she didn't buy it, saying that none of the other volunteers got sick. She also criticized me for not having gone snorkeling or done other touristy stuff - look, it's not that I don't enjoy that, but I came here to work, and if I'm going to play tourist I'd rather have the free time to do it properly. Denise was nice, though, and I added my name, number, and birthday to the log-book she's kept for past volunteers. I also talked on the phone with Roc to touch base, since he's so busy that I probably won't get a chance to see him in Quito.

After dinner, I spent the rest of the evening finishing packing and tidying up my room. The biggest task was cleaning my hair out of the shower - Flor said I didn't need to, but I feel better not leaving it for her.

On an unrelated note, there was a peculiar incident mid-week. I woke up on Wednesday morning to the sound of a bird cheeping inside the house, and went to investigate. In the kitchen, there was a baby chick - a newly accquired addition to the backyard flock. Before leaving for school, I helped Flor get the chick settled in a fenced-off area, and caught and returned it when it escaped and was chased and attacked by one of the bigger chickens. I really don't like this particular chicken - I think it's a rooster, since it gets up and crows now and then, but it's scraggly and ugly, and it picks on the littler chickens. I had to grab it by the neck to make it let go of the new chick.

When I asked about the new chick a few days later, Denise said they'd searched for it on Thursday, but hadn't found a trace of it. I assume that either it escaped under the fence or a cat got it. ¿Who knows?

Saturday

I got up a bit early this morning, had breakfast and paid Flor, and then went to take down the mosquito net and strip the bed. I had planned to take a bus to Lopez, but Flor said that there was a guy in town who could take me in his truck, and since this would be less of a hassle with my giant suitcase, I agreed eagerly.

While waiting for him to arrive, I went around trying to take photos of those miniature mourning dove-esque birds I've described before. Usually they're everwhere, but this morning I could only find a few, and they didn't like being photographed. Isn't that always the way?

The truck arrived at 8, and I loaded up and waved goodbye to the family as we drove out of town. Marianne had said she's meet me at the interprovincial bus station at 8:30, so I waited out front there, in a chair that one of the employees very nicely brought out for me. 8:30 came and went, so I called Marianne - turns out she thought I was going on the other bus line that goes to Quito, and was at that station a block away. This was soon remedied, and I delivered to her my notes and the bag of school supplies I'd kept for this week. Good wishes were exchanged, and we parted ways as I boarded the bus.

They let me keep my backpack with me this time, and the ride itself was fairly uneventful. It turned out to be a good thing I bought snacks yesterday, because we didn't stop for lunch - the only food source was local vendors who walked down the aisle at each stop, and one thing all the guidebooks agree on is not to eat street food. I spent most of the time listening to my iPod, until its batteries died, and looking out the window or reading. The view wasn't as interesting this time, since I'd seen it on the way down, but it was still fun. Sights included:

- A mother turkey and her chicks
- A flock of ducklings of various sizes
- An extremely cute donkey foal (or whatever baby donkeys are called)
- A truck holding four or five lions (yes, live lions, big ones)
- A guy who boarded the bus carrying a big, realistic crucifix and nothing else
- A vendor who went down the aisle selling sex manuals
- Other stuff that I'll add when I remember it

We reached Quito around 9:30 or so. The last leg of the ride was quite exciting. As I said before, it's lots of little windy mountain roads, and they're exciting enough to drive on during the day. Driving them in the dark of night, able to see nothing but a long fall into blackness, is not a fun experience. Near the end I had to get up to use the bathroom - it was every bit the adventure of the last time, but more so, because the bathroom was pitch-black and the door was broken, so I had to brace it closed with my feet.

Nonetheless, we arrived unscathed at the bus terminal, and from there it was easy to get a taxi to Isabel's place. Her dogs have returned since I was gone, and they're incredibly adorable Pomeranian-wannabes. I managed to get my giant suitcase up the stairs without help, and after getting the bag of presents from Isabel, I spent the hour or so before I went to sleep trying to pack them. Praise the powers that be, they fit!

Sunday

I slept in, enjoying a bed with a real quilt and blankets, and then went to take my first hot shower in two months. It was heavenly, and gave me a chance to steam out the dress I wanted to wear today as well.

Breakfast was eggs, fruit, bread, and real cafe con leche with Isabel and the dogs. If you're familiar with the stereotype of old ladies who spoil and dote on their little dogs, Isabel's exactly like that. The dogs won't eat dog food, so they get fed rice and ground meat and egg, and they get fed when they beg at the table. Since they're so little, though, it's not such a problem - I joked with her that we couldn't do this with my dogs, since they were big enough to actually take the food off the table, and told the story of the time Hercules stole and ate two loaves of bread in four minutes. She remarked that my Spanish has improved a lot - I was glad to hear it.

After breakfast, I went out to find an Internet cafe, and now here I sit typing this. My plane leaves at 9:45 tonight, so if all goes well, I'll be back in Easton by tomorrow afternoon.

I've learned a lot about myself on this trip, and while it's rarely been easy, I'm very glad I did it. At this moment, though, I just want to go home and not have any more big adventures for a while.

For now, to live will be a great adventure.

Monday, June 16, 2008

June 7th to 14th

Week 7: Function in Disaster, Finish in Style

Saturday

I think I've learned something about my moods here - when I feel depressed one day, it means I'm going to fall sick the next morning. After venting into the blog yesterday, I woke up this morning with a headache and a sore throat, and something similar happened when I got sick several weeks ago. Well, hopefully this too shall pass. I spent the day in the house, drinking juice and blobbing.

Sunday

My throat's still sore, but not as much, and my headache's gone. I don't think my sore throat has ever really gone away since I've been here - having to shout to be heard in class makes it worse, but usually I can manage. After taking two sick days already, and classes being cancelled almost one day every week, I don't feel that I can miss any more days of work.

Aside from that, not a whole lot happened today.

Monday

I woke up feeling a little sick this morning, but not enough to stop me from going to the school. Once I got there, however, things went downhill - I began feeling queasy and crampy, and I ended up spending the rest of the morning running to one of the bathrooms. By the time recess started, I felt so awful that I wasn't able to leave until lunchtime, almost two hours later.

Don't believe for one moment that I was doing this to get out of work, because I would never go into the school bathrooms here unless I had no choice. They're dark and filthy, and because the flush doesn't work, they have that lovely smell that anyone who's used a latrine at summer camp will recognize. Even so, I couldn't help giving the impression I was just hiding, because once I got home, I was feeling much better (I still ate very little at lunch, though).

Eventually I emerged from my room, and went to Puerto Lopez to use the photocopier. To keep from having to remind the kids constantly about things like Silent E and the different vowel sounds, I've typed up a series of 'cheat sheets' that cover the English alphabet, special letter sounds (SH, TH, etc.), Silent E, and a list of basic questions: who, what, when, where, why, how, how much, how many. I returned home in the evening with an enormous stack of paper, and spent the rest of today organizing the pages into packets - I want to give one to each kid in the four highest grades, which comes to almost two hundred packets, each seven pages long. Yikes.

Tuesday

I felt mostly okay on Tuesday morning, until I finished breakfast. As soon as the last bite was down, I found myself dashing back to the bathroom and returning everything to the porcelain god. Queasy and miserable, I was nonethless still able to talk, so I didn't feel right not going to work.

My first class was with the littlest kids. I had made copies of some pages from the new books, showing pictures of different animals with the English words, so I handed these out to the kids to trace and color while I sat in the teacher's chair hunched over and groaning quietly. Fortunately, the kids loved them.

After that, I had class with the fifth grade. These kids are probably my favorites - they're mostly well behaved and easy to get along with, and they're very enthusiastic. I handed the new packets out to them, and we spent class going over the info. Reviewing the vowels was interesting, because I used a lot of gastric descriptions for how to make them (short A sounds like choking, for example, while short U is like a burp), and the kids enjoyed practicing that. I still didn't feel great, but my mood was a little better, so I went off to the next class, third grade A, and repeated the lesson. These kids are a bit younger and I hadn't planned to give their grade the packets, but this particular class has been zipping along with the material well enough that I thought they could handle it, and I was right. They were very happy to hear that they could keep the packets, too.

Normally I go and sit out in the courtyard at recess so the kids can come and talk to me. I didn't feel up to it today, though, so I went to the room where I'd be having my next class - the fourth grade - and waited there until recess was over.

If I haven't mentioned it before, fourth grade is the class I had my first day on the job with, back when they were leaving me with one class all morning. I don't know if it's because of that impression or because it's just the way they are, but I don't get along with them as well as I do with most of the other grades. I handed out the packets again and went over them, but over and over, kids kept talking and distracting the others and not paying attention - since hearing me speak the sounds is a big part of the lesson, this is a serious problem.

By the third or fourth time I'd asked the same kids to be quiet and pay attention because this was important material to learn, I was starting to lose it. I have two class periods in a row with this class on Tuesdays, for a total of an hour and a half - I think I would have been okay on a normal day, but feeling sick like I was, I couldn't take it. I asked the kids why they wouldn't listen - did they not want to learn? Did they not want to work with me? Did they hate me? The class answered that last question with a cheerful and resounding "Yes!". "Okay. I'll go," I whispered, and left the room.

(For the record, I'm pretty sure they don't hate me - the kids here have never answered anything but yes to a question, even when it's clearly not the answer).

Of course I wasn't going to actually leave the school. I explained to one of the senior teachers what had happened, that I couldn't work with the fourth grade right now, and then sat down on a bench outside the room to cool down. While I was there, I could hear another teacher inside the room chewing the kids a new one, though I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying. Some of the littler kids wandered by, and we chatted a bit, which cheered me up some. By now there were only about fifteen minutes of class left, so I went back into the room and quietly resumed the lesson where I'd planned to - drawing fruit. This is always popular, so things were pretty okay until I was able to go home.

I didn't feel great for the rest of the day. I told Flor over lunch how I'd been sick for the last few days - she thinks it's due to my staying inside so much (I tried explaining that it was because I was in a new place, but nothing doing). To make her feel better, I went out to Lopez again to make more copies. At the bus stop, I met one of the other teachers - she asked if I was feeling better, and I said yes.

Wednesday

I still felt a little sick today, but not as bad as the last two days. I've decided that it's best to just go on as usual - be my usual cheerful and open self, be nice to everyone, let the past be past, forgive, etc. It seems to be working pretty well.

Class with the littlest grade was fun today. The topic is still animals, so I started by reviewing with the little plastic animals - I'm definitely going to leave them here for the next volunteer (though said volunteer might want to leave the toy goose out, because even most of the adults here don't know what a goose is). After that, I showed the kids a photo of my dogs, and then asked them to draw pictures of their own pets, or of their favorite animal if they didn't have a pet. Once they'd done that, I wrote the English words for the animals with the drawings, and gave a stamp of approval. I need to make more copies of those trace-and-color animal pictures, too.

After recess, I had class with the seventh grade. They're usually pretty rowdy, but fortunately they're also good-natured and tend to listen when I ask them to calm down. One of the boys in the class is deaf (or mostly deaf, I'm not sure which), and he seems to have picked me out for a special friend - I'm flattered.

I'm supposed to be able to leave when I'm done with this class, but that's rarely an option. If I start to leave, I can hear the kids going wild and tearing up the room as soon as I'm outside, so to save the other teachers the trouble, I usually end up staying in the room to supervise until the next teacher comes - or, in the case of today, until it's time to go home.

It was just as I was about to leave that I realized I couldn't find the photo of my dogs I'd shown earlier. Since it's a very good photo, capturing both of them at once, I really wanted to find it, and went back to ransack the empty classrooms. The teacher of the littlest grade had already left, but I asked one of the teachers who was still there if she'd keep an eye out for the photo, and that I'd ask the homeroom teacher tomorrow. That was how I learned there won't be classes tomorrow because of some holiday in Lopez (people, when you cancel a class day almost every week, it's no wonder the kids lag).

At home, Flor confirmed that there won't be classes tomorrow, and I found the dog photo in the pocket of my skirt. Isn't that always the way?

For classes at the community center, I gave everyone there one of the alphabet cheat sheet packets too. One of the people who'd come that day was a professor, while all the others were just starting - he left early on, making me feel awkward.

Thursday

This morning, I got some much-needed sleeping in.

In the afternoon, I prepared to go to Lopez, only to realize halfway to the bus stop that I was supposed to be teaching a class at the community center in twenty minutes. I went there quickly, and even though only two people showed up, it was fun. I gave them packets too, and let them direct what I taught. I ended up drawing a labeled diagram of a house, and then using the little plastic animals (who knew they'd be a hit with adults too?) to start a discussion on types of animals. Like the kids, they didn't know what a goose was - I tried describing it, and they thought I meant a swan, but it did give me a chance to entertain them by telling about the Waterfowl Festival my hometown holds every fall.

The biggest snag came when I tried to explain frigatebirds. The people around here call frigatebirds 'gaviotas', but gaviota is officially the word for seagull, which made it difficult to explain seagulls. I hoped I might be able to refererence Buscando Nemo, but neither of these ladies had seen that movie, so I gave up and moved on to horses, donkeys, and mules.

Friday

Gaston called me into his office to talk about my blowout on Tuesday (which he thought had happened on Wednesday - huh?) I apologized, explaining that I was sick that day and that it wouldn't happen again, he was sympathetic, we shook hands, and I think all will be well.

After that, it was classes as usual. The only small snag came when they ended the day so early that I didn't have any time to hold lessons with the last class on my schedule - people, this is getting ridiculous. Nonetheless, I stood out in the courtyard with the lines and said goodbye to each class as they marched out.

Marianne should be coming back soon. I hope so, anyway, because I need to meet with her to discuss my departure plans.

Saturday

Sure enough, Marianne called me this morning. We arranged to meet in Lopez later, and I spent the morning doing my laundry until it was time to head out.

It turns out Marianne and her boyfriend didn't actually elope, but big things did happen - he realized how much he loved her, and they're making plans for her to come to the US for the summer (she tells me she hasn't been back to the States in two years). We went up to her house on the hillside, where he's paying for her to live in a new, bigger residence with a jacuzzi and a gorgeous view of the ocean. We chatted about my experiences here, and whether I had any suggestions for the future (I did), and I gave her all the teaching books I'd received. I also gave her One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (it's a very useful book and it's been a big hit - family, I'll buy us another copy, I swear!) and the little plastic animals. She particularly liked these, and had an idea to use them as models for making carvings out of vegetable ivory.

Back down in town, I bought a bus ticket to Quito for Saturday - since it's tourist season, I wanted to be sure and get a seat now. My bus leaves in the morning that day, so I should get back to Quito that night. Since my plane doesn't leave until Sunday, Roc said he'd arrange for me to stay at Isabel's again for one night. Hopefully he'll remember, and if not, I asked Marianne to remind him.

Things were quiet back at Casa de Flor until 8 in the evening, when we all went down to El Pelicano. They were having a party for a friend of the family, so there was music, drinks, food, and general fun to be had, and I think most of the town ended up passing through at some point. I kept four little girls entertained by letting them read my pocket Spanish-English dictionary (whatever popped into their head, they wanted to know the English word for it). We all drank a toast with some kind of very strong, very foul-tasting alcohol, but fortunately I managed to get away with only a tiny sip.

After that, everyone danced for at least two hours. When people have asked if I like dancing, I always say "No, because I'm not good at it". Tonight, however, they wouldn't take no for an answer. I was pulled onto the dance floor with three different men, and trotted about with my wrists grasped tight, unable to escape. There are some photos of me on my camera - I look unhappy and bewildered in most of them, which is pretty accurate. It's not quite true that I don't like dancing, but I like being able to choose when I dance, what I dance to, and who I dance with, and the fact that people were laughing and teasing me about my "boyfriends" made me very uncomfortable. Eventually I said I was tired, and they let me sit down, and after that I pretended to be sleepy (which wasn't hard) and they left me alone. It was almost midnight by now, extremely late for me, so Vanessa took me home even before they cut the cake - I was a little sad about that.

Once home, I crashed hard.

Friday, June 6, 2008

June 1st to 6th

Week 6: Time Keeps On Slipping

Sunday

After doing my laundry in the morning, I went out to Lopez in search of a photocopier, since I'd picked out a number of pages from the new books that I wanted students to fill out. As I was walking up to the bus stop, I passed by an old lady who muttered "gringa" at me as we passed - I don't know what that was about.

In Lopez, I eventually found a school supply store with an Internet cafe and photocopier attached, and spent the rest of the afternoon copying things and browsing the Net. It was kind of fun - the lady running the store is a teacher, and she wanted to make copies of the pages as well, so she could use them for her students. Of course I let her, and I'll have to be sure to go back there in the future, so she can have copies of more stuff.

When I came back to Salango, I found the house completely dark and the door locked. This isn't the first time this has happened, but usually Flor and family leave a key in easy reach. There was no key, however, and when there was no sign of them and the mosquitoes were getting bad, I took drastic measures. First, I put my purse and what else would fit through the bars on the front window. Then, through a ninja escapade involving some barrels, a board, and a sheet of tin, I was able to scramble over the backyard fence and climb in my bedroom window. When I told Vanesa and Denise about my adventure an hour or so later, they were much amused.

Monday onward

Well, the photocopied activities I tried to use didn't go so well. In the second grade, I tried one that showed a picture of a family with the words for the people in English, and told/showed the kids to write the Spanish words next to the English ones, and to color the picture when they were done, only to be told by the teacher that the kids can't write (funny, quite a few of them could copy stuff from the board in the past).

The more I think about it, the more I think it's really a mistake to have a full class period teaching a second language to kids who are only just learning their first language. It works on Sesame Street, yes, but they only do it for a minute or two at a time, with long sessions of other stuff teaching the first language in between. I'm not a Muppet, and changing topics like that isn't an option. It's very frustrating - for the next class with this grade, I went over the papers again, to see that either the teacher or the parents had filled out some of them. I understand wanting to help, and I know what I've been doing with Denise, but that's different - Denise can read and understand the concepts, and she takes the initiative. These kids can copy what I do without a problem, but when I try and get them to do something for themselves, to think, nada. The next time, I just had them copy English words with pictures.

It's even worse with the youngest grade, who aren't even learning to write yet. With them, I just show a picture and have them repeat the English words with me, first as a group and then bringing each student up individually. I've moved on from people to animals with them, and I've been making use of those little plastic farm animals I bought a while back. I do write the words on the board, in case the kids feel like trying to read, but the models are really popular - the kids crowd up to see them, and I've had to keep a few from trying to take them out of my pocket. It's more memorizing than actually learning, but at least it's something. Maybe the next volunteer, who has more resources to start with, will be able to do more for them than I can.

It's a lot easier with the older students. I've been teaching fruits and vegetables this week, and explaining things like Silent E in the process. They love the chance to draw and color, and they're much more active about asking questions and showing interest. I've had some fun conversations with a fifth-grade boy at recess: Spider-Man is very popular here, and he wanted to know the English names for some of the characters ('Green Goblin', for example, is 'Duende Verde' in Spanish), and for other superheroes.

When I say it's going well with fruits and vegetables, there's one exception. I always have the kids try to guess what I'm drawing before I write the names, and to see if any of them know the English words already (some do). Every time I've drawn an ear of corn, the kids have guessed "chocolate!". True, corn as I draw it does look a little like a cacao pod, but really, when I'm drawing rice and beans alongside it, why is it so hard to believe that it's corn?

Wednesday

There was a bit of excitement today while I was teaching the seventh grade. The kids were rowdier than usual, and at one point, two boys actually got into a full-out fight in the middle of class. While I did my best to separate them, others ran to get Gaston, who arrived and called them out for a talk. When they returned, he gave a speech about respect for each other and for your teacher - the teachers give these speeches frequently, and I can't see that they make much difference.

My markers have run dry from all the drawing I've been doing, so after class, I made a quick jaunt to Lopez to buy some new ones, since I'd need them for the adult classes this afternoon. That turned out to be a non-issue: there was a big reunion of some kind at the community center, so it was jam-packed, and we couldn't use the board. I told those few who were still there that we'd try again tomorrow.

Thursday onward

Well, Thursday marks a new first for me - I made a student cry.

It happened in the sixth grade. One girl had stood up on her desk to look out the window (a bad idea in and of itself, but that isn't the issue here), and the girl behind her had her foot on the desk, tipping it backward sharply. The floors here are solid concrete, and falling sideways from 3+ feet up is an excellent way to break something. More scared than anything, I dashed over and snapped at the second girl to stop: the other girl could fall, did she want to hurt her?

Normally I'd have left it at that and all would have been well, except that the girl just laughed at me. Angry, I grabbed her by the forearm to get her attention and repeated the warning. I went back to my desk, while she cringed and sobbed quietly. I did feel bad about that, but this is a serious matter - if this will make her remember to think before she does something that might hurt someone, it will be for the best. The other students didn't seem bothered, and when the homeroom teacher came back, I was honest about what happened - he was okay with it. This is another one of those things that make me shudder to think of the reaction in the US, but that you can get away with here; I've seen other teachers react worse to lesser offenses (when that happens, I usually try to soften things a little).

I went to the community center again, only to find it locked and deserted. I waited outside for a while, watching the chickens, and soon the director came and let me in, but I waited for an hour and a half and nobody showed up (Me, mournful: "I am not popular".)

I think I'm in a bit of a depressive episode. I haven't been sleeping well this week - I have nightmares almost every night (this might be a side effect of the Malarone). They're always about one of two things. I'm heading home from this trip, or I've just gotten home, and I get there to find that something horrible has happened while I was gone - a friend or family member is dead, usually - and nobody told me about it because they didn't want it to affect my work. Or, I'm back at college in the dark of winter, and I realize that I've forgotten to hand in a big paper for a class that I'd forgotten I was even supposed to be taking (Soil dynamics? Anglo-Saxon literature?). It isn't even the consequences of that I wake up terrified of - it's the forgetting itself, and what the failure says about me as a person. I've been going through cycles of depression for the last few years, with the worst yet hitting me this fall, and as I near the time when I go back, I keep remembering and associating.

I went on this venture largely because I wanted to do something worthwhile with my life - to help people, to give something back to the world (I realize that I was born into a fortunate position, and I feel very guilty about it), and to have something to measure myself by besides grades. But if I can't even do that, then what good am I?

May 25th to 31st

Week 5: Beast Wars

Sunday

Well, the cat was dead when I woke up this morning. Since its eyes were closed and it hadn't moved from the comfy pillowed-against-the-bricks position it was in the last time I saw it, I'm guessing it died in its sleep, and that's something. Flor the girls weren't home to say how to dispose of it, so I bagged it up and left it in view on the concrete shelf, washed my towel, and life went on.

Monday

Classes went pretty smoothly today. I'm still going over the words for people and family with the little kids, but with the older classes I've moved on to words for animals. Rather than draw pictures, I ask the kids to give me the names of animals, then write them on the board and write the English words next to them. It's a lot like the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? - I'm Drew Carey asking the audience to yell out suggestions, picking out ones that I like from the cacaphony, and then telling the audience that I have enough and to shut up so I can be heard. Oh well, at least the kids seem to enjoy it.

I got an unexpected chance to bring up the word 'ratón' today. One of the buildings is off by itself, rather than in the square that the others form, and while I was teaching in there, a mouse ran into the room. Chaos ensued as the students either tried to flee from it or tried to catch it, and it only got worse when Bus, Gaston's dog, ran into the room and chased the mouse, then caught it and ate it (Me, cheering: "¡Es deliciosa!").

I've meant to say a few words about Bus (pronounced 'boose') before now. He looks like someone dressed a timber wolf in the skin of a yellow Lab, and he acts like it too. He roams around the campus and in and out of the classrooms, trying to get the students to give him food, and he really, really doesn't like me. On my first day teaching, he came into the classroom and I tried to shoo him out - he responded by snarling and trying to bite me. Another time, when I was trying to walk through the main gate in the morning, he stood in my way, barking angrily and snapping when I tried to go past. I don't know if this is because I'm new, because I look different from the people around here, or because he hasn't forgiven me for that first day - he doesn't act like this with anyone else. I've settled for just speaking nicely to him when he goes by and avoiding confrontation, and he pretends I don't exist.

For the last few days I've been kind of jumpy, waiting for Marianne to call and say the package has arrived. The call came today, but with one very serious complication - because it was sent by expediated shipping, I have to meet with a customs agent before I can take it home, and the agent is only at the post office from 9AM to 12 on Wednesday and Thursday, and from 2:30 to 4 on Wednesday afternoon.

I can't go in the mornings, obviously, so I'll have to shoot for Wednesday afternoon. I told Flor the situation, so she could spread the word that I wouldn't be at the community center that day. After recess on Wednesdays, I teach the same grade for two periods - I'll just teach for one period this time, and pray that the bus is on time.

Tuesday

I explained the situation to Gaston this morning, and he was fine with me leaving early tomorrow once I told him it was to pick up school materials.

I was back in the same classroom as yesterday, and wouldn't you know it, another mouse came in. Chaos ensued again, but Bus was nowhere to be found. In the confusion, one of the students injured the mouse, giving me a chance to pick it up by the tail.

I've killed mice before. My family uses glue traps, and rather than let the stuck mice suffer, I try and put them out of their misery - a quick smashing with a paint can is the standard method. There weren't any paint cans available, so I took it outside, put it down on the concrete floor, and one heel-stomp to the head later, it was dead. As I carried it to the trash can, a trail of kids followed, wearing expressions of shock and frightened awe. One little girl was upset, so I tried to explain that the mouse was already in pain, and it had died quickly.

For the rest of the class, the kids, for once, were silent.

After school, I went to Lopez to pick up the authorization letter from Marianne's host mother (and waited almost an hour for the bus, not making me feel good about tomorrow). There, I ran into a serious snag - she didn't know what I was talking about. We got on the phone to Marianne, and managed to figure out that she had asked a friend to deliver the letter, and he never had. Then Marianne got on the phone to him, and he said he'd come right over, and to be on the lookout for a red car. He did show up, but on a motorcycle, cheerful and not seeming to care that this was his fault or how upset I was. Still, at least I finally got the letter.

Not wanting to go home just yet, I spent the rest of the afternoon roaming Puerto Lopez, walking up and down the beachside street and checking out the little shops there. I bought a pretty headscarf from a store that had a nude poster prominently displayed (when I say nude, I mean leaving nothing to the imagination and adding a few things as well), and one thing I've been seeking for a while: a white volleyball. As those of you who know me probably know, I write stories in my free time, and one of my works in progress is set on another planet. Covered with clear tape so I can use dry erase markers, the ball will make an excellent globe of that planet.

Wednesday

Days like today are what make me believe in a divine presence watching over me.

I went off to school with my passport and other necessary documents in tow, ready to head out to Manta as soon as possible. When I arrived, I learned that the teachers for the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades were on a small vacation, and the students from those classes wouldn't be coming in today. Since the class I'd planned to cut short was with the seventh grade, this was a stroke of extremely good fortune.

I left as soon as recess began. The wait for the bus was only twenty minutes this time, so by 11AM, I was off on the road to Manta. Sort of, anyway. The conductor told me that this bus was only going to Jipijapa, a halfway point (this despite the bus wearing at least two signs for Manta), and I'd have to catch another bus there. Fortunately the first bus made good time, and when I reached the Jipijapa terminal there was a bus just about to leave for Manta.

I reached Manta just before 2PM. The post office is only about a block away from the bus station, so I went there to touch base - they knew who I was and gave me some forms to show, but told me to come back at 2:30. To kill time, I tried to find the pizza restaurant I went to last time, since I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I did find it, but it was closed, so I hiked for a mile looking for another restaurant (the tourist map said there were many on this route - it lied). I eventually found a cute little one, and had Ecuadorian fried chicken (slices of chicken fried with spices).

By the time I was done it was almost 2:30, and not wanting to hike all the way back, I took a taxi to the bus station. I picked up the package - they had to cut the box open to examine the contents, but since it was crayons and school books, there was no trouble, and afterward I bought some cookies and chips to have for dinner on the bus.

For the last few weeks, I've taken mototaxis back to Salango in the evenings. A mototaxi is basically a scaled-up version of those little stroller-cars parents attach to the backs of their bikes so their kids can go along for the ride. It's an open-air seat under a canopy, attached to the back of a motorcycle, and it has no shock absorbers - you're bounced and vibrated like crazy on the bumpy roads.

My second bus ride back was just like that, but worse, because the bus was bigger and had more room to throw me around. It's a very good thing I don't get motion-sick, or I would have died before we'd gone halfway, being tossed up and down and side to side with every turn of the wheels. It was so bad that the windows kept being vibrated open, and I had to actively hold mine closed while fighting to keep from having the wind knocked out of me. Eventually, though, the road smoothed a bit, and the ride settled down to only making parts of my body bounce, rather than the whole thing.

I got back to Casa de Flor mostly unscathed, and spent the rest of the evening going over the books my mom had sent. They look excellent - pictures with words, spaces for copying, and lots of stuff to color. Thank you, Mom, I owe you a lot for this. I probably won't get very far into the material in the time I have left, but the good news is, I can leave the books here to be used by future volunteers, and they can pick up where I leave off. This thing is bigger than me, after all.

Thursday

Thursday began with a great battle.

Being exhausted and braindead from the trip last night, I forgot and left an open bag with several cookies in it on my dresser, and I woke up to find the bag filled with ants. I dumped the bag, ants and cookies and all, into my toilet, emptied half a bottle of high-concentration bug spray onto them (the spray's supposed to be a repellent, but it works well for killing bugs too), then emptied the rest of the bottle on and around the dresser. When all was done, I surveyed the carnage, triumphant, and washed it all away. 5/29 Never Forget.

The battles continued at school, when yet another mouse infiltrated the classroom. Fortunately it found a hiding place, so there was only a moment's chaos, and I got an excuse to teach the word for 'ratón' again.

In several of the classes I've gone past teaching animals (I usually do about 20-30, and figure they can look up others themselves) and moved on to plants. This is a big hit, because I draw pictures of a tree, a flower, grass, a vine, and a bush, and label all the important parts. The markers and colored pencils come out in force. In the sixth grade, I even got as far as to teach six vegetables, doing the best I can with only four colors of dry erase marker.

Because most of the drawers on my dresser don't have handles, I only store my underwear in there, and I keep the rest of my clothes folded on a countertop across from my bed. As I was moving them to find a roll of tape, a brown spider the size of a quarter scurried out. I've made a hobby of researching dangerous animals, so I know what brown recluses look like, and this spider was the right size, color, and shape (brown recluses have a crab-like stance, and this spider definiely looked similar).

I leapt back with a gasp, and went to war. With a flashlight in one hand and a bottle of bug spray in the other, I stalked the spider for half an hour, poking it out into the open with a pencil and spraying it whenever I had the chance. Eventually it began to weaken, and the spray rained down in torrents as the foul beast writhed in its death throes.

If you're wondering why I didn't just squash it, it's because I didn't want to put my hand anywhere near it, and because I wanted to examine it when it was dead. Looking closer, I'm not sure it was a brown recluse: it didn't have the distinctive 'fiddleback' mark. I do feel better knowing it's dead, though. I don't mind spiders normally - I like watching them when they're outside, and when one's in the house I'll more often release it than kill it, but hiding among my clothes while looking like a dangerous spider is an offense punishable by death.

Friday

June 1st is a child-related holiday here in Ecuador, so because it's on Sunday, the students and teachers celebrated today and partied all morning. The three youngest grades came to school in costumes - butterflies or Cinderella-esque princesses for the girls and clowns or cowboys for the boys (with one Superman in their midst). The older kids had a sack race across the courtyard, with GI Joe-style dolls and other such toys as prizes. I had to run out at one point to buy batteries for my camera - when I came back, the littlest kids were parading down the street, and the older boys were having an eating contest, with all the rest cheering them on.

I'm pretty interesting to the little kids when I'm not in teacher-mode. As those who've seen me recently know, I have very long, very thick hair, and the little girls love to play with it (no, they don't ask, they just grab for it). I followed my mom's advice and brought several pairs of funky earings shaped like animals - dolphins, fish, parrots, and dinosaurs - and these are a big hit with both genders. If I'm not careful, the kids grab them and try to use them as toys, forgetting that they're attached to my ears.

Having my camera in hand made me even more popular today. Everybody wanted me to take their picture, especially the little girls in princess dresses. I got more photos of the layout of the school, as well as some video clips - there's a tiny circus visiting in town, and several kids from there came up and did an act that was half clown, half stand-up comic (I'm not sure what it was about, but everyone thought it was funny).

After the clowns left, everyone went to their classrooms to have snacks. Not sure what else to do, I went to the class I would have been teaching at this time, and was soon hard at work filling and re-filling cups of soda. Many sandwiches and biscuits and such were offered, but being not very hungry and unsure of their origin, I declined, to the puzzlement of the other teachers ('not hungry' seems to be an unfamiliar concept here). When the time came I went to my last class of the day, where I did accept a slice of cocount cake and a cup of Jello.

On an unrelated note, I noticed that I'm not quite as lily-white as I was when I arrived. Since I'm not usually in the sun for more than half an hour at a time, I don't normally wear sunblock these days, and I've picked up a faint golden tan, mostly on my face and arms - I can tell because I have a pale stripe where I always wear my watch. It's funny - when I was a kid, I browned like anything, but these days I don't. Heh.

Photos (at long last!):

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The parade came marching . . .

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Another shot of the parade. The girl in the cream dress is the balloon-is-fruit girl I told about a while back.

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More shots of the parade.

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Some of the kids. The girl in the white dress is a camera-hog.

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This hen and her chicks roam around the campus. It's interesting - she has three white chicks and one black chick. Occassionally a chick will get lost, and we'll run around looking for the mother to match it back up.

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Send in the clowns.

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The eating contest.

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Bus wasn't invited to the party.

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Some shots of the school and Salango in general.

Saturday

I spent most of Saturday helping Denise with her homework. The assignment was to make two foam puzzles, one with the Spanish alphabet and one with the English alphabet. She used a wooden Rugrats puzzle as a pattern (if you care, Chuckie is 'Carlitos' in Spanish), and I showed her how to cut along the trace lines with a sharp knife. When that was done, I drew the letters and she cut them out - actually, I drew them all and ended up also cutting out half of them. We glued the letters onto the pieces, and when they were dry, cut again along the lines so the pieces could come apart. Again, I did most of that - all in all I probably did about 2/3 of the work on the puzzles.

Before we worked on the puzzles, I helped her with English pronounciation - she has a CD that goes along with her book, but the people on it speak fast and not very clearly. They're also British, which made some of the pronounciation tricky. Still, I did get to help her get the rhythm of the Alphabet Song, and I was very amused that they used the tune of 'Yellow Submarine' for a song about your hometown (Me, giggling: "It's the tune of a very famous song"). We left the CD playing while we worked, and I translated some of the funnier picture descriptions for Denise (" 'The apples are under the watermelon'. That might be a problem.").

In the evening, Vanesa and Denise and I went to the circus I mentioned yesterday. I wasn't really thrilled to be going, since it didn't look very impressive and I'm scared of clowns, but I didn't want to refuse the offer, and it was a chance to get out of the house.

I've developed a chronic case of what my mom calls 'museum shoulders' from standing all day, and the narrow, very uncomfortable bench I sat on inside the big top didn't help any, especially since I had to sit upright to keep from hitting the feet of the people behind me.

The circus itself was . . . bizarre. They opened with the Star Wars theme, and began with a group of women (though I think at least one was a transvestite) doing a racy dance while colored lights flashed. Then three kids came out (the oldest couldn't have been more than ten) and did a gymnast act, climbing up cloth ropes to the top of the tent, posing in midair, spinning down to catch the ropes at the last minute, pulling each other up on a ring, etc. all without a net below. It was scary to watch - I shudder to think of the reaction if they tried this in the US. I was impressed, though, and clapped and cheered with the rest. After the gymnansts came a clown act, with an adult in one of those baggy Jamaican hats joined by the kids from Friday and one of the dancers from earlier. I'm not entirely sure what the act was about, but the second half seemed to be about mugging, with the clowns threatening each other with knives and stealing things back and forth. The audience loved it, though. Then the gymnast kids came back and did some more stunts, as did a group of adult gymnansts (this meant lithe, muscular men in skintight leotards striking magnificent poses, but unfortunately I was too tired and achy to appreciate it).

A few hours went by, and Vanesa and I were ready to go home, to Denise's disappointment (it was almost midnight - how much longer could the acts go on?). We went back to the house, and we all crashed.

May 18th to 24th

Week 4: Eat, Drink, Man, Woman

Sunday

Nothing much happened today.

Monday

I had a bit of an embarrassment at school this morning. The schedule that Gaston gave me has me free during my third period on Mondays, so when I finished my second class, I went to sit on a bench and doodle in my notebook (this is what I usually do in my free time, regardless of where I am). About twenty minutes later, the sixth grade homeroom teacher came looking for me - it turns out this period is not free and I'm supposed to be teaching his class at this time. Thanks a lot, schedule-makers.

This week I'm putting a new teaching plan into effect. Leaving grammar aside for now (but addressing it as it comes up), I'm concentrating on vocab words, and making drawings on the board to go with each word (giving in to the students' requests for "un dibujo!"). I've started this week with words for people: person vs. people, man, woman, boy, girl, and baby, plus child vs. adult for the older students. With each word, I draw a stick figure - generic ones for person/people and child/adult, and ones with clear gender differences for the rest (I'm quite proud of the "baby" stick figure I came up with).

So far, this strategy's worked like a charm. The students all pay attention, and barely act up at all. When I taught the second grade, even my nemeses JP and B were hard at work copying the pictures and words (JP actually has very good penmanship for his age). I can't draw pictures for all the words I hope to teach, but I can for most of them, and at least I know the students enjoy it.

When classes were done and I returned home, I called Marianne to let her know about the package that was coming. Since she told me last week she'd be going to Quito for a few weeks, I knew we needed a plan, since mail goes to her post office box in Manta and only she's authorized to pick it up. Fortunately, she had such a plan underway when I went to meet her in Lopez. We made a photocopy of my passport (I really hate my passport photo - it was taken when I was almost 40 pounds heavier, and it barely looks like me anymore), which she'll give to the Manta post office, and she'll type up an authorization letter that I can show them along with the original passport. When the package arrives, they'll let her know, she'll call me, and all will be well.

Marianne also showed me the restaurant her host mother owns, where she'll be leaving the letter, and introduced me to said host mother. I also met Marianne's boyfriend, a genial enough guy, who'll be going with her to Quito. Marianne said they're eloping - I have no idea if she's joking or not.

Tuesday

My stick-figures-with-people-words continue to be a hit. For the kids who can't write yet, I just practice saying the words with them, bringing them up to the board one by one to repeat the words with me. I don't know if this will really teach anything, but there isn't much else I can do - frankly, I think it's a mistake to have an entire class period teaching a second language to kids who barely know their first language.

Since the older classes go faster than the younger ones, I've gotten up to words for the family (mother, father, brother, sister, etc.) in one of them. With this, I tried to assign my first homework: writing how many people were in your family, and the English words for them ("my mother", "my father", "my brother", etc.).

The key word in this is tried. The students didn't understand the assignment as I first explained it, so I tried explaining it again, and I wrote the words for my own family as an example: "There are 4 people in my family: me, my mother, my father, my brother Alexander". This only made things worse; half the students copied down exactly what I'd written and thought they were done, no matter how many times I explained that this was my family, an example, and I wanted them to write about their families, not to mention repeating that they were supposed to write this at home, not in class.

I can't believe how many of them failed to get the concept. I explained the assignment clearly, multiple times, and gave details on what they were supposed to write for each person in their family. I said that the example I'd written was my family, and I even showed photos of my mom, dad, and brother - why the hell would they think I wanted them to write homework about my family, especially when I said I wanted a list of your family? Well, when I have class with them again, I'll see what they've written and correct it.

Wednesday

Things were pretty uneventful at school today. The real excitement came in the afternoon, when I had my first experience teaching adults.

I'd been told that part of my job here might be tutoring the adult who work in the tourist industry, and a few people in town have asked about lessons. Well, things finally got organized this week - I'll be teaching at the Salango community center from 3 to 5 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and anyone who wants to learn can show up.

The community center is just behind the bus stop. It's a big, one-story cinderblock building, painted sky blue, backed by a grove of trees. Off to the side is a garden surrounded by a chainlink fence, with lots of flowers and several fruit trees. Inside, the building is all one big, airy room, with the front desk at one end and a dry erase board at the other. When I stand by the board, the smell of flowers comes through the window, and I can see hummingbirds and butterflies in the garden - it's wonderful.

Since the people in this class were learning English specifically to work with tourists, my plan was to start with basic differences between English and Spanish (special letter sounds, how to conjugate verbs, etc.), and then let them direct the lessons and teach what they asked me to. Aside from the fact that nobody showed up until 3:30 (like I've said, it's not unheard of in Ecuador for everybody to be ridiculously late), class went pretty well. I felt much more at ease than I did with the kids, since I was the same age or younger than these people, and there was much informal chatter to be had. While going over numbers, I told about learning Spanish ones from American Sesame Street as a kid. On the subject of Silent E, I said something along the lines of "It's evil", and remarked on other pecularities of English with variations on "It's like this. I don't know why, but it is."

My favorite part was explaining the days of the week. For those who don't know, the original Roman names for the seven days of the week came from the seven objects telescope-less people can see in the sky: the Sun, the Moon, and the planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The Spanish words for weekdays still reflect this: Lunes, Martes, Miercoles, Jueves, and Viernes (I'm guessing that Sabado and Domingo come from Christian influence). When the Roman names came to Britain and that general area, people changed the god-based planet names to the names of equivalent Norse/Anglo-Saxon gods:

Mars = Tew, the god of war = Tuesday
Mercury = Woden, the god of wisdom = Wednesday
Jupiter = Thor, the god of thunder = Thursday
Venus = Freya, the goddess of beauty = Friday

No, I didn't go into all of this with the class. I just said that the days get their names from planets, and that in ancient Britain they changed them to what the planets were called there, and that I liked the Spanish words better because A) They made more sense, and B) They actually sounded like how they were spelled. I also told the English-language joke about how "I won't do this-or-that on a day that ends in Y", to great merriment.

Flor is also attending these classes, which makes me both uneasy and more at ease - uneasy because it's awkward to teach someone more mature than me, especially someone I live with, and more at ease because she helps explain things and keep the people my age in check. When class was over, she had nothing to say either way, so I don't know how I did. We shall have to see how it goes.

Thursday & Friday

Thursday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday - classes with the kids in the morning, and classes with the adults in the afternoon, the only real difference being the material. Having covered the basics of English yesterday, today I let the adult students direct the lesson, and they chose greetings and basic phrases.

There are some interesting differences between English and Spanish in this field. For example, the word 'mañana' means both 'morning' and 'tomorrow', depending on context, and the word 'tarde' means both 'afternoon' and 'evening', which are different concepts in English (I said that afternoon is when the sun is still in the sky, and evening is after sunset). I also said that the literal meaning of 'buenas noches', 'good night', is mostly used as a form of goodbye, and for a greeting it's more common to use 'good evening'. Ah, the intricasies of linguistics.

For next week, I asked the folks to bring in a list of words and phrases that they wanted to learn in English. Considering I don't know the English words for a lot of the flora and fauna around here, that ought to be fun.

I did get a bit of a booster in that field, though, when I helped Denise with her homework one night. The assignment was to cut out pictures of animals, group them by mammal, bird, reptile, etc., and write their English names. I had an interesting time trying to explain the traits of the different groups - Denise didn't believe that penguins are birds, since they don't fly (Me: "Well, neither do ostritches."), and didn't know that animals other than cows etc. produce milk. When I was growing up, I was crazy about animals and knew all sorts of obscure facts, so it's easy to forget that I'm the exception rather than the rule. We got some of the pictures from a set on Galapagos fauna, so I got to learn the Spanish words for some of the creatures (though I question a few - this is the only time I've seen sea lions listed as "lobo marino"), and I won laughs explaining why the word 'booby' is funny to English-speakers.

Speaking of homework, I was accosted on Thursday morning by the mother of one of the students I assigned the "list your family" homework to, and got a reminder that it's not rare for mothers here to do their childrens' homework for them. Heh.

I met with that class again on Friday, and was pleased to find that almost two thirds had at least understood the concept of the assignment, even if they hadn't done it correctly. I spent the lesson going over the homework and having those who needed to redo it, with my help. I get the impression that kids here really aren't encouraged to think for themselves.

Saturday

There was a ceremony at the school this morning for the recent alumni class, which all the teachers were required to attend. Since Denise is one of said class, we went together.

I'm not entirely sure what the ceremony was about, but it involved three alumni (Denise one of them) carrying flags, flanked by two others holding the trailing ribbons, and passing them on to three students in the highest primary class, with much pomp and circumstance. Gaston and some of the teachers gave speeches, we sang the national anthem (everyone else did, anyway) and some other songs, there was much rejoicing, etc.

Flor had asked me to take photos of the event, but since I was sitting up on the stage with the teachers, in view of everbody and at a bad angle, there wasn't a chance. I'd hoped to get some of Denise in her sash and flag-holster (it looks like a cross between a horse's bridle and an Old West gunbelt), but she left soon after the ceremony to hang out with her friends. Everyone else milled around for a while, drinking Kool-Aid and eating little crackers and chatting, and eventually I left too.

I had planned to go to Lopez after lunch, but something else happened.

While looking out my bedroom window as I was changing into play clothes, I noticed a cat in the back yard. There are several cats that occassional hang out there, but they usually lie under a bush or on the big concrete shelf by the shed - this one was lying in the wet sand by the faucet, huddled in and looking sick. I went out to investigate.

I know that rabies is a problem around here, since the dogs and cats are half-wild, but the cat didn't have the rabies symptoms I know of. I poked a bowl of water toward it with a stick, and it drank eagerly. Flor and Denise also investigated - I learned that the cat had eaten poison, and they'd found a dead one not long ago.

That didn't sound hopeful, but I wrapped the cat in my towel and made it a bed under my window. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching over it, refilling its water bowl (drinking water can help dilute poison) and bringing it back to the bed when it crawled or fell into an uncomfortable place. I considered bringing it into my room secretly for the night, but it seemed to prefer the spot under the window, so I just went out to pet it and get it comfortable for the night. I honestly don't know if it will get better - it hasn't improved since I found it, but it hasn't gotten worse either, and it's lasted for almost twelve hours, drinking lots of water and occasionally moving around. As I said to Flor, "I've done what I can, it's in God's hands now."