It starts again

My alarm went off at 5:10 this morning for the third day in a row. I do not approve. In other words, school has officially begun. We have kicked off the new school year for better or for worse. I'm sitting here trying to think back to the beginning of the week and am having difficulty, the past three days have been all consuming. Monday and Tuesday I spent both days organizing at the Jungle School for classes, which began on Monday. A few of the women from the group went with me and we cleaned and moved stuff around and I was informed that I would be teaching Kinder again! Well, awesome. I didn't mind too much but it is soooo tiring. More on that later. I didn't see how the school would be ready in time, but somehow everyone managed. One of the women helped enter a school roster onto my computer because there is no access to a computer at the school. Lucy and I went shopping on Tuesday afternoon for some teacher supplies, and then again with Maestra Kenya on Wednesday. They seriously have so little, and the group donated some money for supplies so we went out to help. I don't know what they would have done without it. Everything at that school is just to 'make do'. I was looking through ideas for teaching Kinder, and I'm looking at the resources that school in the US have and it's so incredibly different! A big classroom with toys and different areas, a place to make a snack. Outdoor play space. I have none of that. And it's the same for the older classes. Really, the kinder is more like Pre School because the kids are learning basic manners and listening more than actual reading and math.

The first day went all right. We got started late and kids kept trickling in for two hours. It seemed like many were unsure that classes actually started that day. The teachers were kind of scrambling, settling into new rooms and sorting kids out. The group also set up a little 'vacation bible school' for the different grades which took up time. Kinder went pretty well. I have 11 kids in total (13 now because two joined). We began by introducing ourselves and then we did a little art project with handprints. I taught them "duck duck goose" though it turned into "duck duck tiger" when I realized I didn't know the Spanish work for goose. The poor kids will be forever confused. I attempted to sing a song but they were not excited about that prospect. We drew and colored, and I bribed them into being good by promising play time at the end. I've decided that bribery is  my best tool for control. I'm no good at punishing and they don't really care if I do anyway, but if I wave a pack of play dough in front of them, I get complete attention. It's amazing. I'm teaching them to walk in a line, and it's really quite cute watching them walk up and down the steps after me.

The second day we got locked out of the classroom. I have my keys to Maestra Kenya and she forgot them, so we had class outside. Luckily there were a few supplies from shopping so we went over body parts, class rules, attempted to sing 'head shoulders knees and toes' and did a few other things. The biggest challenge is just controlling them. At one point, I had to stop them and tell them the rules. I think they are testing me to see if I'll follow through with my threats of time out. Well, I did and one of the little girls had to sit out for half the time of playing with play dough. Most of the kids are really sweet. Daniel, Carlitos and Samir are the little trouble makers but cute nonetheless. Little Ingrid cries about every day but quiets down when I pick her up. There are two twins that for the life of me, I couldn't understand what their name was and asked them about twenty times. Finally we had to check the registry and it turned out to be Leiry and Lleilin, so no wonder I hadn't a clue. We've also had a few incidents that have been tough for me. On Thursday towards the end of class, all of the sudden Keyla just grabs her stomach and starts bawling and spitting up. She gasps out that it hurts and just kept crying. Lucy was there and I asked her to take her to the kitchen. She was starving from hunger. She hadn't had anything to eat probably since lunch the day before, and finally she couldn't take it. This little five year old, crying from hunger. They put a plate of food in front of her and she stuffed half a tortilla in her mouth. And today was even worse. Again, it was towards the end of class. We were outside because the kids had all just got a special stuffed animal and I look over and Yesli is sitting down holding her bear, crying and leaning over trying to puke. I take the bear, lean her forward and she pukes on the cement all over. I call for a mother who comes and walks her around. She sits down and five minutes later its the same thing. It was bad. They took her to the kitchen and she puked some more, but you could tell the only thing in her stomach was the milk from snack time. They told me she puked up blood and some of the worms that live in her stomach. They started her on worm medication and gave her something to eat. I think sometimes I have to shut something off in my mind, or else I would let things like that bring me down too much. I can't dwell on them or it's too much. I can't deal with something like that every day, when little five year old girls are crying and puking from hunger and worms. I think I'm going to bring breakfast every day for my class. They need to eat, then they can learn.

Other than that, I think I'm doing okay. They listen to me relatively well. I don't think I'll ever be a kinder teacher, because it is exhausting, but it's kind of fun. I've been researching and reading and getting ideas. It's funny how much I am using from when I was in elementary school. I took a nap today at the hogar, and woke up with the kids around me. Oh, I forgot to talk about Rosa. Well on Sunday she got into a tiff with Reina and told her she'd hit her if she kept doing what she was doing, which of course she did, and so she hit her. Well, that doesn't fly by me so I spoke up and told her that you can't do that, and she needs to apologize. Rosa is more or less the matriarch of the kids when Danelia isn't around and she keeps them in line, so she didn't like being told what to do. She got defensive and so to prove her point or something, she slapped Reina again. Thank god Reina didn't hit back, but I went and told David and she got in trouble. I hated doing it too because Rosa and I are really close. The next day she was, predictably, angry with me. But what could I do? I did what I though was right. I'm sure in her mind,and because of her background, what she did was totally justified. Two days later she really did amaze me. I knew she was mature, which is one of the reasons we get along so well, but to go up to someone on your own accord and apologize and admit you were wrong takes more maturity than most 18 year olds I know. Needless to say I was so proud of her and we are fine now, but it made a really big impression on me. Well, I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard. I better quit while I'm awake. Goodnight all :)