Suddenly, I got busy
Things got busy for me this week. This ought to give an idea of what I've been doing.
Monday: Helped my landlords tweak some of the English they wrote for an ad they're placing for their language school. Did some shopping, including buying Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Read most of it that day.
Tuesday: Taught three English classes at CEIPA. Met with my partner teacher, Judith over ice cream, me practicing my Spanish and she practicing her English. Then returned to CEIPA and met Gabriel and some of his video crew. I told them that I was new, that I was here until the end of June, and that I had 10 years of videography experience. They set me up to do some work with them on Thursday. At night, I went to the Royal Paris Café, where I met a Dutch acquaintance, TJ, to watch a Belgian movie in French with Spanish subtitles. We got the gist of it. After the movie, the Guatemalan woman next to us struck up a conversation, and she asked me if I'd be able to volunteer at her organization to teach kids how to use computers. We swapped contact information. When I got home, I finished the Harry Potter book. I want to read more of the series as fast as I can.
Wednesday: My alarm went off at 7:30, although I was up a little beforehand. I took an hour-long bus to Totonicapán to meet a retired teacher, Miguel, who was going to introduce me to the county's school supervisor, Camila. She was busy, so we said we'd come back later. We went to a hotel's restaurant downtown, had some coffee and tea, and then returned. We met with Camila, who spent the first five minutes of the meeting stressing that they couldn't pay me anything. I kept saying that I didn't need to be paid, and I finally got my point across to her by saying, "Nobody comes to Guatemala to make money." Miguel laughed, and continued to laugh about it for the next half-hour. I set up another meeting for Monday morning, when I'll be introduced to the IT team at the district office.
Still Wednesday: Took the bus back from Toto into Xela, and walked into the center of town to find a cheap meal of three tacos and a bottle of water for just over $2. Then I hopped on a bus to Las Rosas, another neighborhood in Xela, where I met with Guadalupe, the head of Escuela de la Calle, another school dedicated toward the problems of child poverty. I offered my services for whatever they needed, and we agreed that I would volunteer as a teacher's assistant a couple or three days a week. He also was going to survey the teachers at the school to see what computer skills they feel they need to learn, and the plan is that I'll do some computer seminars for teachers as well. I headed home, and I'm currently at the internet café near my apartment. Tonight, I'll be attending an Earth Day party organized by some charitable organization whose name I forget.
Thursday: I'll be heading to CEIPA at 8 a.m. to help them film an event. In the afternoon, I should be meeting Gaby (the woman from Tuesday's movie night) to see what can be done about those computer classes. I'm sure something else will come up as well.
Friday: I'll meet with a CEIPA student and some of his friends 9:30 in the morning to talk about private tutoring for them. This will actually pay me something, although I'm sure it won't be much.
Saturday: Volcano? I couldn't go last weekend because of a wildfire, but hopefully I'll have a group eager to go this weekend.
And to think, two weeks ago I was depressed because I didn't have anything to do.
Monday: Helped my landlords tweak some of the English they wrote for an ad they're placing for their language school. Did some shopping, including buying Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Read most of it that day.
Tuesday: Taught three English classes at CEIPA. Met with my partner teacher, Judith over ice cream, me practicing my Spanish and she practicing her English. Then returned to CEIPA and met Gabriel and some of his video crew. I told them that I was new, that I was here until the end of June, and that I had 10 years of videography experience. They set me up to do some work with them on Thursday. At night, I went to the Royal Paris Café, where I met a Dutch acquaintance, TJ, to watch a Belgian movie in French with Spanish subtitles. We got the gist of it. After the movie, the Guatemalan woman next to us struck up a conversation, and she asked me if I'd be able to volunteer at her organization to teach kids how to use computers. We swapped contact information. When I got home, I finished the Harry Potter book. I want to read more of the series as fast as I can.
Wednesday: My alarm went off at 7:30, although I was up a little beforehand. I took an hour-long bus to Totonicapán to meet a retired teacher, Miguel, who was going to introduce me to the county's school supervisor, Camila. She was busy, so we said we'd come back later. We went to a hotel's restaurant downtown, had some coffee and tea, and then returned. We met with Camila, who spent the first five minutes of the meeting stressing that they couldn't pay me anything. I kept saying that I didn't need to be paid, and I finally got my point across to her by saying, "Nobody comes to Guatemala to make money." Miguel laughed, and continued to laugh about it for the next half-hour. I set up another meeting for Monday morning, when I'll be introduced to the IT team at the district office.
Still Wednesday: Took the bus back from Toto into Xela, and walked into the center of town to find a cheap meal of three tacos and a bottle of water for just over $2. Then I hopped on a bus to Las Rosas, another neighborhood in Xela, where I met with Guadalupe, the head of Escuela de la Calle, another school dedicated toward the problems of child poverty. I offered my services for whatever they needed, and we agreed that I would volunteer as a teacher's assistant a couple or three days a week. He also was going to survey the teachers at the school to see what computer skills they feel they need to learn, and the plan is that I'll do some computer seminars for teachers as well. I headed home, and I'm currently at the internet café near my apartment. Tonight, I'll be attending an Earth Day party organized by some charitable organization whose name I forget.
Thursday: I'll be heading to CEIPA at 8 a.m. to help them film an event. In the afternoon, I should be meeting Gaby (the woman from Tuesday's movie night) to see what can be done about those computer classes. I'm sure something else will come up as well.
Friday: I'll meet with a CEIPA student and some of his friends 9:30 in the morning to talk about private tutoring for them. This will actually pay me something, although I'm sure it won't be much.
Saturday: Volcano? I couldn't go last weekend because of a wildfire, but hopefully I'll have a group eager to go this weekend.
And to think, two weeks ago I was depressed because I didn't have anything to do.
posted by Peter Myers at
3:40 PM
1 Comments:
well boredom should certainly be a thing of the past, good for you. It all sounds great and you will meet so many different people. Enjoy and stay safe!
By
mom, At
April 22, 2009 5:12 PM
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