Sunday, August 28, 2011

The Ode to the Couch

I am currently blogging a couch. I forgot what having furniture is like. It is kind of glorious. My fellow trainees are I are at the beach for our "free weekend." Of course, free weekend is more like free day considering we left early on Saturday and have to leave today (Sunday) at like 4. But nonetheless, free weekend is awesome. We have an amazing house on the beach with the following amenities: air conditioning, running water, showers, a complete kitchen, television, wifi, and did I mention yet that there are couches? I mean do not get me wrong I love the Salvadoran obsession with hammocks too! But couches are great too :)

I am not quite ready to leave. This weekend was totally necessary. It has been so nice to just relax without thinking about being around people and a different language all the time. Plus, the amenities are nice too. I got to Skype with Hannie bear (best friend) and take a nice shower (not hot but still lovely). And I slept like a baby in my air conditioning. Great night.

I will leave the rest of the details of free weekend to your imagination. I am sure you can picture the shenanigans for yourself.

I am going to use this time now to update the blog on my week since Immersion day. This week we had a lot of activities with our youth group. We have our field day on Friday where the kids are going to compete in a variety of games and then we are going to give a discussion on the environment. This week we tye dyed t shirts with the kids. One team is black and purple and the other is green and yellow. The kids had so much with it. I have never seen kids so happy as when we revealed the t shirts! Oh the simple things. We also completed a garden project with them this week. We planted tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, etc. Ill admit though we spent a lot of the time there actually eating oranges off the trees...:)

I also taught my first English class to seventh grade this week. It was on clothing and possessive pronouns. I started with a jigsaw puzzle, used pictures to explain the clothing, had them repeat, then did pronouns and had them do sentences, and then I played a board game including clothing and sentences for them to complete to get to the end. I think for my first class it went really well. But Ill admit it was really hard to keep their attention. Also, their level of English is very low and it makes it tough for me when I have to explain everything in Spanish. But I guess it helps me speak more Spanish, so that is always a plus.

On the Spanish note I think I am getting a lot better. We have our interviews coming up in a week and a half. Of course, I am super super nervous. But this week we have a lot of time in our communities to focus on Spanish, so I think I should be okay to get into the required level.

I think this is it for now. But all I have to say now is that I think the world is ending. Earthquakes, meteors, hurricanes, etc. I hope Irene was nice to you guys in Delaware! Love.

2 comments:

  1. Awwwwwe Im so glad you had relaxing time,with some nice accomadations. And the best part for me is the where you slept like a baby (notice Ispelled slept right)..It sounds like the kids really enjoyed the activites,ect.I also see your enjoying it just as much :))))Its amazing to me,the whole teaching English to these 7th graders..wow,you go.
    Irene has left delaware and as i said,i was disappointed in her show.I just always think when you and i were at greenfield manor,and we hid in laundry room with just a minor storm.I have come a long way since then.now i like them to be a bit rowdier..lol,,remember you wanted to be hurricane swartz when you grew up??hhhaa.love you and the usual be safe

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  2. Hey Jamie, been following all your blogs and am enjoying hearing about all your adventures. Grandma got your letter and she was so excited!! I'm sure you will receive a letter back from her soon. You will be a master in Spanish before you know it - being immersed in the language and culture will help you progress quickly. Take care and be safe.. Love ya, Aunt Tana

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