Back Volunteering in Granada

This week, I moved back to Granada continuing volunteering at La Esperanza (http://www.la-esperanza-granada.org – if you’re interested). I moved back into the same house but all the past volunteers have finish so the house has all new people in it. 3 housemates speak Spanish as their first language (2x Spain, 1 x Columbia) so it’s good to practice my Spanish but they also speak very fast to each other making it very difficult for me to pick it up. The others are from Switzerland, Australia and US. It was nice being back with the children for the computer class and saw many smiles. As my volunteering is only 2 hours each afternoon, I asked the coordinator if I could volunteer in a classroom in the mornings. She was worried it might be too much work and I would get exhausted, so she said I could have 2 days there but I’m going to go an extra day anyway. This time, I have rented a bike for $2 a week so my 40-minute walk is now a 20-minute ride. On Friday, I was leaving school walking my bike out and one of the boys from class (second grade) asked me something in Spanish and I just smiled and said ‘Si’, only later did I realise he was asking for a dink home, as he starting jumping on my bike. It is very common for locals to dink all the time, but I was a bit unsure if I could balance him but thought I’d give it a go. Luckily, all went well and got him home safely.

The weather has still be hot but is slightly cooler from 36 degrees each to now 32 degrees but still humid. I wear another singlet under my work shirt, and on my ride to and from school, the under singlet is totally covered in sweat with not one inch dry. A shower straight is the priority. We have also had a couple of rainy days where the streets turn into rivers and the temperature drops.

Unfortunately, I’m still having difficulties transferring my photos from my phone to my computer so still no other photos from my trip but I have managed to upload some videos for you to enjoy.

Little Corn Island

Snorkeling at Little Corn Island

Miraflor Homestay

Miraflor Homestay Backyard

Week 2 Volunteering

It has been another good week volunteering at La Esperanza. Each morning I have been taking a Spanish lesson for one hour. It’s definitely helping me but there are so many irregular rules, it can be difficult to follow. I am now able to have minimal conversations with people and understand a little bit more.

La Esperanza organises activities each evening, so on Monday night I went to a salsa class but unfortunately it was cancelled for the week. On Tuesday’s, we have a short staff meeting followed by a day. On Wednesday, it is trivia night held in English and Spanish. And on Thursday night, there is a big communal dinner for all the volunteers. The weather is still hot, around 35 during the day and 26 at night and still very humid.

School has been enjoyable getting to know the kids. It’s reasonably easy helping with the computers and sometimes I feel like I should be doing more but it’s nice to be able to spend time with them. I borrowed a bike from my housemate this week, so the 40-minute turned into a 20-minute ride but I still managed for my shirt to be fully immersed in sweat by the time I arrive. I was told to wear a singlet underneath so it soaks up all the sweat and my work shirt stays clean. This makes sense but wearing another layer of clothing in this heat also doesn’t make sense. I had noticed the locals often wore a singlet underneath and I never understood why but now I do. To hide the sweat makes and now I do too.

Yesterday, I sat next to this really shy boy because there was a spare seat next to him. I ended helping/ joining in with the game he was playing for the next 40 minutes. He hardly said anything but I could tell he was really enjoying my company. Then today, he turned up super early and said “Do you remember me from yesterday?” Of course, I played with him again as well as some others. It’s very awarding being able to see the smiles on these kids’ faces.

Here I am!

Ready for Learning

Kindergarden kids on tablets

Road I walk/ride down

First Grade Class & My House

On Friday, the computer program doesn’t run, so I was sent to the near-by primary school to help in a first grade class. The room was small with a couple of small windows on one side, with a whiteboard at the front. There was about 15 children in the class each with their own chair and desk. From now on, I won’t complain that Australian kids are difficult to teach. Our kids are very well disciplined and behaved. Our worst kids, don’t seem too bad. The boys were full on kicking and hitting each other during the whole class. It was crazy. The teacher seemed to ignore them until it was more serious. She just continued with the lesson and helping the students who wanted it. I take my hat off to the teacher for putting up with this every day. I am thankful for the teach I have taught in my past. I hope this has given my teacher friends some inspiration for the day, and when you think things are going bad, in reality, they possibly are not too bad.

I have moved into a house Martirio, with 7-8 other people and share a room with 2 others. Everyone is a volunteer at La Esperanza. The house is very basic but the most exciting thing for me is it has a washing machine. I haven’t used a washing machine for 2 months and have been handwashing items irregularly. It’s so nice to have clean smelling clothes again. On arrival, I noticed the house had quite a few fridges and thought it to be a bit odd, only to realise half of them were used for dry foods. I thought this was being very resourceful to use the old broken fridge as a cupboard, but only later to realise, it makes the food mouse-proof. My first night here, I was lying in bed nearly falling asleep only to feel something ran across my face. I quickly reached for my torch to find it was a large cockroach. The following night I was sitting quietly in the lounge room after most people had gone to bed only to notice a little mice running between the fridge and couch. Everything comes in threes, right? The following day we had to get the house fumigated for bedbugs, as one of the girls kept getting bitten on the couch from them. I am adjusting to the living conditions.

Volunteering – Day 1&2

This week, I moved to Granada to do some volunteering with an organisation, La Esperanza (Hope), who work with 4 schools located in the outer poor suburbs. Orientation began on Tuesday (as Monday was a public holiday) for 2 hours with general ‘house rules’, a tour of the city, filling out some forms and found out I would be working with the computer team. On Wednesday, I arrived at the office at 12.30 for a 45-minute walk (in the heat (Granada is just as hot as Leon)) to the school, Amped. It consisted on a front wall and one side wall, the other two sides were a fence and the roof of a shed. I wouldn’t call it a building but more like a shed. There were two long metal tables with plastic chairs. We set up all the notebooks on the tables while the students sat there and patiently waited. Once everyone (20 notebooks) were set, the teacher instructed them to use certain program for the hour lesson. The students were between 7 – 10 years old and I assisted them with opening the program (how to double click) and how to play the games. On the other table were 4-6 year olds (8 students) using tablets. After one hour, these students got a drink and snack and left and another group of 10 students came and used the same program. After this group left, we packed up the laptops and the day was finished and I headed for the 45-minute walk home. An interesting hot day.

Thursday involved exactly the same but the students were instructed to use a different program. There are 3 teachers and I am the only volunteer. I don’t think the school/ shed is used for a general classroom but possibly for other things. I’m not sure if the students go to school while they are not with us, or if they are just at home (I think possibly the latter is true). I have been recommended not to take my camera so you have to use your imagination of my day. However, I hopefully will be able to take some pics next week.