January 14, 2009

It’s the rainy season (I think). The mosquitoes are multiplying like crazy. NOT FUN!

This week is shaping up to be pretty eventful. On Monday, the little girl that I tutor who I believe has a learning disability returned from Guayaquil. Her mother had sent her and her brother from the same father there in order to spend Christmas with their father.

Unfortunately, the father didn’t want to send them back and was threatening to move so their mother wouldn’t be able to find them. I am not exactly certain of the dirty details, but somehow it worked out and the two children are back! I was very happy to see her again and promptly told her to come over to my place to catch up on all the classes she missed. When she came over she told be she didn’t have any homework, so I broke out my book collection and we practiced reading. After we read my requirement of two books, we invited another neighborhood girl over and the three of us played Uno.

Yesterday, I went with my counterpart to visit families in my site. We went to two barrios that are located in the heart of the banana plantations and have only dirt roads. Since it has been raining the roads were mud and walking was pretty difficult. Thank goodness I didn’t slip!
Then in the afternoon I went to visit one of the volunteers in Machala that has been here a year more than me. She was to give a charla (talk) to her barrio and I wanted to observe her. Afterwards we (ok… I) made bagels. The yeast we bought was dead, but the bagels were still delicious!!!

This morning I went to the Municipal with two other volunteers to discuss a summer camp that the libraries want to do with the children of Machala and my site. (Summer vacation is February and March.) The librarians requested our help. I think I am supposed to teach English, drawing, reading, basketball (I haven’t played basketball in years minus my few games of hoops with the kids in Cayambe), and about a bazillion other activities. I don’t know how it is supposed to work out logistically, but that is their problem to figure out and let me know. The librarians asked us to come back on Monday to teach them animación de la lectura. Basically they want to know how to make reading fun and activities that they can do with the books. This I think I can do!

Afterwards I friend of my counterpart (and my friend too) was going to get married at civil marriage downtown today. My counterpart was to be one of the witnesses and she invited me to come along. It was pretty quick and simple. I was given a camera and told to take photos. I went nuts! Apparently, the new couple is going to get remarried in a church in a month. Until then they will continue to live in their separate homes. I didn’t really get why they have to get married twice. My counterpart explained to me that the bride wanted to be married in a church, but the marriages there are not legal. So couples that marry there have to get civilly married as well. I then asked why the couple is getting civilly married a month before the church wedding (February 14… gag me!). She had no idea either.