So today is Sunday and I'm feeling frustrated and torn between Suchitoto and El Bario. I really love El Bario and my family but I just don't have the same friends like I have here in Suchitoto. I guess the difference is that in El Bario I have only friends who speak Spanish or take Spanish lessons from me and here I have people that I can speak English with which I know is bad for me learning Spanish but I miss English. Lots of times I find myself starting to talk in English to my host family cause I speak so much in Spanish English is the weird language for me and my brain just thinks I should talk in the weird language.
Anyways today I met a girl who started hitting on me and then I was totally thrown back cause she has a kid and she is 20. So yeah that threw me but she is very nice. I'm not saying anything happened but it was an ego boost for sure. I pulled out my flip throw today in the game and it actually went pretty well although I need to work on my aim cause it didn't go exactly where I want it to go. They were all impressed though and I'll work on it for next week.
I have too many things to do when I come to suchi like I want to meet up with my teacher and practice spanish, and I want to hang out with Boris. and I want to see the play next weekend and I want to play my game and check my email and all that but its impossible to do all those. Well at the moment I'm just venting a bit I guess too. Well I'm sure I'll have more insight later in the day and I'll make sure to write it down. I'm going to buy a few movies for my host family on the way back and then I'll be home for dinner which will be nice. I think I'll just hang out and do my scholarship tonight.
-Secrest out!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Siesta Synapse
Well these last two days have been interesting. I'm kinda frustrated at the moment because I left the science and math class in the afternoon a bit early to be back here for an english class that some students wanted to have at 12. Its 130 and they have yet to show up still though so I'm not sure what to do. I would like to tutor small groups but its hard to set a time that they show up for. I'm still thinking they might show up at 2 since dose and dos sound pretty similar with my accent but I was pretty sure I said dose so idk.
Otherwise things have been going great! I brought home presents for my family from Suchi like rice, coffe, tomatoes, carrots, hot chocolate, papaya and DVD's for their computer. As I was waiting for the bus the a storm erupted from the sky. It started as I was buying my last things and then it absolutely started pouring down rain as I was waiting for the bus. It was interesting because the storm hit really fast and you could just see everyone running for cover when it started to rain cause they knew it would get much worse very fast. I was lucky it wasn't raining in El Bario cause I was carrying a lot of stuff for my family.
I've been playing a butt load of soccer recently which has been fun but I've pretty much sweat through everyone of my shirts so I'll have to attempt some laundry later this afternoon. I finally got my camera! I started taking pictures and then it decided to stop working but I think it just needed new batteries. I got to see my friend Boris before they went off to the community for the weekend which was cool. I also saw my teacher in the square which was nice and I enjoy speaking English with her. She really listens and improves when we talk which is nice. I think one day she will make a great English teacher.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Siesta Synapse's
At the moment I'm very discouraged and shocked by kids interactions in my first two classes. First Grade was good but they don't understand my games. My communication skills aren't they best and with a new game its difficult to teach in English. Apparently they don't have things like kickball or tag here so I'm extremely confused how to explain the game to them. Also I was very disturbed when we played soccer with First Grade the girls weren't playing they just instantly knew to go to the side. Fue dificil when I taught second grade cause I had no help and the teacher just watched. I tried explaining Kickball which totally crashed and burned. They said they knew what baseball was but they didn't know any of the rules which wasn't helpful cause only the rules are similar. It wasn't possible to get them to understand the base concept and stop hitting each other. Its hard enough getting people to resolve their conflicts at peace camp in English let alone trying to solve multiple conflicts at once in Spanish when the kids mumble their words. On top of that this is a fair amount of sexism here that I'm not used to like when I say to line up they instantly think girls on one team and boys on another team. I think some of my games my kids were a little weirded out by.
Wow I'm going to write a lot today... Today was an eventful day. So after my first two classes in the morning that went okay but overall not so great... My next class was really awesome and the next after that was great as well. I was really happy to regroup and get a rest and be prepared for my next two classes. I did some more cooperative games which worked pretty well actually. I think next I'm gonna have some more cooperative games and try to teach other games like baseball and maybe some frisbee. The trouble is that everyone only likes futbol cause thats what they grew up with so its kinda difficult to change what they grew up with. Its totally different culture in the US cause we have so many sports that our parents usually introduce us to but here really the only thing they are good at and like to play is Futbol. Its hard to get used to but I think I'll figure out some games they will like. I think they would like Kickball if I can figure out how to teach it to them. Well so I started out every class with streching and warm ups to make sure they learned how to properly prepare for a game which is a good start and takes about 10 mins. Then I played some games involving team work and some hand eye coordination as well which seemed to work pretty well. Then usually after that I played soccer with them cause pretty much all the classes begged me to play soccer with them.
English was sooooo much fun but quite interesting because I got thrown into the fire today. So on my first day of classes the english teacher didn't show up to class cause she was sick... SO guess who got to teach all the classes with no book! Me! Well I took it as a blessing in disguise because I think I actually did quite well in all my classes. I thought it was kinda odd because I kinda ended up teaching the same class to both 7th and 8th Grade because 8th didn't know lots of conversational material or lots of vocabulary. I'm giving them lots of vocabulary to study cause I'm hoping that the ones that really want to learn will study and practice with the words that I give them and get better. I'm kinda teaching to the top half of the class I guess just because lots of people have this thing they call Pena here which means that they have fear of saying anything or talking much especially to another person. Its much different because in the US I feel like we make kids stand up and give presentations early on so we are kinda used to it and don't have as much fear. But here they kinda just accept that people have that fear and deal with it. It might be because I'm american too that they don't want to practice their English with me. Anyways the cool part is that I get to be my funny self in class and make some jokes. I think they actually do enjoy my classes. Its fun emphasizing the words and sounds that are different in English like the R's and D's are said with more strength and the “th” sound is hard for them as well cause they don't really have it. Also the traditional v an b but thats been doing better than other stuff. Their T's too need to be stronger sometimes but its easier to work on that on a one on one basis or in a smaller classroom.
Speaking of smaller classroom I've offered to tutor some students who want to learn english when I have free time like in the evenings if they live in El Bario or when we both have free time in the afternoons sometime or a weekend or something idk. I would like to plan a weekend class in English if I can maybe teach it after the science and math stuff I'll have energy to do it in the afternoon. Overall this day went amazingly well and I'm really excited for all the new adventures I'm going to have in the next week and a half here. Earlier today I was thinking that this place might not fit me how I thought it would but I really do think that I can make a big difference here especially in English and in PE too I just have to figure out how to explain kickball and get them to like other sports and teach them other games. I have two groups that want to take some individual lessons in a small group which I'm really excited about... I'm gonna plan what I'll teach them tonight and we have an hour lesson tomorrow in the library. I really hope that they will improve and practice. I want to give them conversation skills in these extra classes so I might just introduce more vocabulary at first and then go over topics like meals and basics of conversation like what, where why when how... how do you say.... where is the bathroom.
I will admit that my teaching style has some funny Nate characteristics in it like I taught them the word hot means muy bonita (which is does) but all the girls for their examples said I am really hot haha so I thought that was quite funny. I also like the throw in some funny verbs that aren't that important like I put in explode and to toast today in our verb list. I also taught my conversation stuff with phrases like whats up? And see you (ya) and instead Hi I also taught them Hey which I feel people use that more than Hi most of the time. Well thats all the interesting things I have to say for now but I'm sure there will be just as much crazy stuff tomorrow... boy will my blog be full next weekend...
Well today was a pretty fun day overall although slightly confusing. Not a whole long more happened accept that tomorrow I have much less to do which is nice and I'll probly head off Suchitoto tomorrow to check my email and buy presents for my host family. I'm getting them more coffee, vegetables, and many other things like more spaghetti and rice and beans and stuff that they have to buy. I've officially decided that I've started to go crazy with nobody else there to speak some English with. Maybe I'm just getting comfortable with Spanish too and my town here but I started to talk to the animals in English. So my conclusion is that maybe its just fun talking to animals and asking them weird questions like what are you looking at... and stuff or I'm going crazy being here which may very well be true. I'm really enjoying English class although its really frustrating when nobody wants to try to speak or write anything solo. I also personally think that grammer lessons in English are overrated. I mean I teach them a bit of grammer like how to conjugate the verbs and stuff but mostly the learning should come from practicing and planing games that help you remember certain words or verbs. Like today for instance... I'm not trying to dis on the English teacher here but she took this exercise from the book that was a paragraph about this man Steve and we were practicing simple present tense which is pretty easy from my view point of knowing spanish with many different conjugations. I know that preterit can get really difficult but simple present seems quite easy compared to present in Spanish but everyone here just automatically thinks that English is impossible to learn. Anyways I digress... this paragraph had like 5 blanks where we were supposed to put the conjugated verb like.... Steve (like) _____ to play soccer. So she wanted everyone to do it on their own but they couldn't handle that which I thought was kinda like wow there are only two possible things it can be like or likes how is that very hard.... but idk so she got people up to the board who basically stood there and stared at the board and eventually wrote the wrong answer 50 % of the time which in my mind is that they could have just been guessing which they probly were. Anyways this exercise should have taken 10 mins but it took like 25 and then for the last 5 I played a game doing the same thing where I just said Nate (like) ____ to teach
Rosa (to be) _____ smart.
They (watch) _____ television and so on and I gave them ten seconds and then they had to raise their hand for either watch or watches or like or likes and then I gave out points to the teams which I felt was much more effective and much more fun and we got through 5 in about 7 mins which personally I think it more productive.
Keep in mind that the words above are someone biased opinion and I am just venting a little bit but sometimes it really bugs me how teachers teach from the book and not from first hand knowledge or fun games. I guess since my mom is a music teacher I understand the importance of music and games to help with memory.
Today it was also rather disturbing that in the 10th grade ( school only goes up to 11 grade) I started correcting homework and probly 50 percent of the time I couldn't understand what they were trying to write in English. I graded one girls that barely tried. I was lucky that she wrote on the side what she was trying to say so basically I just read her spanish and translated that into English. I'm going to try to increase the English knowledge of the students here if I can I would really like to come back and spend more time with this school here because I really think that I can make a difference and improve the English of the students that want to learn and I can improve the teacher here which will pay off long term down the road.
Other than the English stuff today I played quite a lot of soccer. Essentially I just kinda gave into the 1st grade cause they wanted to play soccer and then of course all the second graders and 3rd graders came outside too and started playing with us which is weird. Its such a small school student wise but for some reason lots of students don't go to class or just leave class without permission from their teacher especially in the younger grades. I played spud with the 5th grade which turned out to be extremely fun and they really liked the new game once they figured out how to play it. I'm debating whether I will teach them kickball next or another sport. I would like to play dodge ball if I can find some balls that are soft and wont hurt if you get hit with them but that might be a challenge.
After school I played soccer with the adults at the field which was kinda fun but not really because I was confused most of the time who was on my team and on top of that we played with 15 on each team instaed of the usual 11 which made things much more crowded and meant that everyone touched the ball that much less which wasn't as fun. Overall I felt a little less welcome at this practice just because there were so many people there and it was a bit overwhelming. I'm excited to go play in Suchitoto this weekend and I really hope that the game is at a time that I can play. I'm also excited about this weekends English lesson with three of the 9th graders. I think they really have potential to learn because they seem like they want to practice. It is also three girls so it could be that they just want to spend time with me... I haven't figured it out but either way its good for them because they my good looks are forcing them to learn Spanish. Its kinda fun to be in class cause I kinda try and test each student as I talk or when they do examples and so far they haven't spoken back a whole lot yet or answered my questions but I'm going to try to change that with candy this next time so when they answer a question or volunteer to speak then I'll give them some candy. Right now the only thing making some students speak is peer pressure.
Oh I also understand why people say its weird that we only shower once a day or once every other day... its cause its extremely hot here. Also showers here are generally really quick just because its cold water and it doesn't really entice you to stay the same way hot water does. I've been taking two or three showers a day... Once when I get up just to rinse off and get ready for school, once when I come home from lunch after I teach PE all morning and one before Dinner because its really hot in the afternoons too haha.
The animals keep getting more interesting here. Today I found two eggs that the hens laid. I've learned what real free range chickens are... When I came home from school for lunch there was a chicken in my room and my door had been closed the whole time. Apparently it flew in the window and didn't want to leave. Amazingly my host mother didn't think much of it she just asked if the hen had left an egg in my stuff. She hadn't but just now before I went to bed I looked in the window again and there was an egg just sitting there on the window sill. Earlier today I found an egg in my napkin that keeps the totillas warm. I'm also really starting to like totillas I have about three with every meal and eat a piece with most every bite. Its like a filler so I don't have to ask for a second portion and the combination of that and sauce and beans or cheese is really good actually. Then you was It down with some coffee which I have grown to love here it is absolutely amazing and I'm sure China Rose will make fun of me when we go traveling in Mexico cause I'm going to want coffee just like her and I'll soon but addicted but hey three cups a day really isn't that bad... haha. I might have to start asking for more though cause I love it so much its honestly one of my favorite parts of the meal I'm going to have to figure out how she makes it. The dogs love to beg when I'm eating but they are not nearly as bad as the cats. Both cats have no fear when it comes to jumping on me to ask for food. If I didn't stop them I'm sure they would get on the table and start eating my food in under a minute. One cat also has sharp claws that have scratched me on a few occasions. I'm really surprised though cause I've never met more friendly cats before but one here really loves to play with me and I've actually enjoyed it too. You can't have as much fun with a cat but he is really cute.
Well thats it for now I'll post this tomorrow after I go to Suchi for the afternoon.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Siesta Synapse 2
Wow two post in a day that hasn't happened in a while.... Well today is special cause its my only day that I'm actually in Suchi for this week. My schedule with the school starts tomorrow and I'm very excited to start. I'm not as worried as I was about teaching English or other things like that cause they have an English teacher and it turns out I'm just going to practice with her and help her teach her classes. I'm excited to make it easier for her because its difficult grading homework for an entire class after school on the spot and there is a lot of time wasted cause she has to check everyones stuff as they write it so they all bring it up to her individually. With me there I can speed up the class time and hopefully she can teach more because of it! For PE I'll be having an entire grade level at a time and I'll probly start out every day with a warm up lap and streching just to have some structure in my class. Then I'm going to try to do different stations with small groups where I can show them before hand. I think later I'll teach them some basic basketball skills. and soccer drills they can do to get better. If you have ideas for games and such let me know. I'll probly end up using a lot of Quaker games like Elbow tag and stuff just to give them a variety of games they can play during recess.
There is way to much to say in just a day of living in El Bario. Overall... I love it! The food is great, my room is very nice and my family is nice to me and I enjoy talking with them. I'm in Suchi now so I'm looking for things to buy my family as presents for letting me stay there. If you have ideas for next time when I'm in Suchi post them and I'll see what I can do.
Oh so back to the school topic just a bit more.... So I'm going to be helping pretty much all day which is nice and they gave me a schedule for each day which should be nice. I'm also going to offer if anyone of the high school kids or groups of kids want to set up a time to practice their Spanish I'll also offer that. I mean I have free time so I don't see why I shouldn't offer. I'm also going to start practicing with the El Bario soccer team which should be fun.
My camera is arriving tomorrow but I won't be here to see it unfortunately because I'll be in El Bario but I can get it this weekend when I come into town probly on Sat or Sunday. I read more letters from everyone and dicided that I'll post on their facebook walls individually to make it more personal cause I don't think they all check my Blog regularly.
Well life at the house has been quite nice. Yesterday I went and took a nap after I wrote my post from yesterday (technically today) and then I went over to the school to visit with teachers and the principle. Its wierd being on the teaching side after so many years of learning but still its kinda nice. I feel like a student though sometimes. Like for instance I helped teach the English class and the teacher had me sit with the students but then she used me to give pronunciations of all the new words we used and then I helped check peoples work. After that I went home and had dinner and hung out with my family some. Its odd cause I don't know quite what to say all the time but its not cause I don't know how to say it its just that I suck at small talk haha. If you have ideas let me know!
Words of the day- Apllido- last name miedo-fear como "tiene miedo?"
-Secrest Afuera!
There is way to much to say in just a day of living in El Bario. Overall... I love it! The food is great, my room is very nice and my family is nice to me and I enjoy talking with them. I'm in Suchi now so I'm looking for things to buy my family as presents for letting me stay there. If you have ideas for next time when I'm in Suchi post them and I'll see what I can do.
Oh so back to the school topic just a bit more.... So I'm going to be helping pretty much all day which is nice and they gave me a schedule for each day which should be nice. I'm also going to offer if anyone of the high school kids or groups of kids want to set up a time to practice their Spanish I'll also offer that. I mean I have free time so I don't see why I shouldn't offer. I'm also going to start practicing with the El Bario soccer team which should be fun.
My camera is arriving tomorrow but I won't be here to see it unfortunately because I'll be in El Bario but I can get it this weekend when I come into town probly on Sat or Sunday. I read more letters from everyone and dicided that I'll post on their facebook walls individually to make it more personal cause I don't think they all check my Blog regularly.
Well life at the house has been quite nice. Yesterday I went and took a nap after I wrote my post from yesterday (technically today) and then I went over to the school to visit with teachers and the principle. Its wierd being on the teaching side after so many years of learning but still its kinda nice. I feel like a student though sometimes. Like for instance I helped teach the English class and the teacher had me sit with the students but then she used me to give pronunciations of all the new words we used and then I helped check peoples work. After that I went home and had dinner and hung out with my family some. Its odd cause I don't know quite what to say all the time but its not cause I don't know how to say it its just that I suck at small talk haha. If you have ideas let me know!
Words of the day- Apllido- last name miedo-fear como "tiene miedo?"
-Secrest Afuera!
Siesta Synapse
Wow today is a crazy day an it can only get crazier. Honestly its a a little bit scary but the majority of me is extremely excited for everything that has happened and will happen the rest of this day.
My new house at Don Mario's is absolutely amazing and totally different. For example when I went into my room there was a chicken in there and I had to chase it out. There are a ton of animals here at at my house. There is a baby cow, two pigs, tons of Rosters and Chickens, two or three dogs, and a cat who just had kittens a little while ago. I've only been here an afternoon so I'm sure that could quickly change and I could find many more creatures here. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll see a magical animal!
My spanish skills are paying off and I can make myself understood. I'm sure I will have many more opertunities to speak spanish as I get to know my family more and more. I met all the people at the school earlier today and I'm going back this afternoon to meet some more people and talk with Lupe about what I can do to help and to figure out my schedule. I'm excited about teaching but I know that I have no clue how to do it and I'm sure it will be a learning process.
I wanted to start writing because this afternoon I read some of my letters from my highschool time capsule.... Wow I love you guys. Kylin: your words were extremely helpful to me at this time. I was a little worried about my self and having trouble figuring out how I fit into this new world that I'm in. And dad... I remember when I read your letter the first time I didn't quite get it. I don't know if you wrote it for when I would have been in El Salvador but now it makes total sense and the advice you had was extremely meaningful to me. Everyone else you had amazing things to say such as Maybe you'll travel after High school.... or you always brought your Nate self with you and never stop being that funny guy. I will admit that I didn't read all of the letters but the ones I did read were absolutely amazing and I hope to finish others when I need something to pick me up. I will make my comments to your letter when I've read it but don't feel bad if I didn't mention yours this time because you all really do mean a lot to me. Oh and jeff I just read yours and wow I had forgotten how hilarious you are... and you also had some great advice mixed in as well.
For now I think that's all but I will post this on my blog tomorrow when I'm in Suchi. I'm already starting to meet even more people after just an afternoon of being here. My host family is extremely nice with Luis, Don Mario and others that I can't remember their names but I'll write them down next time so I can start to remember. Meeting the high school kids was quite fun and I felt like I was on display as usual but towards the end I started to loosen up and I think they understood what I was saying and how I meant things.
-Secrest Afuera
Friday, February 18, 2011
Siesta Synapse
Well today is the end of an era (as they would say in Friends -the show not the religion). I'm done with my spanish classes and this Monday I will move to El Bario where I hope I will live for around two weeks. In the afternoon on Monday I will be observing and seeing the classes and Tuesday I start teaching so lets hope that I can survive that.... ( hopefully elementary kids like me) The task that is staring me down at the moment is Laundry and just like at home I avoid it as much as possible without smelling. I've seriously heard that the Salvadorans say that we smell bad cause we don't shower three times a day oddly enough.
Todays classes were pretty fun. Mostly pretty chill. We watched my Spanish video and el fuerza de amor too cause it was on Facebook. I'm going to try to upload my video to some site if I can but I don't think I can at the moment. Everyone really enjoyed it with the little parts they saw when they weren't teaching. Then we talked about this crazy movie we watched yesterday about the war. It was based on a true story about kids who were taken from their homes at age 12 to be trained as soldados. Its a long sad story where many people die including the main characters girlfriend, best friends, and almost himself. Basically its really quite sad because it shows how both sides were wrong to be fighting the war. It wasn't just one side both sides were being stupid which really was surprising to me cause when you read or hear about it its usually one side was much better than the other side. Then after those questions I gave my presentation and actually taught estefani about reading music a bit which was kinda cool I thought. I had biology planned but then I skipped it cause I ran out of time and talked about California geography some. Then I took my final exam which went well but I honestly wasn't that excited about taking it cause its easy to just fill in the blanks and conjugate the right words when they tell you what form. Its much harder to think on the fly and use the tenses correctly which is what I struggle with.
After that I went to visit El Bario. I think I'll be happy there but I noticed I really don't talk a whole lot when I'm with Robert cause he just talks about me instead of to me which if I were going to be talking I would be saying what he is saying so many times I don't have much to say so I just listen. Sometimes I also get caught up day dreaming ( its the same in English especially school no offense Dominguez, Dave and others.) Over all I really enjoyed my visit. I'm a bit worried about what moving around so much in the next month will do to me but I'm sure it will work itself out. My biggest problem is when I'm tired its almost impossible to understand people. I can talk well most of the time but I just really get tired of asking over and over again what did you say? I will admit that I've been known to just nod and say yes ( which isn't a good habit ninos). My team plays tomorrow at 9 am at the chacra so I'm excited to show off my skills. I need to work on my handspring later so I can actually do it legally again like I was doing at the end of last soccer season. At the moment my feet hit but I don't exactly land on them.
The Danes have been playing soccer with us recently and Boris and I have been dominant in Basketball (pretty much unstoppable). I even found a new adventure buddy who is Norwegian which has been fun cause its much more fun to explore and have someone to talk to...
Word of the day romper- to break monstrar-to show ya-already
Todays classes were pretty fun. Mostly pretty chill. We watched my Spanish video and el fuerza de amor too cause it was on Facebook. I'm going to try to upload my video to some site if I can but I don't think I can at the moment. Everyone really enjoyed it with the little parts they saw when they weren't teaching. Then we talked about this crazy movie we watched yesterday about the war. It was based on a true story about kids who were taken from their homes at age 12 to be trained as soldados. Its a long sad story where many people die including the main characters girlfriend, best friends, and almost himself. Basically its really quite sad because it shows how both sides were wrong to be fighting the war. It wasn't just one side both sides were being stupid which really was surprising to me cause when you read or hear about it its usually one side was much better than the other side. Then after those questions I gave my presentation and actually taught estefani about reading music a bit which was kinda cool I thought. I had biology planned but then I skipped it cause I ran out of time and talked about California geography some. Then I took my final exam which went well but I honestly wasn't that excited about taking it cause its easy to just fill in the blanks and conjugate the right words when they tell you what form. Its much harder to think on the fly and use the tenses correctly which is what I struggle with.
After that I went to visit El Bario. I think I'll be happy there but I noticed I really don't talk a whole lot when I'm with Robert cause he just talks about me instead of to me which if I were going to be talking I would be saying what he is saying so many times I don't have much to say so I just listen. Sometimes I also get caught up day dreaming ( its the same in English especially school no offense Dominguez, Dave and others.) Over all I really enjoyed my visit. I'm a bit worried about what moving around so much in the next month will do to me but I'm sure it will work itself out. My biggest problem is when I'm tired its almost impossible to understand people. I can talk well most of the time but I just really get tired of asking over and over again what did you say? I will admit that I've been known to just nod and say yes ( which isn't a good habit ninos). My team plays tomorrow at 9 am at the chacra so I'm excited to show off my skills. I need to work on my handspring later so I can actually do it legally again like I was doing at the end of last soccer season. At the moment my feet hit but I don't exactly land on them.
The Danes have been playing soccer with us recently and Boris and I have been dominant in Basketball (pretty much unstoppable). I even found a new adventure buddy who is Norwegian which has been fun cause its much more fun to explore and have someone to talk to...
Word of the day romper- to break monstrar-to show ya-already
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
BIG UPDATE
okay so bear with me on this one cause Its going to be chalk full of information and very long cause I've been falling behind on writing.
The reason I've been falling behind is because my name is Nate Secrest and apparently I like to try to do everything and not let people down. On top of that there are two new groups that I just started to get to know as well as some individuals. I guess I started falling behind when one day on the way home from school I said hey to another student who I had seen and asked where she was from. That turned into about an hour talk just talking about what we are doing here (<---- This happens quite often). I guess talks here seem to just go longer because we are trying to speak both english and spanish some and then at the same time everyone has an extremely interesting story of why they decided to come here. I've yet to meet a boring person here (except for the drunks who just pester the girls which can be quite frustrating) On a side note when I was walking with a friend this drunk just came up to me and started talking spanish which by the sounds he was making I'm not sure if it was a language. He also spoke some english too and asked where I was from and I said California (big mistake) cause then he started talking to me even more! We finally go rid of him but it was quite a hassel. Anyways I started to get busier when I met the new danish students and we all went to the waterfall together and I started hanging out with my new good friend Boris. Boris if awesome because he plays basketball (also super tall so him and me together are unstopable at least here), he always is looking to improve his spanish, and he is just a funny guy like me and loves having a good time. Anyways we've been hanging out as well more so that cuts down on my time to do nothing which was pretty small as it is with school and random events like dinners with people, washing clothes, meetings, etc. I'm not even mentioning the Norwegians which I just started to meet two days ago. Anyways there also random times throughout a day when I meet someone new like someone from England, Virginia, or somewhere else and we just sit and talk about what they are doing here ( again conversations take a while here). The important part is though that I'm haveing a BLAST here and I wouldn't give it up for anything except maybe a lifetime supply of ice cream ( but then you might get diabetes or even worse you might start to hate ice cream *sarcasm*).
LAUNRDRY UPDATE! I have conquered most of my clothes but my socks I used while playing soccer on a dirt field are a lost cause I believe. I'm just going to use them when I practice soccer I guess. At least its only three pairs. Well if you would like to hold them in the light that would be awesome (although if you have time to hold my socks in the light you probly should think of something better to do) My first attempt didn't go well because I didn't scrub enough even though I used launrdry detergent so most didn't get very clean. But now its been worked out and my stuff is once again semi-clean.
Okay so to update you what I did on my weekend and the days fallowing:
On saturday I slept in and then went over to go play ping pong at franks but it was closed so I went over to Mauricios and practiced some of my spanish. Then I came home for a bit and rested for about an hour ( I think I watched how i met your mother and another show) and then I went out for Papusas at my new favorite papusaria which I've been building a relationship with. After this I went to the Disco a little later that night after skyping with some ppl and the Danes where there again which was cool. I met them mostly on Friday night at the disco. I also met this guy from San Salvador who works here in suchi and lives here now and his english is quite good. The running joke of the two nights is how much I used the word like when I talk. Yes its sad but I guess one time I said it 20 times in a minute.... Well Sunday was quite a busy day. I was sad that I couldn't go to my soccer teams game at 1 but I had a meeting I had to be at in Suchitoto. My team won though! I suppose it also worked out cause I got to go with the danes another time to El Cubo and this time we went with Marvin and he showed me two new paths that I didn't know about which were quite interesting.
After this adventure with the Danes I went to my meeting where I found out what I'll be doing next week (see bottom) and met some of the students that are starting Franks scholarship program. After this I went and hung out with Boris some more and we ventured over to the Basketball court on the other side of town where I saw my team coming back from the national stadium cause there was a game there that day. ( My team won 5-2 btw) Oh and so Boris was impressed cause I knew so many ppl walking to the courts cause I also saw my teacher walking back too. Anyways we got to the Basketball court where we soon met our new friend Carlos ( yes I know lots of new friends I'm surprised I remember all their names) who plays basketball and we played him and a friend. We won cause well both of us were taller than their tallest person so it was a bit unfair haha. We talked to him and figured out another time to play basketball again on Sunday so we'll see him then at least. Then I went back and had dinner with the Danes at El Gringo where I got a hamburger as usual haha. Well that was my Pastry day ( ... get it? Danish hahahahahhaha yes I'm related to my dad in case you were wondering)
I've been collecting Mangos here recently from the school cause they have been falling like crazy recently. Our house has a tree but they aren't ready yet. I've been finding some pretty decent ones so far even though its not quite the season for them .
Oh right back to what I've been doing.... Monday was Tita's birthday and school and Valentines day ( Happy Valentines everyone!) We had a party at El Necio with food ( which I love) and it was mostly just an adult party but I hung with some of my new friends like Rodrigo C ( the guy who is from San Salvador) Then on Tuesday I played some street soccer translated for the Danes ( which I have been doing quite well recently so its been really fun) went to soccer practice ( the Danes came too and played with us ) and then went home and took a shower. After shower and dinner I went to this restaurant where I heard they play movies every now and then. We watched the Tourist ( a chickflicky movie with some sweet action scenes kinda) and had a HOT DOG! basically the Hot Dog made my night even though they put a bunch of vegetable stuff on top which I couldn't understand why so I just ate the vegetable stuff first and then the hot dog. Boris and the two Mias ( ones name is Meu an ones is Mia which is really hard to differentiate.) came to watch the movie as well as my new friends from Australia, Virginia (the state) and England. Over all it was a good time.
Well that about sums up my intense weekend and few days. I played some street soccer thrown in there and eventually got around to my homework every night but it was quite a push.
Spanish word of the day : Casi - Almost Mucho Gusto- Nice to meet you Puchica- damn/ crap ( the less swearing way) guerra- War Mango- Mango (<---bet you didn't know that one) Perro caliente- Hot dog
cora-quarter ex. dos por una cora.
-Secrest Afuera!
The reason I've been falling behind is because my name is Nate Secrest and apparently I like to try to do everything and not let people down. On top of that there are two new groups that I just started to get to know as well as some individuals. I guess I started falling behind when one day on the way home from school I said hey to another student who I had seen and asked where she was from. That turned into about an hour talk just talking about what we are doing here (<---- This happens quite often). I guess talks here seem to just go longer because we are trying to speak both english and spanish some and then at the same time everyone has an extremely interesting story of why they decided to come here. I've yet to meet a boring person here (except for the drunks who just pester the girls which can be quite frustrating) On a side note when I was walking with a friend this drunk just came up to me and started talking spanish which by the sounds he was making I'm not sure if it was a language. He also spoke some english too and asked where I was from and I said California (big mistake) cause then he started talking to me even more! We finally go rid of him but it was quite a hassel. Anyways I started to get busier when I met the new danish students and we all went to the waterfall together and I started hanging out with my new good friend Boris. Boris if awesome because he plays basketball (also super tall so him and me together are unstopable at least here), he always is looking to improve his spanish, and he is just a funny guy like me and loves having a good time. Anyways we've been hanging out as well more so that cuts down on my time to do nothing which was pretty small as it is with school and random events like dinners with people, washing clothes, meetings, etc. I'm not even mentioning the Norwegians which I just started to meet two days ago. Anyways there also random times throughout a day when I meet someone new like someone from England, Virginia, or somewhere else and we just sit and talk about what they are doing here ( again conversations take a while here). The important part is though that I'm haveing a BLAST here and I wouldn't give it up for anything except maybe a lifetime supply of ice cream ( but then you might get diabetes or even worse you might start to hate ice cream *sarcasm*).
LAUNRDRY UPDATE! I have conquered most of my clothes but my socks I used while playing soccer on a dirt field are a lost cause I believe. I'm just going to use them when I practice soccer I guess. At least its only three pairs. Well if you would like to hold them in the light that would be awesome (although if you have time to hold my socks in the light you probly should think of something better to do) My first attempt didn't go well because I didn't scrub enough even though I used launrdry detergent so most didn't get very clean. But now its been worked out and my stuff is once again semi-clean.
Okay so to update you what I did on my weekend and the days fallowing:
On saturday I slept in and then went over to go play ping pong at franks but it was closed so I went over to Mauricios and practiced some of my spanish. Then I came home for a bit and rested for about an hour ( I think I watched how i met your mother and another show) and then I went out for Papusas at my new favorite papusaria which I've been building a relationship with. After this I went to the Disco a little later that night after skyping with some ppl and the Danes where there again which was cool. I met them mostly on Friday night at the disco. I also met this guy from San Salvador who works here in suchi and lives here now and his english is quite good. The running joke of the two nights is how much I used the word like when I talk. Yes its sad but I guess one time I said it 20 times in a minute.... Well Sunday was quite a busy day. I was sad that I couldn't go to my soccer teams game at 1 but I had a meeting I had to be at in Suchitoto. My team won though! I suppose it also worked out cause I got to go with the danes another time to El Cubo and this time we went with Marvin and he showed me two new paths that I didn't know about which were quite interesting.
After this adventure with the Danes I went to my meeting where I found out what I'll be doing next week (see bottom) and met some of the students that are starting Franks scholarship program. After this I went and hung out with Boris some more and we ventured over to the Basketball court on the other side of town where I saw my team coming back from the national stadium cause there was a game there that day. ( My team won 5-2 btw) Oh and so Boris was impressed cause I knew so many ppl walking to the courts cause I also saw my teacher walking back too. Anyways we got to the Basketball court where we soon met our new friend Carlos ( yes I know lots of new friends I'm surprised I remember all their names) who plays basketball and we played him and a friend. We won cause well both of us were taller than their tallest person so it was a bit unfair haha. We talked to him and figured out another time to play basketball again on Sunday so we'll see him then at least. Then I went back and had dinner with the Danes at El Gringo where I got a hamburger as usual haha. Well that was my Pastry day ( ... get it? Danish hahahahahhaha yes I'm related to my dad in case you were wondering)
I've been collecting Mangos here recently from the school cause they have been falling like crazy recently. Our house has a tree but they aren't ready yet. I've been finding some pretty decent ones so far even though its not quite the season for them .
Oh right back to what I've been doing.... Monday was Tita's birthday and school and Valentines day ( Happy Valentines everyone!) We had a party at El Necio with food ( which I love) and it was mostly just an adult party but I hung with some of my new friends like Rodrigo C ( the guy who is from San Salvador) Then on Tuesday I played some street soccer translated for the Danes ( which I have been doing quite well recently so its been really fun) went to soccer practice ( the Danes came too and played with us ) and then went home and took a shower. After shower and dinner I went to this restaurant where I heard they play movies every now and then. We watched the Tourist ( a chickflicky movie with some sweet action scenes kinda) and had a HOT DOG! basically the Hot Dog made my night even though they put a bunch of vegetable stuff on top which I couldn't understand why so I just ate the vegetable stuff first and then the hot dog. Boris and the two Mias ( ones name is Meu an ones is Mia which is really hard to differentiate.) came to watch the movie as well as my new friends from Australia, Virginia (the state) and England. Over all it was a good time.
Well that about sums up my intense weekend and few days. I played some street soccer thrown in there and eventually got around to my homework every night but it was quite a push.
Spanish word of the day : Casi - Almost Mucho Gusto- Nice to meet you Puchica- damn/ crap ( the less swearing way) guerra- War Mango- Mango (<---bet you didn't know that one) Perro caliente- Hot dog
cora-quarter ex. dos por una cora.
-Secrest Afuera!
My Plan ( if you can call it that)
Well so here is what I talked with Robert about doing next week once my classes finish. There will be more to come after I start and after this Thursday when I visit there. The basic plan is that I will be teaching full time at a school. I will be doing PE with 1st- 6th graders. I will also teach English to 4th 5th and 6th graders. And then on the weekends I will help the two University students from Franks scholarships to teach a Science and Math class on the weekends. I hope to also teach classes with some friends I know here that are studying English and we could start to give some free or cheap English lessons depending on demand etc. I haven't quite worked it all out with my friends but I would like to see if I can do something with them cause there are soo many volunteers here but nobody really talks with each other and organizes things ( My specialty!) Besides the work stuff I hope to really stay connected with Suchitoto cause I really like it here. Hopefully I'll have some friends that I can just crash on their floor or couch if I'm staying in Suchi on the weekend. I really would like to keep playing Futbol here on the weekends in the Torneo cause I really love ( haha there is a guy yelling Goooooooooaaaaaallllll in the streets at the moment... I guess Barcelona Scored) playing with my team and having something set where I get to play something I know and am good at. I think that, watching tv shows online, and listening to my ipod is my relaxation.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Busy weekend
This weekend turned out to be incredibly busy but lots of fun. I will explain more tomorrow but I have to get some sleep. Basically though I had a meeting about what I'll be doing after my month here and I also went back to El cubo with the Danish students who arrived. I also got to know the danes much better and I have a new good friend in Boris who really wants to improve his spanish so I'm excited to help him. Talked to some wonderful people on skype too including Emily and Mark on actual calls (sorry parents don't count... our skypes have become pase haha) and I attempted to do my laundry (don't worry I'll explain how it failed but for now you can imagine)
More to come tomorrow hopefully.
-Natan
More to come tomorrow hopefully.
-Natan
Friday, February 11, 2011
Siesta Synapse
Well getting back to posting again... I was suprised to hear that I hadn't posted since monday on my blog... I think that kinda had to do with doing extra activities after spanish school that I hadn't been doing like going on a hike to El Cubo ( this sweet waterfall with a nice jumping spot) and playing street soccer with the local kids in the afternoons. I just can't seem to be someone who has lots of time to relax... I guess I just expect way too much of myself which Idk if thats a good thing but thats who I am and I know I can be successful with it.
UCSC if you are reading this which you probly shouldn't be (cause I never told you I was writing this yet) but I'm sorry about not writing that letter about SAT subjects tests... I promise I will get right on that its just really difficult to start...
Anyways I've been pretty exhausted recently these last few days from hanging out with my friend Anna from Holland, meeting new backpackers, learning subjunctive, playing soccer and just trying to keep up with living which like I've mentioned before my room gets the short end of the stick because I don't have enough time to clean it ( I maybe also don't really want to clean it either haha) .
El Cubo was an amazing waterfall and I can't wait to take everyone coming on the trip! Its like about a mile hike mostly down hill and then up hill on the way back but you turn the corner and there are three amazing waterfalls one is really short and the second is decent and the third you can barely see but all together are amazing. There is a great jumping point off the second one and they have carved in good rock climbing holds to make it easy to get to. the water is pretty deep too. I don't know how deep but more than 8 feet in some places.
I've met the new danish students that are here and they seem pretty cool. Its kinda sad and sudden but I'm realizing that my classes end next week and I'm going to be living somewhere else after next week too! Its crazy I've been here three weeks already and so much has happened but it still does feel quite fast at the same time. I've met sooo many amazing people I really can't figure it out what I'll do. I think maybe tonight I'll go visit mauricio again and talk in spanish with him. I'm also really tired though so idk maybe I'll just do that and then catch up on a show after dinner or something. Its also friday so I'll probly have dinner out somewhere idk where yet but I'm doing well with money.
Ah money that reminds me... I don't know how I feel about it yet but I gave a dollar to this woman who is... I'm not sure but homeless? I can't really tell but she has told me that her mom has died and I asked a few ppl about her and they say she has good and bad days so Idk what to do. I kinda feel bad about giving money away for free but I know that she needs it and I haven't seen her drinking so she won't use it for things she doesn't need I'm pretty sure. I feel like I would like to help her but I don't really want to encourage begging on the street I guess. I really wish that she would help by doing something for people or helping clean, or playing an instrument on the corner, or selling something... I guess thats why I feel bad about giving her a dollar cause its not supporting what I feel is acceptable behavior. Idk I mean if were homeless ( subjunctive) I'm not sure what I would do but I feel like I would want to work and do something with my life to make it better. I don't know what her full situation is but if you guys have ideas about how to approach this problem let me know please.
Well to sum up... I've become once again very busy like I always am which is....interesting I suppose. I will hopefully find out more of a plan this weekend when I go to visit El Bario and have a meeting with Frank and his students about how we are going to teach the classes. I hope that my spanish will be good enough to explain things well enough in spanish when I'm teaching. I think I will have a hard time understanding questions but I'll hopefully have someone there to help teach or something. I've been giving presentations in biology this week to estefani and they have been going fairly well. The last two classes have gone about an 1 and a half or more. Hopefully my adventures are only beginning....
Secrest Afuera!
UCSC if you are reading this which you probly shouldn't be (cause I never told you I was writing this yet) but I'm sorry about not writing that letter about SAT subjects tests... I promise I will get right on that its just really difficult to start...
Anyways I've been pretty exhausted recently these last few days from hanging out with my friend Anna from Holland, meeting new backpackers, learning subjunctive, playing soccer and just trying to keep up with living which like I've mentioned before my room gets the short end of the stick because I don't have enough time to clean it ( I maybe also don't really want to clean it either haha) .
El Cubo was an amazing waterfall and I can't wait to take everyone coming on the trip! Its like about a mile hike mostly down hill and then up hill on the way back but you turn the corner and there are three amazing waterfalls one is really short and the second is decent and the third you can barely see but all together are amazing. There is a great jumping point off the second one and they have carved in good rock climbing holds to make it easy to get to. the water is pretty deep too. I don't know how deep but more than 8 feet in some places.
I've met the new danish students that are here and they seem pretty cool. Its kinda sad and sudden but I'm realizing that my classes end next week and I'm going to be living somewhere else after next week too! Its crazy I've been here three weeks already and so much has happened but it still does feel quite fast at the same time. I've met sooo many amazing people I really can't figure it out what I'll do. I think maybe tonight I'll go visit mauricio again and talk in spanish with him. I'm also really tired though so idk maybe I'll just do that and then catch up on a show after dinner or something. Its also friday so I'll probly have dinner out somewhere idk where yet but I'm doing well with money.
Ah money that reminds me... I don't know how I feel about it yet but I gave a dollar to this woman who is... I'm not sure but homeless? I can't really tell but she has told me that her mom has died and I asked a few ppl about her and they say she has good and bad days so Idk what to do. I kinda feel bad about giving money away for free but I know that she needs it and I haven't seen her drinking so she won't use it for things she doesn't need I'm pretty sure. I feel like I would like to help her but I don't really want to encourage begging on the street I guess. I really wish that she would help by doing something for people or helping clean, or playing an instrument on the corner, or selling something... I guess thats why I feel bad about giving her a dollar cause its not supporting what I feel is acceptable behavior. Idk I mean if were homeless ( subjunctive) I'm not sure what I would do but I feel like I would want to work and do something with my life to make it better. I don't know what her full situation is but if you guys have ideas about how to approach this problem let me know please.
Well to sum up... I've become once again very busy like I always am which is....interesting I suppose. I will hopefully find out more of a plan this weekend when I go to visit El Bario and have a meeting with Frank and his students about how we are going to teach the classes. I hope that my spanish will be good enough to explain things well enough in spanish when I'm teaching. I think I will have a hard time understanding questions but I'll hopefully have someone there to help teach or something. I've been giving presentations in biology this week to estefani and they have been going fairly well. The last two classes have gone about an 1 and a half or more. Hopefully my adventures are only beginning....
Secrest Afuera!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Whatever this is....
So today I would like to talk about how difficult it is to be in a different country and the dilemmas that I'm facing.
Before I start "ranting" I would just like to point out that I'm having an overall great time. Its just hard sometimes because I feel like a new environment is forcing me to change who I am and what I'm comfortable with. But I'll try to be as accurate as I can with as little bias since these are somewhat sensitive issues.
First, I find it extremely frustrating when I start to talk to someone in Spanish and they reply to me in English, even though I know that I look American. A friend and I were talking about this recently and he brought up a good point: in the US, if I saw a person who looked Mexican, Chinese or Indian I wouldn't go up to him and say "Hi" in his language because, for all I know, he could be American and just his ancestors were not born in the US. So, I try asking ppl to speak Spanish with me, which leads to asking them to slow down. Because once I ask them to speak Spanish, they start speaking much faster, running their words together.
Secondly, I find that I'm being asked, and asking myself to be more outgoing, which is quite difficult. Now for those who know me at Quaker events, you know that I'm quite the extrovert there. At other events, I'm not someone who introduces myself to everyone. Sometimes I prefer to sit down and relax by myself or be somewhat anti-social when I'm with a big group of people who I don't know. Its feels really weird to be putting myself out there so much. ( yes I am related to my my Dad, the introvert but I'm also related to my Mom, the extrovert). So its been rather difficult to keep pushing myself to go up to random people and start conversations to improve my Spanish cause that's just not my natural style.
Finally about understanding Spanish, I don't think many people know how difficult it is to listen to a new language when you don't understand all of it. I'm forced to pay attention the entire time and not zone out like I do in classes. It's easy for me in English to just miss a part and then jump right back into whatever was said and understand the whole conversation. Well this is virtually impossible in Spanish because the second I loose the conversation its hard to jump back in. I think it will work itself out, eventually. I know that I space out semi-often and I have trouble hearing what ppl are saying to me. Sometimes I just plain don't hear what they said (maybe its cause I'm a drummer idk -insert drummer joke-). But here its different because when I don't hear them at first or I missed what they said (cause I zoned out ) I get the feeling that they just think, "Oh he's an American who doesn't speak Spanish very well." Honestly, that is the most frustrating part. I feel misunderstood even when I'm making the effort to learn. Then, when I do speak Spanish, they don't always understand me, partly because of
my accent and partly because I don't know the right words.
And God forbid I would ever be tired and not want to talk in a foreign language all day. You know, it can be really exhausting. So, just be prepared to need to"escape" into your own language when you first try to live in a foreign culture.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Siesta Synapse
Well lets see ( Vamos a Ver...) Today I understood subjunctive much better. Maybe it was that my mind was fresh or that I had let it soak in over the weekend or that I had talked to my dad about subjunctive on Sunday but I really understood it and I think I'll actually use it in my writing and talking now. For those Americans who don't know subjunctive in English... Niether did I haha. They use it way more in Spanish than they do in English but our subjunctive is I wish I were <---subjunctive!
Anyways today has been a great day so far with Classes going well and getting to meet a few new Danish students and show them where the plaza was from their place. It was good to know things and not be shown around. I'm a true Salvadoran! (except for the sunburn part). But its good cause I think my sunburn isn't that bad ant that it will turn into a tan. I might even want to smell like an Italian salad and rub vinegar on myself to get it to tan (Take notes my Irish friends but Robin H might be a lost cause....;) ) Anyways I'm doing well and I don't have anything I really need to do today which is kinda wierd considering every other day I've had tons of things on my plate. I think I'll go buy some laundry detergent and finish my laundry... but thats not very fun... Now that I'm thinking of things I need to do all the little things are rushing back to me so uh oh.... I have to apply for the Quaker Leadership Scholarship Program (QLSP) later today but I need lots of letters from other ppl about me being a quaker and what I've done... If anyone is Volunteering to write one please comment! (No luck mom you are blood related to me... you've already been recruited...Mobert you too)
The Mangos are already starting to fall at school so when we hear one starting to fall we all look up and hope it won't come down straight on us. All this month at the theater there are performances on the weekends which is quite cool. OH and the best part about yesterday was watching the SuperBowl... with a packers fan no less. It was quite fun trash talking during the game and attempting to explain american football to a local and our Holland guest Anne. The best part was that I basically ate my heart out of all the junk that I had saved up and that other ppl brought. I ate 3 papusas, popcorn with extra fake butter ( the best kind there is), sweet bread that Paul and his wife Cassie made, cookies, and orange, cheese popcorn and soda. I particularly liked watching the Doritos commercials. I even got to play some frisbee which was great cause it had been a while since I just threw it around.
Nina Rubia's family is here visiting so it should be an adventure cause the rooms are pretty much all full. Its quite an experience. I think they are only staying for like a day or so but I'm really not sure. Anyways I will soon find out my plan for after school and where I'll be going. next weekend is the meeting with Frank and his two students that will teach classes. OOOOO cool news is that tomorrow I'm giving another presentation on biology on the subjects of evolution and the human systems so let me know what topics I should specifically cover. And whats an easy way to explain evolution without going into all the complex stuff?
Secrest Afuera!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
My Team!
This is my super awesome team that I joined about a week ago but now its official that I'm on the team and playing for them in this tournament/ league that goes until October! I'm really excited to make all the games that I can. If I'm living in El Bario then I can def come to most of the games on the weekends and I might be able to go to some practices. The guy in the yellow shoes right below me is named Juan and he spent 5 years in Seattle so he helps me sometimes with slang words and when ppl speak really fast. I gave them my two pairs of extra shoes for the team to use cause some of their cleats are kinda old. I think we will figure it out by selling the shoes to someone on the team and then the money goes into like a team fund for other things they might need. Hopefully when the trip comes you guys can come see one of my games on Sat or sunday in the tournament. I'll also work out a game between us and them if you want or mix up the teams or something fair. But its a fun pass time either way.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Picture Explanation and Synapse
So as you can see the pictures decided to be huge I guess its cause I used a real camera well next time I think I'll size them down so it doesn't take forever to upload them. Anyways As you can see for those of you who have been on any of the trips with the palo alto friends group the Centro De arte has changed quite a lot from what it used to be. They have put in a skate park and wieght room equipment etc as well as making the indoors really pretty and nice. They are also doing some sort of construction work and building a new building I'm not sure what its for cause I forgot to ask but it should be cool whatever it is.
As for the pictures at the end I took a picture of a dog cause it was one of the first dogs I'd seen that was actually fed pretty well and it was on the way to Pajaro Flor. The other pictures are of the beutiful learning environment that you will be in when you are taking classes if you decide to come on the trip. The view is absolutely amazing and the teachers are really cool as well. I'm not just saying it either its seriously true.
The update on my situation is that the last few days have been busy... I'm playing soccer with some kids on the street and I'm also playing for an official team in a league where we play every weekend. I also got a jersey from them that I can keep! its so cool I'll post a picture of my team later tonight or tomorrow. I really like my team and I'll have to ask but from talking to ppl they all seem to know that I've joined this team and they acutally know the name of it and I don't haha. Word in this town travels fast and my neighbor who I buy cookies from wants to come to my next game. I played today at 9 am and apparently I got a bit sunburned (hopefully it will tan!) otherwise instead of being called moreno I'll be called rojo. Anyways the game was really exciting and the league goes till October which is really long but I'll play when I can and I like the team so thats all that matters. I also said we would organize a game when the ppl on the trip came down in June. I'm excited to see how we do! We'll make the teams fair though probly just integrate. Anyways the game was amazing! I played most of it and played well. We were down one from a goal early in the second half and then we ended up scoring with like 3 mins left to tie it! Even though it was a tie it was a good game to watch.
The other update is that I got a case of 24 glass sodas which is awesome cause I borrowed a case to trade in for new ones and its costs like 6.30 for 24 sodas. the Glass bottles are what costs so much though. Much else has happened too! The danish students left but new ones are coming today and I think this wed is dance lessons which they invited me too so that will be interesting. Laundry is piling up.... as usual maybe I can work on buying new parents when I'm here.... maybe I can bring them back with me too.... I've been hearing stories of ppl in the US which is really cool but some of the stories are quite sad about deportation and all cause honestly they really just want to make a living and they do great work.... I don't really want to get into the whole economics issue with it though I just know from knowing the ppl here that they are very nice ppl and very hard working. They deserve whatever they get... (except maybe the drunks that sit on the corner but still)
I'm going to go hang out with a painter and practice my spanish if he is around I think I'll buy some papusas or a hamburger in the plaza or close to it... we'll see.
Secrest Afuera!
As for the pictures at the end I took a picture of a dog cause it was one of the first dogs I'd seen that was actually fed pretty well and it was on the way to Pajaro Flor. The other pictures are of the beutiful learning environment that you will be in when you are taking classes if you decide to come on the trip. The view is absolutely amazing and the teachers are really cool as well. I'm not just saying it either its seriously true.
The update on my situation is that the last few days have been busy... I'm playing soccer with some kids on the street and I'm also playing for an official team in a league where we play every weekend. I also got a jersey from them that I can keep! its so cool I'll post a picture of my team later tonight or tomorrow. I really like my team and I'll have to ask but from talking to ppl they all seem to know that I've joined this team and they acutally know the name of it and I don't haha. Word in this town travels fast and my neighbor who I buy cookies from wants to come to my next game. I played today at 9 am and apparently I got a bit sunburned (hopefully it will tan!) otherwise instead of being called moreno I'll be called rojo. Anyways the game was really exciting and the league goes till October which is really long but I'll play when I can and I like the team so thats all that matters. I also said we would organize a game when the ppl on the trip came down in June. I'm excited to see how we do! We'll make the teams fair though probly just integrate. Anyways the game was amazing! I played most of it and played well. We were down one from a goal early in the second half and then we ended up scoring with like 3 mins left to tie it! Even though it was a tie it was a good game to watch.
The other update is that I got a case of 24 glass sodas which is awesome cause I borrowed a case to trade in for new ones and its costs like 6.30 for 24 sodas. the Glass bottles are what costs so much though. Much else has happened too! The danish students left but new ones are coming today and I think this wed is dance lessons which they invited me too so that will be interesting. Laundry is piling up.... as usual maybe I can work on buying new parents when I'm here.... maybe I can bring them back with me too.... I've been hearing stories of ppl in the US which is really cool but some of the stories are quite sad about deportation and all cause honestly they really just want to make a living and they do great work.... I don't really want to get into the whole economics issue with it though I just know from knowing the ppl here that they are very nice ppl and very hard working. They deserve whatever they get... (except maybe the drunks that sit on the corner but still)
I'm going to go hang out with a painter and practice my spanish if he is around I think I'll buy some papusas or a hamburger in the plaza or close to it... we'll see.
Secrest Afuera!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Siesta Synapse
So besides my random post earlier today I havn't filled you in on what I've been doing. Today I had a soccer match and it was kinda wierd cause the two teams that played were both teams that I had practiced with before so I had to pick a team. I picked the team I usually play with cause I think from here on out I'm mostly just going to play with them and practice with them cause they seem like fun ppl. I've also decided to give my two big pairs of shoes to them. They don't have any kids I don't think but I'll see about the small pair. Hopefully the shoes fit someone.
Classes today were really good and I really hope to start giving more presentations ( Thursday are presentation days). Today I started with the subject of my life and wound up trying to teach and explain Calculus, Statistics, and Biology during my presentation that I think went like an hourish... I started with cells and then started to get into DNA (They say ADN) and then worked my way through chromosomes, nucelotides, and then DNA Replication including RNA (ARN). It was a very interesting process and thanks to my semi okay drawing skills and my decent speaking skills I taught her quite a lot I think. Oh and Oscar Dominguez, I really hate to say it but you were totally right about how drawings are important... Especially here! I'm excited to do it again cause I really started to learn a lot of vocabulary about biology terms. Most are very similar but some arn't quite the same so it was good to figure some out.
Other than that I've been meeting tons of cool ppl I'd like to meet more Salvadorans but its kinda hard at this point with my spanish cause they need to try to have a conversation with me its not that easy at this point like they need to say things twice or three times or talk slower or say it in a different way. I'm getting better and I can have a really good conversation with my teacher but its different cause she knows how to explain something in other ways and she speaks some english too.
I will try to upload more pictures later tonight.
Secrest Afuera!
My contribution to the Superbowl.
So i like to fallow this show called Sportsnation. its kinda a funny show about sports and they come up with great stories and fun things to discuss. In the super bowl there is a guy named Bret Kiesel who has a glorious beard like my dads and there is a website ppl made up to Kiesel beard yourself so since I can't be at the superbowl or watch it really I just wanted to show you guys what I would look like as him or my dad whichever you choose... its a pretty awesome picture though I must say and its pretty close to what I would look like with a glorious beard like that.....
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Picture Time!
Siesta Synapse
Hey wow I just realized yesterday was the first day that I didn't have time to make a post on my blog.... Crazy I know but things have really been picking up. Well lets see.... to update you all I did take a bit of a siesta after my last post.... Its really damn hot today but I'm gonna go out and play soccer anyways hopefully.... Then after my siesta I did other stuff. This week has kinda gone by pretty fast cause I honestly thought it was Tuesday but still I can't imagine being here for another 5 months. If my schedule keeps increasing at the same rate I'm pretty sure I will explode around February 15th so beware that date... (not the ides of march but ehh only a month off-- yes thats right even though I looked like I was asleep in Ms Rose's class I did learn stuff--)
Anyways as I was saying my time here still seems like it will be forever but is that really a bad thing? My spanish has improved dramatically in just under two weeks here. I'm already planning adventures to El Bario, the waterfall you can jump off of (oh wait I wasn't supposed to tell my mom about it until after I did it and survived... whoops haha but don't worry I'll be fine.) , and The mall in San Salvador where I can get cookies and other various Snacks that I'm sure when I'm old will be the end of me but honestly if thats how I go then I'd be happy but I promise I won't go all uncle Johnny status on you all. I've also realized that I must be related to my mother cause I've been budgeting in my head (sorry dad I got some things from you.... I think)
I will post pictures soon and later on in the trip I will have my camera which will be nice to have again instead of using a webcam one but for now Margret said I could barrow her camera for a bit and other ppl who I'm friends on facebook have pictures of Suchitoto as well up so I'll steal some of theirs soon.
Tomorrow I have ANOTHER soccer match to play in so thats pretty cool.. I think I'm playing with three teams at the moment? But they all really like me and I know ppl on all the teams so it will be a fun adventure. Another one of my plans is to go out to dinner with the volunteers at the center and some of the teachers so they can practice their English one night and of course at some point I'll practice spanish. I was told that I need to get out more from Robert so soon I'll go out into the blistering heat and get some ice cream and sit in the plaza... I've also been invited to sit and talk with one of the painters here in town so that I can practice my spanish so when its not soo hot one day I'll go and hang with him.
Things I still plan on doing in the near future:
-getting a case of coke or drinks ( I have to barrow a case from robert first)
-play in soccer match
-Play ping pong with Paul (centro de arte volunteer)
-Make spanish rap video with Alex ( we had fun beat boxing and funking up the choir songs)
- Travel to El Bario
- Take dance lessons with new danish students
-Have english dinner
-go to waterfall
- sit in plaza and relax
-figure out how to be a morning person ( I think its a lost cause honestly thats why I wasn't the best in class Mr kelly fyi)
- Buy a box of cookies (mmmmmm)
Well thats all for now I'm sure I'll remember something more later but I'll post a few pictures I have of my school after this
-Secrest Afuera!
-
Anyways as I was saying my time here still seems like it will be forever but is that really a bad thing? My spanish has improved dramatically in just under two weeks here. I'm already planning adventures to El Bario, the waterfall you can jump off of (oh wait I wasn't supposed to tell my mom about it until after I did it and survived... whoops haha but don't worry I'll be fine.) , and The mall in San Salvador where I can get cookies and other various Snacks that I'm sure when I'm old will be the end of me but honestly if thats how I go then I'd be happy but I promise I won't go all uncle Johnny status on you all. I've also realized that I must be related to my mother cause I've been budgeting in my head (sorry dad I got some things from you.... I think)
I will post pictures soon and later on in the trip I will have my camera which will be nice to have again instead of using a webcam one but for now Margret said I could barrow her camera for a bit and other ppl who I'm friends on facebook have pictures of Suchitoto as well up so I'll steal some of theirs soon.
Tomorrow I have ANOTHER soccer match to play in so thats pretty cool.. I think I'm playing with three teams at the moment? But they all really like me and I know ppl on all the teams so it will be a fun adventure. Another one of my plans is to go out to dinner with the volunteers at the center and some of the teachers so they can practice their English one night and of course at some point I'll practice spanish. I was told that I need to get out more from Robert so soon I'll go out into the blistering heat and get some ice cream and sit in the plaza... I've also been invited to sit and talk with one of the painters here in town so that I can practice my spanish so when its not soo hot one day I'll go and hang with him.
Things I still plan on doing in the near future:
-getting a case of coke or drinks ( I have to barrow a case from robert first)
-play in soccer match
-Play ping pong with Paul (centro de arte volunteer)
-Make spanish rap video with Alex ( we had fun beat boxing and funking up the choir songs)
- Travel to El Bario
- Take dance lessons with new danish students
-Have english dinner
-go to waterfall
- sit in plaza and relax
-figure out how to be a morning person ( I think its a lost cause honestly thats why I wasn't the best in class Mr kelly fyi)
- Buy a box of cookies (mmmmmm)
Well thats all for now I'm sure I'll remember something more later but I'll post a few pictures I have of my school after this
-Secrest Afuera!
-
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