Okay well lets start off this writing adventure with a dream I just had today. I was dreaming that I was playing soccer with the kids in El Gigante (I think cause thats what I did with them last time I was here) then someone said we have to go and all stop playing cause its getting late. I asked what time it was and they said 10:50.... then I woke up and out of curiosity looked at my clock and it said 10:58.... That was pretty crazy that my body knew what time it was just from its body clock!
I guess I'll continue with what happened today and how I got to dreaming in a hammock. So the night before I stayed up way to late talking to my parents and friends on facebook and skype but it was worth it I think. Then today we got up at 4:35 am and left for San Martin with Robert driving. We got there and I got a snack and then switched cars cause I was riding with Nelson to Morezan. I tried to sleep in the car but the roads are really bumpy and there wasn't anything soft to put my head on but I succeeded a little bit at this task. I woke up some and talked with Nelson about a few things like the trip before, my trip now, what I might do while I'm in El Gigante etc.. I was pretty much half asleep the whole ride so it went pretty fast. Then we got there and I met my family that I was staying with (Chamba who I'm pretty sure is Salvador but not sure at the moment cause he hasn't come home yet but I'm pretty sure they are the same person. Well I had coffee and bread a bit and then laid in the hammock and fell asleep. I woke up a few times and moved but overall it was really comfortable. I talked with my family some over lunch and afterwards and I really like them they are nice people. After this I'm gonna go walk around the community a little bit and meet people. They remember Bren and I think some people remember me but I'm not sure.
Okay now to remember the crazy weekend and the few days before it. Well Friday I went to school and taught in the morning some but then I didn't have classes in the afternoon so I relaxed and helped Wicho with the Cows which was fun because I got to call them putas and throw sticks at their but to get them to move ( don't worry maggie I didn't throw the sticks hard) Then I mostly just relaxed and got ready for the next day by planning my biology lesson for the morning and packing my pack for tomorrow to go to my game in Suchi right after class. We also watched Megamind on my computer and Josa really liked it. I had already seen it so I kinda watched it and kinda prepared for my lesson...
Then the weekend got interesting on Saturday...
I got up went to my class and tried to teach Biology to high school students in another language. I struggled with it but I think that I actually taught them some about biology and I at least put the basics down so when they learn it in class it won't be totally new to them. I felt good because I got a few “oooooooohhhhh's” like oh now I get it... In class I taught about Evolution and Natural Selection and then about the cell and the different parts. Its hard enough to teach biology but then on top of that with another language... After the lesson my head wanted to Explode and I was extremely frustrated with myself and tired but I wasn't really mad cause I knew that it was a pretty impossible expectation of myself to be able to teach perfectly in another language.... Then I went to my Soccer game in Suchitoto which was fun and such a crazy experience in itself. I had told my team I didn't think I could make it but I made it there like 10 mins before the game so I suited up and started cause they needed players. I scored the first goal of the game pretty quickly actually off a rebound from the goalie. Then they scored and we scored to make it 2-1 and then they scored one before half to tie it. In the second half they scored three goals to make it 2-5 them and then with like 15 mins left we scored one to start our streak. In the last 15 mins we tied it and scored another to go up 6-5 which is how we won very dramatically. I had a great time and then hung out with my team after the game some until heading back over to the center or something ( I acutally don't remember what I did but I kinda just wondered around for a bit and then headed back on the bus and relaxed.) Then I went to buy stuff for my family before taking the bus home where I met a student on the bus and talked with her about what she did and other stuff. I invited her to an english lesson which she wanted to come to but she couldn't I think for some reason. But she is a good student and really wants to learn. She is in 8th grade and pretty tall so she might be much older than an actual 8th grader but I've given up trying to guess because I really can't tell. Then I went to my house and waited for students who never showed up for the english lesson so that was kinda disappointing but I've decided to change my system of either going to their house or having class at the school because them coming to me just doesn't happen so idk.
Sunday was fun as well because I was already kinda sore from my game on saturday and then relaxed in the morning and did some scholarship and other stuff. Then in the afternoon I went and played for the El Bario team where I played with the second team and scored the first goal in that game as well kinda on the same kind of thing cause someone shot it and hit the post and it came to me and I kicked it past the goalie. They were all really impressed with my Flip Throw-in there and many commented on it. It was a great soccer debut for me cause I scored, played well other times despite some miscommunications and I showed off my flip throw in that actually went decently far for not having practiced recently. All of El Barios teams won which was good to see but I had to take off kinda early cause I had to catch the bus to Suchitoto because I had promised I would play basketball with Carlos on Sunday at 5 so I got there like 515 and nobody was there so then I went to go find Boris but Boris wasn't back yet from his 7 waterfall hike and so I went back and Carlos was there but his friends canceled so it was just him and me so we played two games of one on one and he only dribbles with one hand so I let up some and it was pretty close but I won both times. After that we went out for papusas and talked which was fun to get to know him more. We talked about basketball and stuff and he follows the NBA which is really cool so when I get back to Suchitoto he invited me to watch the NBA Finals with him so I'm excited for that. Apparently Argentina changes all the ESPN stuff into Spanish so they get cable from there.
After Dinner I went to check out the new Danish pad where they have two pools and its pretty much amazing (it used to be a hotel) So yeah hung out with them skyped my parents and talked with others that I miss very much and had an overall great night. I miss my family in El Bario already. Not that I don't love this family too but I miss chickens laying eggs in my room. However I don't miss stepping in chicken poo but thats a small price to pay.
I was extremely tired Monday when I went to school early in the morning but I managed to get through the day and my PE classes have become pretty self sufficient (I love it when that happens) like they can lead the streches themselves and form lines faster and not fight as much its just overall improvement in two weeks. I said good by to my students and said I would return in April probly after Semana Santa (Easter week). I had another english lesson on tuesday and in the afternoon I adventured to a community outside of El Bario on the dirt road from El Bario.
This was an adventure of a lifetime. So I borrowed my host brothers bike and set off and got there actually early so I continued on to find my students house instead of finding where we were going to meet. We met up and then walked between fields on this path that we moved two barbed wire fences to get through. We got to this amazing view of a lake where we just sat for a while and talked practiced some english but spoke a lot of spanish too cause her friends were there and I wanted to ask some questions about culture and life. We then eventually walked back to where we left our bikes at her house and my back tire was flat so we pumped it up and then I took off down the big hill. the big hill was fine except that I don't have brakes on the bike I borrowed so I used my shoe (lesson to those of you who don't have breaks use your shoe!) Well now that I looked at my shoe today it wore through quite a lot you can see where the shoe hit the tire I'll take a picture of it and post them later. Speaking of which I have many more pictures to post including some of my students and some of my favorite english class (9th graders). Anyways so I made it down the hill fine and I actually didn't have to break a whole lot I just let momentum take me. I was doing fine and I noticed the tire in the back was flat again even though I just pumped it up but I was close to home so I continued. A little while after that I was peddling an the tire just stopped rotating and skidded so I got off and looked what happened and the inner tube had popped, ripped, came out of the tire and wrapped around the axel of the tire so a man with a machette came and helped me cut the inner tube off so I could roll it home and I felt bad so I left a little money to pay for it cause its wasn't my bike.. Then I took off for Suchi where I met up with my centro de arte friends where we went to a place where they have movie nights tuesdays and serve hot dogs! I got two cause I was starving and they were soo amazing.... we watched convicted in English with Spanish subtitles which was really good. Then I came back to roberts and stayed up way to late skyping people and thats the update full circle I guess....
Before I forget I'm going to write a bit about my experience here in El Gigante. I'm staying at Salvador's (Chamba's) house and its quite nice. They have a big area and I really haven't hung out a lot in the other parts of the house but I'm getting around to that. My computer says there is internet but I asked their kid and they say they don't have it. I'll try to get to the bottom of it later but I don't really want to ask at the moment. They have a parquet which is really cute and other houses have really nice dogs. They are dogs that I can play with and bet to which is awesome! I was a little disappointed that for some reason they never finished the septic tank in El Gigante and so the digging we did didn't end up creating a toilet for us to puke in the next time. He explained a little bit about what happened that it was leaking or something...I didn't catch all of what he said cause they mumble here so sometimes I try to repeat it to make sure I got what they said right before I answer which can be a bit confusing sometimes. My family is really nice... we have chamba his wife, and two kids Karla who is in University and I'm going to go with her on Friday so that will be fun. I'm not quite sure what they do here because its such a small community but people go off and work but they haven't told me what exactly they are doing haha. Tommorrow I'm going to go work with the bees so thats gonna be an adventure. Oh and they have a boy who is in 3rd grade here that I've been talking to a bit. I'm going to see the macadamia nut trees and in the afternoon tomorrow I'm gonna lead like an English practice session for a few people here so that will be nice. I feel like its a very self suficient community here and they don't exactly need much help other than what they got from the bee's and trees and scholarships so I don't know what to do with helping here all the time.
Questions about my travels? anything in specific you would like me to write about? A lot I don't write about cause I'm just used to it by now too haha.
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