Recently many new and interesting things have been happening. The last few weeks have been flying by. I seem too have much less time to do a mountain of tasks. I'm starting to get on top of it but I've come to realize that my trip will come to and end all too soon. Just about two more weeks until the trip comes, and just a Month until I fly home to the states.
When I'm in Suchi I never seem to have enough time. I've been working on many different projects where I need to use the internet. My projects are:
-Finding typing games on the internet to put on the El Bario Computers
-Emailing Trip participants about spanish level, hammocks, Architect work, questions etc.
-Constructing a list of good English Videos and games that I can send to students by internet.
-Emailing and starting my Project Apulo: Projector.
-Responding to emails and watching a few videos for for of course too
Its interesting because once I get to Suchi the hardest part is getting to the internet. Not because its far but just because I always run into old friends, new friends, or people I teach and we talk about when we'll have our next class or when they are going to come help in El Bario. So I guess I'm just too famous in Suchi cause I always run out of time. I never seem to have enough time to finish everything I want to on the internet. Oh and also I do like to talk to my parents every once in a while so that takes up a fair amount of time. Overall though I love everything I'm doing I just wish I had a little more time to focus on a few of them instead of getting side tracked by conversations but thats just how El Salvador is. Its a very friendly amazing place.
When I've been in El Bario my usual schedule is to come into Suchi in the morning to get some internet work done and then I meet up with Rosa the English teacher and we practice English while we are waiting for the bus. I've also been helping with the endless grading work that teachers do...
With Rosa I've brought in a few of my own strategies to teaching including a Vocabulary and Verbs page that they add to little by little in the back of their notebook. I like it because it helps with repetition and then they have a mini dictionary to use when they are doing their homework. I haven't had many classes in El Bario in the mornings but I've definitely been bonding with the local community much more in the past few weeks..
The Soccer team in El Bario is probly one of my closest communities... They enjoy my jokes and they are also really funny people as well. Last weekend we went to another community for my first away game with them. They said it was pretty far but I had no idea how far it actually was. They said meet at 1030 and it seemed like a pretty strict time. Wicho and I were there at 10:20 and.... we hung around for an hour and a half until we were ready to leave a little after eleven haha. After the bright and early start we rode in a giant truck towards Aguilares. When we got to Alguilares we stopped for gas. When we pulled in we were rushed by vendors running to us to get the first crack at our money. It was like we were the jackpot. The air was filled with the shouts and cries of the vendors fighting for our attention.
When we left Aguilares I thought we were getting close but I never asked. When we turned onto a dirt road I thought we must almost be there. After riding another 1 and a half on this dirt road we suddenly turned a corner and arrived in a community of about 600 people. El Salvador never ceases to amaze me. There wasn't another community for about another 10 miles but yet somehow this community was pretty big.
We played our game and once again I was in the right place at the right time to score another game. We were winning 1-0 after the first half. In the second half we lost focus for a minute after they made a goal. Almost instantly they made a second goal and we were down 2-1. Later one of our better players made a few moves and was right in front of the goal when he shot the ball badly and it was blocked by the goalie. I did my handspring throw-in three or four times during the game and the community was pretty impressed I think. After we played the first team played. The first half was 0-0 and both teams had great defense. Late in the second half it seemed like nobody would ever make a goal. When I was talking to a few locals and learning about the community, I said I think they are gonna tie. Just when I said that my team made a goal! It was kinda fun braging a bit about my community. Finally after the game a few of the locals were saying bye to me and calling me chaugy. I couldn't figure out what it ment until my team explained it was Chaugy and scooby doo! Its a good thing scooby is a universal word...The ride back always seems shorter than the arrival. We got back and we began to chant “Bario Bario … El Bario” as we rode into town to celebrate our first team winning (which is what matters). It was the first time we ever won at their field.
More adventures soon to come! Including getting sunburned!
-Nate
Nate's awesome!
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