September 22, 2009

question and answer

Lately my days have been filled with classroom observations and house visits. It's really given me a window into San Antonio Silva, and I'm grateful for all that this community has already provided me.

The school is enclosed by a huge brick wall, 8+ feet high, and topped with barbed wire. It would be imposing, if there weren't the bright blue and white painted school name and crest on the walls, the trees poking over the top, and the sounds of children playing floating overhead. The school is very large. As in any school, matriculation drops as the year continues, and since school ends in November, the classes are smaller than normal. Right now there are about 800 students in the school. Next school year (which starts January 10th or so) they are expecting a matriculation of almost 1000 students!!!

There are 4 "pavilions" of classrooms. (Complexes of classrooms.) There are about 15 classrooms in the school, as well as a stage, a cantina (food stand), cocina (kitchen - where the food provided by the government is prepared and given out to the students everyday), futbol cancha, basketball court, playground, bathrooms, gardens and garbage piles, administrative offices, computer room, and the aula de apoyo. (This means support classroom, literally. It's where the students with learning difficulties go to receive extra attention. I like that they call it a “support room” here, and I really like the teacher! They also have an accelerated learner’s classroom that I'm really excited to observe.) But I digress.

Students either go to school in the morning or the afternoon. For computer classes, the students come during the opposite time once a week to receive that class. Morning classes start at 7:10 and end at 11:30 or so, and afternoon classes start at 12:10 and end around 4:30. There are six periods, each lasting 45 minutes, with two recesses, one of 10 minutes and one of 15. I think if you check, you will see that the math doesn't work out, but it doesn't really matter because no one seems to follow the schedule, not even the school director or the teachers!

Classes regularly start 5-10 minutes late, and even then, that's when everyone is sitting down – it sometimes takes a while for the lesson to begin. In younger grades, one teacher usually gives all the classes, but in the older grades, there's a science teacher, social studies teacher and English teacher that rotate. This rotations cuts out of class time as well. The topics range from the periodic table to Central American Independence, long division to why and how shadows are formed. At times I’m amazed with how basic and slow moving the classes seem, and at other times I’m inspired by the motivation of the teachers and the way they tackle their material, especially given their relative lack of resources. Some of the students are clearly attending classes for reasons other than to learn (my primary guesses include – nothing else to do, mom and/or dad make them, it’s where all their friends are anyway, and it’s a chance to get a snack.) That’s not to say that those are invalid reasons for being at school – if anything, those are the kids that I’d like to work with the most, to try and encourage them to continue their studies for other reasons as well.

I originally commented that I think this community is fairly well off, and I think on the average that is true, but if my house visits have taught me anything, it’s that as in any community there are a range of home conditions. Some people are living in fairly basic housing – packed dirt floors, wood panel or corrugated metal walls, tile or thatched roof while others live in two story homes with beautiful fences, fancy metal bars on the windows, gorgeous fruit trees and flowers etc. But even with these differences, everyone is incredibly welcoming. When I show up a new house to do an interview, it always begins with some platicando (chatting) and then we move in to the interview part. It’s just some basic questions about who lives in the household, how old, occupation, level of education etc. I also ask some questions about garbage management, whether they have an agricultural land or animals (besides the obligatory dog or cat). The interview itself usually only takes about 5 minutes, but I always give a little bio at the beginning and answer any questions at the end. The most common questions are – “why are you doing this interview/ what is this information for”, “where are you from”, “are you family of Carolina” (my host mom), “how old are you”, and, “are you married”! I love meeting the people in this community and can’t wait to continue my interviews. Hope you all are well.

September 15, 2009

independence day parade

It's 4:30 am and the dogs have started barking. I'm not sure at what exactly, but I can hear other dogs in the distance begin to bark to. I try to fall back asleep, the electrical hum of the ceiling fan helping with it's white noise. It's no use though, because the local radio station begins to air it's daily offerings on loud speaker to the entire community "today, two for one pupusas at the comedor. fútbol game at 2 pm. church services at the following churches..." etc. A wonderful advertising tool that I will for sure need to take advantage of at some point, but kind of a bummer at 5 am!
Today is Independence Day here in El Salvador, as well as the rest of Central America. School is cancelled for today ("summer" break is November-January) but the schools are the main participants in the parades. My host mom and I went to the school at 6 am to help prepare the food for all the marchantes after the parade. We returned home to wait for the parade to pass. The parade consisted of the school, and only the school. First the flag bearers, then the kids in costumes - traditional El Salvadoran dress, doctors, police, soliders, nurses etc. - then the littlest cachipuristas (baton twirlers), then the band, then the older cachipuristas, then the cheerleaders, then the gynmasts, then a "brigade" of students marching in their school uniforms. It was all pretty cool, especially because all the parents and teachers work really hard to make it all happen, and they parade right next to their kids, making sure everything goes alright. In this heat, they also provide them with water, wipe their faces etc. It's a pretty big event, considering. We waited until the parade passed, and then followed behind to watch some more. That quickly became walking with the parade, and then barreling on past the parade. It's weird to me to be watching a parade, and kind of participating in it, but here it's no big deal to walk right along side, and even pass the people parading. I guess it's also a little weird for me, because I know that gringo t.v. is really interesting and that I was like a saturday morning cartoon for a lot of the kids.
After the parade, and some brief words of congratulations and thanks at the school, we returned home. We watched the larger ceremonies in the capital on t.v. in the comfort of our living room. They have essentially the same thing, but in the large fútbol stadium in San Sal. It begins with school groups, gynmasts, cheerleaders, cachipuristas, bands etc. A large part of it was a parade and display of the armed forces of El Salvador. They had a fake war right there on the soccer field, complete with helicopter evacutations, cannon fire, and peace negotiations. They also had a cavalry demonstration and paratroopers! It was pretty impressive, if not a little disturbing.
After that, I passed the afternoon watching fútbol (Real Madrid vs. Zúrich) in a hammock. It really is a tough life here, but someone has to do it!
I will close here - my host brother and a jigsaw puzzle are calling me!

September 9, 2009

under the hot lights

We've been told that we should pretend that we are auditioning for a job. This audition is in front of an entire community, and the audition will last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. No pressure!!

I am here in my new site, and it's true. Everyone just wants to check and make sure that you are "buena gente". They want to know that you know what they know before they are willing to learn from you what you know. I have begun the process of getting to know the community by visiting the school and passing through all the classes with the directora (I wish we could gender nouns in english!). I was also introduced in front of a parents meeting. Now pretty much the whole community knows my name, but I don't know the names of any of them!

The audition seems to be going well so far - in the afternoons I go visiting with my abuelita. We visit her friends in the community. I'm slowly getting to know people. I don't think I'm ever going to know everyone in this community. I hope for maybe knowing everyone in the school. I will probably be here most of the time anyway, since Peace Corps and MINED have an agreement of certain charlas that I have to give, and considering that there are 2-3 sections of each grade, I will be teaching a lot!
Not only do I think I will enjoy my job, but I think my new host family is great. Carolina, my new host mom, wants to exercise as well as learn to cook more "saludable" for herself and her son. I've already convereted her son to whole wheat bread without doing anything! I think we are going to get along very well.

This town is very interesting. It appears that there is quite a bit of money (I saw an air conditioner unit sticking out of a house the other day) and quite a few houses have cars and computers. That isn't so say that this town isn't a peace corps town - though sometimes, even though I've only been here for 4 days, I forget that I'm in El Salvador. And then, the bachata blasts from the car radio passing by, the cows barrel past as the farmers bikes behind them, the women walk by with guacals full of pupusas balanced on their heads. I have visited the poorer people in town, but almost everyone has family in the states that send down remesas, and with those remesas they buy luxuries. Not that I begrudge them any of it, it's just interesting.

I hope I can have a positive impact on this town. Just now entering into the school (where they have a computer lab and internet) I was acosted by a bunch of niñas. They were very excited to see me and chat with me. I think one of the toughest things for me to see though is the amount of children that have one parent, or sometimes both! in the states. A lot of parents from this town, and this country in general, are in Washington D.C. and Houston.
I have a feeling I will love it here. Somedays I might want to jump in the freezer to get away from the heat, but it's all the more reason to love a bucket bath! I think, in general though, besides the heat, this is going to be a great fit. Just wait and see.