This morning I went to the Elementary School with Alba and met with the directora/principal Haydee; I gave her a letter that I wrote to explain my role and to talk about what I could offer to the classes like self-esteem, communication, values, etc. She talked about teaching English once a week and then I can also incorporate those things. She expressed interest in having seminars or charlas for the parents, as the children seem to have lost their values and also some things are evident that are not being taught at home. We will talk more in a few weeks when I have materials to teach English and also have supplies for other activities.
After lunch Alba and I did more of the census from 2-6:30 ish, it was so tiring! It’s interesting to hear people’s answers to the question about how much they make per month. Many say they don’t know, because the flow of work, or the success of fishermen and those who catch shrimp is pretty inconsistent. However, it was also interesting that the people don’t know how much they make but somehow are still surviving. Some of the results were as little as $10 a month, or people receive money from family who live abroad, or receive government assistance which is called the Bono. It's basically equivalent to welfare, but unlike the States, it's a set amount each month of $35. It doesn't matter if the family has 1 child or 5, if the people applying are disabled or retired. I thought that was interesting.
We are going to start running tomorrow morning because Alba wants to lose weight and so do I because I’ve gained about 5 pounds since I got here. Everyone laughs about the weight thing because normally the people here don’t work out, so I’m glad to have Alba with me so I don’t look completely ridiculous. I mean most men play soccer, some women do too, but it’s not like “workout” is on people’s list of things to do during the day. But who knows, maybe it will catch on. A lot of people have diabetes here as well as high/low blood pressure; Ecuadorian cuisine tends to carry a lot of salt, in addition to sugar and oil. People don’t generally drink a lot of water, just juice or coffee/tea.
No comments:
Post a Comment