Today marks the first day with the kids. We have been planning so much and there is nothing else to do but to put everything to action. Basically the point of today was to register people for the program, introduce everyone, and talk about what we were there for. I had Oscar translate a small speech explaining who I am and what I would do. I also mentioned the fact that I know little Spanish. Naturally all the kids flocked to me with their questions in Spanish.
We have a group of older boys who seem pretty close and they might be trouble. They don't seem to want to be split into separate groups and one was separated and sulked the whole time. The girls are all really shy. They barely even utter their names. When it came time for me to speak I felt a confidence in myself and talked nice and loud and smiled at the kids. I think that's why people liked me. The first few days everyone was a little nervous, so I think smiling was a good way to communicate with them that this is supposed to be a fun project FOR THEM.
Some of the kids are the cutest little things. We're teaching about 20 kids that range in age from 6 to 15 years old. The six year old is so tiny, and his name is Jose. There was another little girl who was 9 years old and she was so tiny. Most of the kids were shorter than me, which is a nice ego boost for someone who's 5'4''. Kids in the US at their age are taller than me by age 13.
I think the most important part of this day was making the Akosia map with the kids. This is where all had to brainstorm good qualities that we all supported and agreed upon. For example, respect, responsibility, confidence, courage, etc. All these words were rules. If anyone wasn't respecting someone else, all we had to do was point to the map and remind the kids what they had agreed upon. It was amazing watching them come up with the right words and share their thoughts on the map. After we wrote down all the words the kids were meant to sign the agreement which would be their agreement to come back every day and be a part of this project. There was a group of boys who won't be able to make it tomorrow but they have agreed to come back the day after.
At two it was time for the kids to leave. The five of us worked out some rides for some of the kids for the time they were going to be spending with us. There were boys from California which is a 40 minute dive or a 4 hour walk. There is also a group of 10 girls that were about two miles away and we arranged for them a ride back and forth so they weren't walking those two mile every day.
After everyone left, we ate our lunch. Generally, we eat breakfast in the morning, snack when the kids eat lunch, eat our lunch around 3pm and then have a really light dinner around 9. But I'm not used to eating a ton of meals a day so it feels like we're eating nonstop.
Afterwards we like to plan for tomorrows lesson while sitting on the roof and catching a few minutes of sunshine. The rest of our day is filled with planning while Melissa types up the reports for the day. This day we went back to Dolores Hidalgo to download some movies to demonstrate video making to the kids. The cafe we went to has guacamole that's to die for!
