Eventful Day

 Stories from School

English Class

Learning Colors!

Computer Class

Today at school, we had a very eventful day. As a treat, we gave the children a couple large marshmallows. They were immediately very excited about this! Most of the children were outside playing with Jackelyn, and I was upstairs playing with a few of the girls. After Diane came up to give the girls their marshmallows, she was upstairs in her office. About 5 min later, one of the girls was looking at me with a rather odd facial expression. Her eyes were wide, and filled with fear, and she was making a strange noise. It was like my whole body went into shock as I thought, she couldn't be chocking could she? I called her name, and I watched so intently for a few seconds. I truly thought maybe she was just acting a little odd, but it only took a few seconds to realize what was really happening. I felt so stupid after all was said and done. Why didn't I act on it right away? What would I have done if I was there alone? I knew what to do, but I was so scared because she was so little and I thought maybe I would hurt her. Instead, I immediately started yelling for Diane. She came running and grabbed her immediately and started to perform the heimlich. All of us watched with so much fear in our eyes, hearts and minds. It was the first time I have ever seen someone truly not be able to breath. She couldn't tell us she was chocking, she couldn't scream for help. The poor girl could not even breath. They always tell you in CPR class, "Don't be afraid you will hurt them, you have to save their life!" Because I knew Diane was only feet away, I wanted her to be the one to perform the heimlich. But I just keep thinking, what if I would have waited too long or what if Diane wasn't there. It really was one of those situations that puts life into perspective very quickly. 

THEN, we also found out that we have two students that have lice. For me, I immediately wanted to freak out...but the thing is, this is normal here. The children have little access to clean water, and some have no access to clean water. They barely bathe themselves. It is only natural for them to get lice. In the United States, if a student is found with lice, they are immediately sent home and need to wait a certain amount of days before they can return to school. Here, that is not the case. These poor girls were covered in eggs, and one girl actually had the full size bug in her hair as well. 

Although today was eventful, and rather stressful...I am grateful to experience these things and learn how to handle these situations appropriately. It is absolutely heart breaking to see the difference in their lifestyles and the challenges they face every day. It makes me feel so grateful, and so blessed for the life and family I have.

On a positive note, my classes are going so well! I am getting really positive feedback from the students. I love getting the opportunity to plan and create a class on my own...AND I get to practice my Spanish with a little less stress! I love hearing the students singing my songs that they learning my English class, or telling me colors in English. They really are enjoying it, and picking it up quickly! 

Their Reaction Was Priceless...

Something that most kids in the United States would think was "cool"....was like performing magic for these children in Guatemala. Most people are familiar with the program Photo Booth. It is a fun photo program that can edit and change the appearance of pictures. I was very familiar with this program, and I decided to start out my computer class, by showing it to the students. I wanted to get them excited and interested right away... and this did the trick for sure! I stared with the mirror setting. For them to see TWO of their faces...was actually scary for most of them. They immediately would close their eyes, shout out, or laugh so hard. It was truly priceless to watch their reaction. They all LOVED it, and we played around for at least 5-10 min to get them comfortable with working with me, and the computer. I knew that the children would love this because they think that the simplest things are fascinating. It is so much different than being a teacher in the U.S. where children have Ipads and gadgets. These children have little to nothing, so a program like this was actually magic in their eyes.