Teacher!Teacher!

We are just finishing up our second month in site and are finally settling in. At first it was tough getting used to so many new things at once, every single part of our life was different and it was a shock to our systems for sure. Now we have had time to get used to those things that weren't, as I mentioned, necessairly negative, just different. The result is that Boqueron is finally starting to feel like home, and we finally have some sort of routine in place.

I am teaching...earlier than I should be teaching since we are supposed to spend 3 months in the community before starting work, but I was ready and the students were ready. So far, so good. I have never been a teacher before and I am learning just how many hours are put in before a class even begins. The whole curriculum and all of the lesson plans are designed by yours truly, my first time with anything like this. I spend a lot of time prepping and trying to figure out effective and fun ways to teach a foreign language.  One thing that makes this difficult is that all students grades 1-6 are in one class with one teacher. Teaching something to a 6th grader is way different than teaching something to a 1st grader, but that's what I am tackling right now. This is only true for one of the two schools- for the other school 1st-3rd graders are in one class and 4th-6th graders are in another. Starting this week I will also be teaching one Kindergarten class and 2 adult classes (1 in each community).  It's a full plate but I really do like being busy and I love how much I am interacting with the whole community through my classes. And walking down the street hearing "teacher! teacher! good morning!" or pasearing at someone's house while their child pulls out every colored pencil and says "Sarah, este es blue. Este es ...yellow" and you can tell how happy their parents are that they are learning English...it makes me feel very proud of the work that I am doing, and like the community is already accepting me. Obvioulsy we are going to progrpess past basic vocabulary but I am only a few classes in.

On Tuesday Sean and I hosted a presentation for the local tourism group. Essentially Rio Boqueron attracts a lot of Panamanian tourists in the summer season and this group is made up of Boqueron Arriba, Boqueron Abajo and Santa Librada, a community a little further up the river from Boqueron Arriba. The group is still working on organizing itself and identifying its goals, etc. Sean and I did our charla on setting a mission statement, and the importanc of identifiying that mission as a group. It was the first Spanish presentation that we have had to give and it was very stressful, but we feel that it went really well. Afterwards, the present of the Padres de Familia (read: PTA) asked us to do the same for her group. It is fun to see our projects coming together and giving us the opportunity to work side by side instead of just in the same community.

Sean continues to amaze with how well he has picked up life in the campo.  He gets out there and does the tough physical labor right alongside the members of the community..he has extended his efforts to Santa Librada where he helped with a junta last week working on repairing their road.  On any given day he is out on the fincas cutting crops or chopping wood for our host mom to cook with, or building a bench for the family or catchign fish for us to eat or working on the school gardens in any one of the three communities,e tc. etc. Sean has not limited his help in any way, if someone asks he is there to do it. Every week he is learning something new or doing something for the first time. Then in his down time he has started whittling a chess set! He has all of the pawns for one set done...this is something he has never done before but decided he wanted to do it and figured it out. 

We have spent the last month living with a woman and her three children. The children are 15, 12 and 9....the 12 and 9 year olds are the ones we hang out with the most. They are in my class in Arriba so they like to practice English when we are at home. They love having us in the house and really enjoy the entertainment we provide. There is the entertainment we provide on purpose- playing with them, teaching them how to make friendship bracelets, fishing with them, helping with homework...and then there is the entertainment we provide by just being us.  The fact, for instance, that I am not afraid of staying home by myself and that it doesn't make me cry they find particularly entertaining and strange (in fact they think I am lying and therefore NEVER leave me home alone). Or the fact that I love the dogs and pet them and let them sit on my lap. Or that I read for fun.  And they find the strangest things cool- my 3 ring binder, my wide tooth comb, sean's leatherman is a huge hit with the whole community.  The kids absolutely love to just watch us be us...I can always feel a set of eyes on me no matter what I am doing.

OK it is back to Boqueron...not sure when we will be at the internet again...but leave us a message or something. We miss you all a lot and think of you all the time.