Day 27

January 26, 2010

 

Day 27:

 

            I don’t really have too much to say today. We started moving today. The trailers that were supposed to be done shortly after the first of the year are now done and ready for us to move in…damn near four weeks later. So I taught class, we worked on “setting the scene” right before the conflict occurs. Some kids get it and have GREAT story lines and others just don’t. Some of the stories are pretty creative/funny. James S. in my third period is writing about a  guy falling in love with his best friend’s cow. Jaline in third period is writing about an ugly boy who steals the neighbors dog. Janila is writing a very complex story about two girls being best friends, and one of them getting with the other’s boyfriend, and then a pretty serious altercation occurs. Bobby’s writing a pretty interesting re-make of Shrek. I’m very encouraged to work on the story lines with them once I can work more with them one on one.

            Then there are kids like Henchi, Certhina and Kalani in my fourth period and Jefferson in my third period who just don’t get it. I genuinely don’t think they understand English at all. Like they don’t understand what I’m saying, they just sit there and raise their eyebrows when I look at them. Most of them would be in ADD classes if they were in American schools but in the Marshalls only the people with physical impairments can get special education. It’s quite unfortunate.

            I was very encouraged by the progress overall however. I’m gonna have to buy the construction paper and markers sooner than I expected. Some of them are ready to meet with me, get their edits and start illustrating their stories. It’s also interesting to look at some of their attention to detail. Some of the kids, after one example, understand the concept of explaining every detail that they can. What the characters are wearing; why they’re doing what they’re doing; where they’re coming from; where they’re going to; what time of day it was; how did he know where to find so and so. It’s pretty encouraging to see such, literally, raw creative writing ability.

            After class I met Eric at the resort for lunch, and a quick workout before heading to the market for cleaning supplies and coming to the trailers to clean them out before moving in. We started around 3:00 and after about three hours we had cleaned out both trailers and the cottage pretty well. It was nice to see th potential for all of us to have personal space. We had squeezed ten people into basically two bedrooms for almost a month and personal space had to be taken at the resort or on runs, or in the gym, but now we have so much more personal space. AND we finally get to unpack our bags. Since we’d been told that the trailers would only be a few days from moving in, we never unpacked our bags. None of us. We were under the impression we’d be at the apartment for three days tops. So we’re all excited to unpack our bags into drawers and closets.

            After cleaning we headed back to the apartment where Anna and Ben made a  chili with kidney beans, tomatoes, onions and peppers. And then they had some rice alongside that as well. It was pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of non-Cincinnati style chili but I ate it anyway. It actually wasn’t bad. I didn’t get enough of the soupy part of the chili but it still wasn’t bad.

            Eric debriefed us on the protocol for the next day or so (Garrod put him in charge of organizing the move out/move in). So we had to pack up all of our stuff because when we leave the apartment for school tomorrow, we’re gone. So we spent the better part of post-dinner packing up our bags and lesson planning. I was pretty much packed already so it didn’t take me long to get out of the way. It’s amazing how much of my time in a year is spent packing a suitcase. Traveling is great, but I feel like I spend SOO much time living out of a suitcase or duffle bag.  Anyway, I read some of The Purpose Driven Life and fell asleep.