A day in the life

Monday, September 22

5:30AM Wake up. Hit the snooze on my alarm (now my Ironman running watch).

6:00 Wake up again. Think about the hill. Reflect on the soreness in my legs. Decide running this morning is not such a good idea. Go back to sleep…without setting the alarm again.

7:00 Wake up once more…groggier than usual. I did not sleep as well as usual.

7:15 Take a shower. (cold)

7:30 Walk into the kitchen. Doña Albertina greets me with se lo pegó la covija! or in English “so the covers stuck to you this morning”. With a grunt I acknowledge this is the case.

7:45 Eat gallo pinto with an egg, tortillas, and coffee. It is a hearty meal. I wash the dishes afterwards as a good will gesture to Doña Albertina. Plus it feels good to be doing something around the house…just like the old days (i.e. pre-Peace Corps). She basically spoils me and does just about everything for me – wash my clothes, dusts my room, cooks all the food.

8:30 After brushing my teeth and cleaning up a bit, I realize the school is expecting me at 11:40AM to teach a Junior Achievement (JA) class to the 6th graders. It will be the first class and I need to review the lesson plan.

8:45 Begin reviewing the lesson plan. Decide to write my own secondary plan so I will know the material better. I review the JA suggested class plan and opt to make a few changes and additions.

10:45 Complete the lesson plan and feel about 80% comfortable with it. After gaining modest experience with teaching I have come to realize this is about as good as it gets.

11:00 Announce to Doña Albertina that I will now begin my walk to the town. She bids me good luck with a Que Dios lo acompañe. I begin the trek, 1.2 kilometers of steep hill. The sun is bearing down on me. I begin to sweat about a quarter of the way up, so begin to adjust my backpack to different sides so I don’t sweat too much, but it doesn’t work. I hate sweating when I am perfectly clean and going to work! I shout Pura vida! or Adios! to the mechanics, storekeepers, and other people living along the route that I’ve come to know over the last few months.

11:30 Arrive at the school, talk to the 6th grade teacher, and then enter the class to get organized a bit before the students get there. I am still soaked in sweat at this time.

11:45 Class begins. The kids are a little rowdy. I point out to them this is the first time I have been in there class, and that I don’t know what the rules of the class are…so would they please point them out, I ask. The kids are able to think of a couple of things, like don’t get out of your seat…and other things. The teacher, Marco, points out that the class does have rules, but the kids don’t pay any attention to them. This is not a good sign.
I inform them that I would like to institute a new rule. I have a squishy ball in my hand that I show to them. The rule is that whoever has the ball can talk and has the full attention of the class. If someone has a question, they have to raise their hand and I will then pass them the ball so we can all give the person our attention as they talk. We practice. This proves to work moderately well throughout the class.
The course is called Economía para el Éxito, or Economy for Success…or something along those lines. During the course, which consists of 6 classes of 1 hour each, the students play games and do activities to recognize what their interests our, learn the jobs / earning potentials of people with different levels of education, and practice managing a personal budget. It seems to be a good course for the students because they will soon be heading to the colegio, or high school.
The first class went pretty well and the students seem to enjoy. Marco and I make an arrangement so that I will come back each Monday for the next 5 weeks. I leave my umbrella in the classroom by accident.

1:15PM I make my way back down the hill (minus the umbrella).

1:35 Arrive back at the house. Doña Albertina heats up my lunch – rice, beans, chayote (similar to potato), plantains, and a little meat patty. I add hot sauce. We chat with the brother of Doña Albertina’s deceased husband, Naun (pronounced na-oohn), who just arrived from San Isidro farther to the south. He brings a bunch of ears of corn. This is a good sign, since it means fresh tortillas for the next couple of weeks (Corn is the third most common crop here, but won’t be harvested until the next month).

2:15 It begins to rain. I sit on the porch and watch the rain for awhile. I realize I have forgotten my umbrella at the school and curse inwardly at myself. The cover of the porch is tin. There is no sweeter sound then a light rain falling on a tin roof, and I have to fight to keep from falling asleep. I read a bit.

3:15 Olman, one of Doña Albertina’s sons, comes over to the house and we begin the walk up the hill again. Olman is a member of the junta directiva of the bank, and we are headed to the weekly meeting.

4:00 The meeting starts, or is supposed to start, but we are missing a couple of members of the group.

4:20 The meeting really starts.

6:20 After listening for a couple hours to the business of the bank – correspondence, applications for credit, other agenda items – I begin to doubt my usefulness at these meetings. But at the same time I realize the local micro-finance bank has been a good counterpart and it is good to stay in close contact with them. I inform them I will be having an informational meeting for more English classes next week, and also that I need to use the bank office for a meeting of the junta of the Boy Scouts group we are setting up. The are supportive and give me all the help I need.

7:30 After having hot tea and homemade bread, we end the meeting. I begin to head down the hill with Olman. It begins to rain. I curse myself again and get wet.

8:00 Arrive at the house, change clothes, and eat dinner. Doña Albertina is already in bed so I heat the food up.

8:30 I got to my room and start to read. This is my nightly ritual. Right now I am reading, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, sent by my Mom’s friend as a gift. He is a Columbian writer and won the Nobel Prize for literature back in 1982. At first I wished I had a copy in Spanish, but then I began reading and realized I didn’t know some of the words in English…so better to just stick to my native language. The book is about a mythical town that seems to be set somewhere in the countryside of Columbia. The story rambles and twists and turns every which way though 100 years of the towns life…it is a little convoluted and confusing, but overall pretty good.

10:00 End of the day. I turn of the light and go to sleep…hoping that I will have the will power to make it out of bed at my normal hour tomorrow. (p.s. I do)

This one goes out to Jim and Barbara Sorber, friends from the VA who are retiring. Jim and Barb - Congrats! I’m really happy for you. You will now be free to roam around the world exploring all kinds of crazy animal habitats. Come visit Costa Rica… or better yet, just join Peace Corps! :)