Una Semana mas

One more week of training left, I’m ready to stop talking about it and get down to the business of volunteering. We had our final Spanish class yesterday, and I feel like I have made a lot of progress. I am able to write out pretty much what I want to say, but using things in a conversation in a timely manner is a different story altogether. I have my second Spanish interviews today, which will tell me how much I have improved. The PC encourages everyone to make it to Intermediate, but if I don’t it just means I will have to come back for a couple of extra class days in two months. Once training is over we are sent to our sites and are on our own for towo months until there is a second training phase that lasts for two weeks. Our focus in the first two to six months is to meet as many people and build “confianza” which means build relationships and trust so later the people will want to work with you on projects.
As an Environmental Education volunteer I have heard that our group has one of the most structured programs, in that we are given a book of environmental lesson and should give then over time to the local school we are assigned to. This is a base for our work, and then we are free to work on anything else that our community wants or that we want to do. I don’t have many plans yet, except maybe a gardening and composting project, as everyone seems to do these and are fairly easy and effective.
I don’t know if I have described my daily life so I will here;
6:00 Get up (never thought this would happen)
6:00-7 Get ready, shower from a bucket, have breakfast made for me, get dressed)
7-8 Work on homework or projects or read in English (my guilty pleasure)
8-12 Spanish class with three other trainees and our teacher in an extra room in my house
12-1 Lunch with Spanish teacher
1-4 More class
4-7 Work on projects, investigate community in areas like healthcare, water, holidays, school system, flora and fauna, beliefs ect. Sometimes play soccer or Frisbee with the kids
7-730 Eat dinner
7:30 -9 Work on homework or projects, read, listen to music
9 – go to bed (earliest since I was about 8 years old, but I’m exhausted by then)