Holy Week Begins

Today is the official start of Holy Week.  There are many schools that don't have school today, and those that do (like Buen Pastor) will have small attendance because most of the time kids take extra days before and after vacations to expand their break.  I'm going to make Easter baskets with my elementary school kids in the morning and dye Easter eggs with my jr. high and high school kids in the afternoon, and my adult class is having a party in the house of one of my students instead of class today.  The adults are making habichuelas con dulce, a sweet almost hot cocoa like mixture of sugar, milk, beans, and other ingredients.  It is very strange, but really yummy, and it is the specialty Dominican food for the Easter season.

Weaving Easter Baskets with my jr high English class

On Sunday, I am going to participate in the San Esteban Palm Sunday processional.  We'll start on the malecon and parade together as a large group to the church for the Palm Sunday service.  I'm very excited to get to see it.  Next week, I am probably going to church Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and maybe more depending on the schedules of the two churches.  I'll know more about this when they announce the schedules on Sunday.  It also seems like, similarly to at home, many extra people will be at the services.  A few friends I know from outside of church have been asking me the church schedule for this week because they'll be going, even though I've never seen them in church before.

This week, my high school kids wrote short poems about someone important in their family.  I thought I'd share them because they are really sweet.

SHE IS

by Celestino

She is very important to me

She is very beautiful

She is a good person

because she helps me

because she loves me

She is my grandmother

WHAT IS IMPORTANT ABOUT MY FAMILY

by Crysnery

The important thing about my cousin is she has a baby

named Leondro Leach Soriano Castro

The important things about my family is

our fine nose

THE IMPORTANT THING ABOUT MY MOTHER

by Yaneidy

My mother loves me

She is very important to me

Because she is everything for me

She helps me study for school and

She helps me everywhere

MY FATHER

by Madephenis 

My father is good and

He loves me and I love him

He gives me pretty things and

Is very good with me

SISTER GABRIEL

by Juan Francisco

Sister Gabriel is my savior

and a good person

she helps me in the school and 

helps me now.

As always, let me know if you have questions!

Dios les bendiga,

Tina

Gym Class

Though I'm coming to the end of my trip, there are still more things to be done, and Sister Jean Gabriel asked me to help pilot a Gym Class program for the elementary school.  I don't have any experience as a gym teacher, but I went to gym class (sometimes not so willingly) all through school and I played sports after school from when I was in kindergarden until college.  I've also coached a basketball team and worked as an umpire for softball, so I figure I actually could be qualified, or at least more qualified than most of the woman who work in the school who have never played a sport and probably never had gym class in school.

Second graders in English class, but they are also in my Gym class.

There is still a stigma here against woman in sports, and in the two weeks I've been teaching gym class, I've seen it in many of the girls.  They don't want to run too much and they cry quickly when they get a scrape or bruise and they often step back and let the boys take control.  I don't think I was too different in gym, but I wasn't like that in sports at all.  I've decided to participate as much as I can with them so that they see me doing the sports and enjoying them.  I'm also going to very careful never to pin boys against girls or separate them out by gender.  They can all play and they can all succeed.

The boys and girls separate themselves in class.

Its hard for me to get boys and girls to hold hands during
some of the games we play

I have a new English class as well.  About a month ago, some kids started showing up the hour before my high school class, and little by little, I started to teach them more formally.  Word spread, and some other kids joined the class.  I now have 7 kids age 8-12 in my 3 o'clock class.  They are having fun and learning the basics.  We only have 2 months left (less because next week is vacation week for Holy Week and we don't have class) but they are going to get a good foundation for when they start having English class more regularly in their schools in the future.  My high school class is going well, though a few of the kids have "senior-itis" and would rather hangout and talk than actually study and learn anything, and my adult class is as enthusiastic as ever.  Many of the adults have come a long way and I am constantly impressed by their abilities to speak and get their points across after just a few months of lessons.

I am looking forward to Holy Week and Easter here.  I will go to MANY services in the next two weeks because I want to participate both with Centro Buen Pastor and with San Esteban.  I also hope to decorate easter eggs, possibly in my classes on Friday.  Its a fun time to be here and I'm excited to see how the traditions are the same and different.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Dios les bendiga,

Tina