Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Eating with the Team

    Well, as if heading to bed and seeing that huge cockroach wasn't enough...this morning when I woke there was a spider in my shower stall (thank GOD it wasn't a tarantula) and there was a millipede in my room.  So after taking care of the both of them (typically I don't kill God's creatures here, but this morning I wasn't having it), I showered, and got my usual breakfast of oatmeal and proffee.  I then set myself to finalize the math lessons for today and work more on the lessons for this upcoming week.  I got into Thursday's 11th grade math lesson (reviewing exponential functions and their graphs and beginning the lesson on limits) and got so into what I was doing, that when I checked my watch I realized I had lost track of time and that I was supposed to be in the school 20min prior teaching.  I felt terrible and hurried to pack all the books, writing utensils and notebook into my backpack and get to the school as quickly as possible.

   The teacher was just beginning to write the notes to the lesson on the board, and thankfully what she was wrapping up writing down was exactly how I was going to start the lesson, but you could tell she hadn't prepared because I was supposed to be there.  Unfortunately in this 9th grade class, because I was 20min late, we didn't get through all the material on quadratic equations that I had planned, but that is okay because we will just carry it over to later in the week's class.  While I was teaching, Noah stopped by to drop off 2 freshly made buns and to let me know that Danielle informed him that Lydia said we were to eat the rest of our meals throughout the week with the team and that lunch today was at noon.

   After the 9th grade math class, the students had recess and I headed by Dayana to finish up the card game.  Because I had caught on, when we began the second game it was easy for me to take the lead from the get-go.  After recess, I headed into the 7th grade classroom where the lesson was on properties in math (commutative, associative, distributive, and so on).  I knew this is would not be a lesson I would enjoy teaching, nor would the students enjoy taking all the notes on this lesson.  Although we got through the table of all the properties, what they mean and examples of each, as well as a few practice problems, we didn't get all the way through the problems I had planned, so will have to continue into our next class on Friday.

   Noah and I headed up to the team house to have lunch with the team.  We met some of the team members, and two girls sat by us as we were eating to ask quite a few questions about becoming a volunteer and what that all entails.  This team is from Georgia and is very nice.  There are even some very young children on this trip.

   After lunch I headed back to the Volunteer House to prep for Thursday's lessons.  I knew that the 11th grade mathematics lessons were going to be challenging for me, especially since the book had some pretty significant errors in it and I am not all that brushed up on my pre-calculus limits.  When my brain got tired of the math, I decided to take a break and head down to the store to get a California juice (blackberry and grape) as well as sodas for Oscar and Julissa.  I took the sodas to the kitchen and chatted with Oscar and Julissa for a while and then headed to the Team House with Noah for supper.

   Prior to supper, the power went out and the generator at the Team House was out of gas, so Noah and I held flashlights and helped to serve the team as they went through the dining area in the dark.  There was rice, pork, pico de gallo, black beans, fried plantains, fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple), and vanilla cake.  After all the team members were served, Noah and I served ourselves and I went out to the gazebo to eat and chat with the girls who work in the Team House kitchen before heading back to the Volunteer House for the night.  

   Since the power was still out (meaning no fans as well), I decided to head to bed.  It was a rough night's sleep since the guards who work here at the orphanage checked our doors multiple times throughout the night to ensure our house was locked.  But the big metal doors banged so loudly that it almost seemed as if someone was trying to get in.  I think I woke about 3 times, sweating, hearing the loud noises of the doors being checked, and then going to the bathroom, before I slept the rest of the night.  I am guessing it was at that point that the electricity (and fans) came back on and put me into a more deep sleep.