A Day in the Life...

I think I'll skip the part where my alarm goes off and I decide if I am going to start my day of with my zen by meditating, exercising with some yoga stretching, go to Atacames to do some much needed grocery shopping, only to have to turn around and go back later in the day OR to just go back to sleep until nine or so giving me a few hours to make breakfast and to get on about my day....

Since it varies...all the above happen at different times...

The real action starts when I roll up to La Aldea hours before the first workshop at Via Via starts because I have to round up the troops, talk to each madre, meddle in the office a little and try to get us to Tonsupa (the next town over) on time, which is the biggest task of all.

There are 13 houses which is a relatively small number, and so when I say I have to go to each house and tell the mom's which one of their kids is coming with me you would think it would be easy and a task I could completely easily in 20 minutes.

This task has Never taken less than an hour.

Why?

Because we take different age groups at different times, and while we have had meetings about it and I have posted schedules it ends up being the most confusing thing for the kids and the moms. I will have to dedicate a separate post to try to scratch the surface of what it is like to be a 'madre' at the Aldea. All I can say as these women are amazing super humans and remember a silly schedule is the Least of their worries!

My intention at first was to go early to help them remember once we got the groove, but now I see that this is going to be how I am going to have to do it every day until this Project is over (in December...of maybe even longer) which is fine anything to take the load of of those women! The kids too get soooo confused with which day and which age that it would be a mini disaster ever class if I didn't go around to those houses with my official list and pen!

Not only do I need go into each house and advise the peeps like it's the first time we are ever doing this, but I also have the task of "recruiting" tias and madres to come WITH me to take the kids on the bus and to watch a class (and help out with discipline) This is SUCH the task cause the women are up to their EARS with SO much to do, but it's the expectation that I am getting them to come from the folks at Via Via. SO everyday I'm there with my sign up sheet recruitin... Some sign.. few come..which I totally understand.

I will say some Do come and when they have they have a blast and I do feel those who haven't sincerely want to but just can't get away, however, I have the pressure to them to come in the afternoon and the night classes and that gets me sweatin right off the bat to kick off the day!

Then EVEN though I have given everyone up to an hour head start to meet by the office so we can BE ON TIME...no one is there waiting when I get there to finish my rounds. The sooner we can leave the better because if the bus we need passes by it's another 30 min we have to wait.

So maybe two or three are waiting but I usually have to send them to do quick run-bys to yell, "La Señorita se va aahhooorraraaaa" The moms poke there heads out giving me the "wait, wait hand" I wait 5...10 min...knowing the bus has passed which means I'm going to be waiting on a busy street corner with 30 energetic kids...all to myself.

Now culturally we have learned you're not going to be doing anything at any 'o'clock sharp, and I know that I have fallen into "La hora Ecuatoriana" just fine, but I know how the waiting game goes, so I start leaving, usually with out kids, down the strip of street we have to walk up just to get to the main road to wait on the slowest bus in all of Esmeraldas.


As we are at the half way point usually a TEAM of kids are running up the street screaming "Profe, esperaaaaaaaaa, pprofffeeeeee" to which I reply "Corrrrreeeee" "Ruuunnnnnnn" I have every intention of waiting on every last one of them at the corner, and I would think they would learn that day in and day out, but it's the same dramatic scene for the neighborhood to watch on a daily basis so there is that tradeoff.

Then the stress begins.

If you could imagine me on a public bus with 25 to 30 kids and my horrible Spanish then you know what my days look like. For them it is like going on a field trip with the substitute teacher basically so it is on and poppin. I started writing this my first week working and now I am completing this entry weeks later and I will say that after a couple of serious talks and getting checked in bad Spanish the kids are doing better on the bus. Everyone looks at me like are ALL of these YOUR kids. They can't figure it out. I have the girls fighting over who will sit on my lap while I try to pull the little boys in who have their bodies half way out of the window trying to holler at anything moving. Fun.Times.

Then when we finally get to Via Via it's even more of a mad house..but a more structured liberating madhouse where I have some adult help. We don't want the kids to feel like they are in a class room so we encourage them to be free and express themselves, however, the first few weeks were CRAAAZY and we were thinking we weren't going to get anything done.

Now that we have developed a bit of a rhythm, the kids are still very "spirited" and come with tons of energy, but we are able to direct it into the projects that we are doing which was my only dream for this project.

It still is hard having to be the disciplinary person. I would rather run around like a loca with the kids and let them do whatever they want, but I know it is for the best.

This week we are doing murals and so far it has been AMAZINGLY fun. This weekend we are going to be doing a presentation for the Aldea to show the moms and the aunties what we have been up too, so that should be a ton of fun.

I hope this entry wasnt too disjointed. I started it awhile ago but felt it got long and then finished it weeks later. More to come on what me and the kiddos get into.

Abrazos!

# 23 Barefoot Beach Runnin

My pobre zapatos died (my poor tennis shoes) and I am really feeling like getting into shape right now. Well I can throw that excuse out of the window because everyone that works on the beach where I live pretty much omits wearing shoes at all. In the mornings people run the beach for exercise but without shoes. I was nervous at first, but gave it a go and it’s therapy to the soul. I am grateful for the locals in my town for teaching me how to enjoy the beach in a new way, get into shape, and buy myself sometime to get some sueltos together to get new shoes!!

Project Update

What up, What up! I felt like I needed to email an update on how things have been going with the new project.
To give an honest real time answer...it would depend on what minute you asked me.
I feel like a have a manic-depressive disorder when I'm with the kids.

Sometimes I'm over the moon sooooo happy that they are laughing and having a good time, argh, but having to keep order, discipline and be...well..the adult can be crummy sometimes and totally bum me out or exhaust me. It would be normal, I think, if it varied by week, even by day, but I go from high to low in moments flat with these little (and some big) balls of energy!

What I DO know though is that I'm on the right path and walking in my destiny because even on the Worst days where there lows are hittin hardcore, I still am Really excited to continue on to the next day, next moment, next activity. Even when my head is crying out "I'm Exhausted! I can't take no mo'! Who told you could rally all these kids on your own, keep them in order all in SPANISH! Run, Ruuuunnnn, drop the ball someone else surely will have to pick it up!!!

My heart says "This is SO Rad, even in the moment that just kinda sucked when you had to ask that kid to participate for the 100th time, or had to make the kids sit in their seats on the public bus (when you know they just wanted to have fun) or had to
withhold snacks until EVERYbody was quiet....This is still something you have projected you wanted to for awhile now, as written hundreds of times in your journal,...so congratulations now it is happening and all the moments are a blessing and so there for give thanks for them all!!" (Yeah so my heart talks a lot that's a good thing! :op) So I do. I stay in a state of gratitude knowing that I am learning and growing...probably at an exponential rate.

I have always wanted to work with youth and this new project is giving me some "on the job training"

What is different than what I was doing in Guayaquil and even my smaller classes at the Aldea, is that I am partnered up with Via Via who has a proposal, and full out agenda and activities on a larger scale, so I can do things, see things and participate in activities way larger than myself and bigger than I could have done alone. So while it is a Huge undertaking, (that the gremlins in my head try to tell me I'm not yet qualified for...but I don't listen to them!) the fact that I show up everyday (-after a routine mini anxiety attack) and give my all fully because what I'm doing is out of love and nothing more, I know that it is more than good enough and that when you follow the path of love and your passion, you really can't go wrong.

I see blogging at midnight after a particularly grueling day (felt like a human piñata I tell ya!) may not be the best idea. Sorry readers :) I will be posting more about what I am doing specifically. Posting some pics of our activities, complete with descriptions of course!

(pictured: 3 Fiesty girls that I work with who look SO innocent here I had to capture the moment, haha) Love them!!!
(pictured: Me with 2 chicos from my teen (jovenes) group)