Friday, October 2, 2009

End of the Week... Super Tired

Thursday was my site visit by not only my regional manager, but also a pcmo and our Philippine country director. They came for a couple hours to chat, observe me co-teaching with my counterpart, tour the school, and eat lunch with my host mom. It was great to have a break from the norm, and they brought Tootsie Rolls, which is always a plus :)

They were all really positive about the library. I introduced them to some of the students who have helped organize books and have taken an interest in the project. It was amazing to watch one student, Denise, describe what she got from reading the teenage edition of Three Cups of Tea. The fact that she a) read the story from cover to cover b) could summarize the accounts c) tell her reaction and thoughts and finally d) do all of this in front of foreigners made me so incredibly proud. She is one of the students who came during the summer to help organize and also comes on Saturdays to help with the little kids.

Friday became our first day of "Reading Buddies." This is what I love/sometimes don't love about my site. I say something or think out loud, and then BAM it's somehow made reality; usually with me running to catch up. So earlier this week I said we need to get high school students to go to the elementary school and read them stories. So now every Monday, Wednesday, Friday I've got to get 30 high schoolers to Central Elementary by 4:15. It's going to be great, and the elementary school is really excited about it, but getting the routine of it down is a little rocky at the moment. Today wasn't a disaster though, so I have hope that it'll be smooth by the end of next week.

Another fun thing, my counterpart's daughter's pre-school class is planning to visit the library for a field trip! FIELD TRIP!! I'm so excited!

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