Some days are good days, and some days are bad days. It seems like September 2009, while it’s only the 12th, is going much quicker than September 2008 did. This leads me to believe that the number of good days are finally outweighing the bad days! :)
Honestly, the good days have been around for a few months now. On a regular workday I’m pretty content to go to school, eat lunch, go back to school, and then watch tv when I get back to the house around 5. While I’m at school I really enjoy getting to talk to some of the kids, and reading with them in the library. The days where everybody is afraid to talk to me are long gone, and again, that makes the days bright.
On the weekend days, like today, I would describe a good day as one where I get to go into BayBay or Tacloban and do a little shopping, eat a few French fries, and go up to the school in the afternoon to do Library Time.
Today, was a good day. I went into BayBay in the morning to buy some seafood at the market and was back in town by lunch. I invited my host mom over for a home cooked meal. I made spaghetti with some sautéed scallops, shrimp, okra, tomatoes, and onion. I wasn’t sure if she’d like it, cause as I’ve said before, my recipes tend to flop, but she seemed to enjoy it. I even bought some French bread at Maayong’s Breadshop and showed her how Italian restaurants will give bread with olive oil and herbs. She told me, “You know all the secrets!!” Haha, yeah… I’m down with Macaroni Grill.
Next I headed to the school for Library Time. I used to call this the volunteer pre-school, but I’m not sure if that’s the most appropriate name. The students’ ages are between 3 and 9, so it’s probably safer to just say Library Time. Whatever the name is, today’s was amazing! The past couple weeks we’ve had to cancel it, and it’s frustrating some Saturdays when not enough high school students show up and I’m outnumbered by little munchkins, but today those little guys had no hope. 15 high school students came to help!! That’s by far the highest number so far. I had them sit down and read them a story, pointing out how to use expression and ask questions as I read. Then I sent them down the hill to bring back one kid each. Those are the odds I like!
The story time went smoothly, snack had no problems (and all the trash went into the trashcan…which seems like it shouldn’t be such a big accomplishment, yet it is), and the kids went crazy over the new toys that came in the last balikbayan boxes. Puzzles seem to be the big winners so far, with Memory a close second.
By the time the kids went home it was about 4:30. 2 ½ hours of no major dilemmas or drama means, yes, a good day. And then to top it all of, one of my students, Leo, shared his sugar cane with me on the way back to the house. Gotta love that!
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