My first day as a volunteer!

Today was my first day volunteering and i was a wreck!! I was soooo scared! I mean seriously, why the hell am i afraid of a bunch of kids? Could it be cos when i was a little girl, i was bullied by a fat boy who sat on me and drew a moustache on my face? I have this unrational fear of children but today, i was a trooper! :-)
I'm working at a place called "Hogar Temporal". I haven't quite gotten the gist of exactly what it does - i think it's a temporary shelter. By "temporary", i mean it could be years.

I was meant to start teaching at 2 so i got there at 1:45. All the teachers were having lunch so they told me to wait outside. As I sat in the courtyard waiting, this little kid came shuffling over and sat next to me. I have to admit, i understood NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO, CERO, WALLAISHI of our entire conversation but i enjoyed this encounter nevertheless :-).Whenever i asked about whether he liked it there, he would stiffen up tho so i didn't know what to think about that...
CONTINUED...The teacher then came out and told me that i will be teaching 4 different classes in 2 hours - each for 30mins. As i was getting ready to walk into the first class, this American guy walks in with his daughter. Apparently they were meant to teach that class too. She's a teacher who lives here in Xela so i let them take the lead and i just sat back and observed. I'm glad i had that cos i learnt alot from them - the truth is, i have NO idea how to teach kids!!! So it was v interesting to see how they got their attention. We studied animals, colours, numbers, hello, goodbye. Then i was off to my next class - but without the americans. I had gotten my material though so i was a happy bunny!

My next class had about 10 kids - all of different ages. There was this one kid - Christian was his name - who really annoyed me at first cos he knew all the answers!! But then i realised how frustrating it must be for this 13 year old to be in a class with 5 year olds! I mean how can he learn...So i stayed with them for the next 30mins. Christian knew all the answers to everything yet the kid next to him didn't even know how to write his name...I talked to Christian a little bit throughout the class. I don't know his story but he apparently used to live in the US hence why he could speak english so well. He even sang me the American National Anthem:-)Not even i know it!!!

If you were to look at this kid, ur heart would break...I've never seen a 13 year old look so hopeless and lifeless and fed up with the world. It seemed like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I don't know many 13 year olds but i expect them to be happy, full of life and energy, super bubbly. It was so so sad:-( He looked like the eldest kid there - all the other younger kids had that "child" attitude about them: giggly, naughty, playful. But not him.

After that, i went to my 3rd class - it was the class for mentally handicapped kids. They were so cute! They were ALL over me, holding my hand, stroking me, dribbling on me (santizer was in full effect here). They were keen to learn but unfortunately class got interrupted cos we had to sing the Guatemalan national anthem for some strange reason, so we all gathered downstairs. They had to put their hands on their chest while singing it and the kids just found this hilarious and kept giggling - it was funny to watch:-) The only person not participating was Christian... He stood there, bored out of his brains.

I went upto the teacher after the National Anthem and asked whether i could start teaching one on one instead of a group class, as i feel i'll be able to make more of an impact this way. They said yes which is great! So I have decided to teach Christian and Josue, the 5 year old who didn't know how to write his name. 2 extremes but while one is doing some homework, i can focus on the other one. I'm all excited about this! I was planning on just working 3 days a week but i'm anxious to go back tomorrow and get started with the kids!

I would love to find a kid that i could sponsor throughout his education...I have high hopes for Christian but we'll see. I think that would be a good use of all the money u amazing people have helped me raise. I may split the money and help the school with some supplies - we'll see. It's too early to tell but that's the plan so far. I will keep u all posted!