By the time June rolled around this year, the computer lab in my school was (for the most part) fully functioning and computer classes were a go! I started out working with Don Saul teaching the kids how to use the computers, but after much complaining on the part of the kids, my director decided that I was going to give the classes by myself. The kids didn’t like classes with Don Saul because he was too strict (and he was). He was getting way too technical in class and was always screaming at the kids for not remembering how to save a word document or create a folder on the desktop. I’m sorry, but these kids had never seen a computer before in their lives. I was perfectly content with them if they could turn one on and off correctly and could manage the mouse with relative ease. Once Don Saul left the classes, I decided that I would teach Microsoft Office/typing to my fifth and sixth graders, and the younger kids would spend their classes playing math and spelling games, or researching topics on the Encarta encyclopedia.
After a couple months of practice, every kid at my school was able to use the computers on their own, without my help! And those kids that were especially good at remembering how to open programs, or “hacer clic” on the mouse were eager to help out those lagging behind. My school director always brags to parents that stop by that even my five year olds can play the counting games on their own. I’m extremely proud of my kids and their progress with the computers this year.
In June, once computer classes were in full swing, my sister Beth came to visit. I took her to school with me one day and she helped me teach a class to my kindergarteners. She helped them with counting and the alphabet, and she said she learned more Spanish playing the games with the kids on the computer than she did all year in her college Spanish courses! It was HILARIOUS seeing her next to my teeny tiny five year olds, and they were obviously in complete awe of her height! They’re still asking me where my sister that is “casi dos metros” (almost two meters tall) is and if she’s coming back to play with them again. They’re so presh!
Having Beth visiting was definitely an eye opener. So many things down here in El Salv that I consider normal now, Beth was completely offended by. On my bus, she couldn’t understand how I could sit calmly in my seat while four different women were intruding on my “personal space”. Personal space is the first thing I had to give up when I arrived in El Salv, and it’s normal for me to be touching everyone around me. Beth could never get used to it. She couldn’t believe the pollution from cars, she had trouble breathing in the capital from all the exhaust. She was afraid of my friend Kristina’s latrine (I’ll give that one to her…it’s pretty gross. I used to not sit on it, but two years later I’m even doing that!) and one night we were watching a movie on my laptop and she kept swatting away the small moths that were hovering around the screen, something I gave up on a long time ago! It was kind of hilarious seeing her out of her element, and I only wish I could have watched myself in the beginning, because I know I was just as offended by the same things when I first got here!
I also celebrated by 24th birthday in June during her visit. We met up with some of my PCV friends in the capital and had a night out on the town before she left! $5 all you can drink at one of my favorite bars, Avant, was the perfect ending to her viaje!
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