Day nine in Panama

Let me try to explain more in detail what exactly is happening at the school each day. The students are in finals this week. So last week was dead week and they were studying very hard and were very busy. Next week, when we leave, is their short “winter break.” Imagine being a student, having to study and take finals, and at the same time go to a Spanish class. The students are all very stressed. Ana, one of my students today told me that she needs a massage because she is so tense. Putting myself in their shoes, I would not want to go to a Spanish class in the middle of finals. There simply just isn’t enough time. This is one reason that explains some of the no shows we’ve had. I cannot blame the students for not coming because I can relate completely. Also, many students ride the bus and for some, it takes them over 3 hours to get to school and 3 hours to get home. Today, Alberto and his brother Manuel (friends from church and the sons of the host parents that Terry and Mike will be staying with) were sitting outside on the porch when Terry woke up. He said, “Why aren’t you guys at school?” The boys explained to him that the bus broke down and there was no way of getting to school. So they just weren’t going to go. You see, students here rely on the buses to get them to and from home. For many of the students, they wake up at 5am just to get to school on time. By the time school is out and the bus comes, they do not make it home until 8pm. This is another reason why we have no shows. The students do not have time out of their day for an English class. Maybe an hour long session of English means getting home 2 hours later because of the bus schedules. We are the first missionary group to Panama to work in the schools. It has been very unorganized because the students decide to come in when a time is convenient for them, rather than the actual time that they were scheduled. Sometimes we can take them, but sometimes we can’t because we already have another student that we are working with. We have had many that can not make it for several reasons. Today was the first day that I had a no show. However, Sarah’s next student came in 30 minutes early, so I decided to take him with my free time. Next Wednesday, however, he will be back with Sarah as the schedule says, since I have a student normally scheduled during that time. So I had a no show, but someone was there to fill the spot. The fill-in’s name was Abraham. This was by far the student that made me smile the most, yet we could not communicate at all. He had never had any English before. Not one ounce of English. I mean we started from square one. Learning the alphabet and numbers. All of my other students are advanced in English or at least know enough to communicate. But Abraham was very much so a beginner. It was very rewarding to see him fill out his family tree. He learned a ton of new words. It took me at least 15 full minutes to explain what nephew and niece were. But we figured it out eventually! When his lesson was over, Abraham wanted more! “One more word!” He said. He was loving it. We were laughing so hard and having so much fun and neither of us new what each other was saying. Somehow, with drawings and hand motions, we were able to become great friends very fast. He would speak a full sentence to me in Spanish, expecting me to no what he was saying. I am getting better, yikes, I had no idea what he was saying. He looked over at my camera laying on the table and asked if he could see pictures of my family. He was so interested in finding out more about my life, even though we could not understand each other. He wanted to know more. So I pulled out the photo album of pictures that I collaborated of important things and people in my life. He absolutely loved it! Lindsay, he though you were muy bonita! Also today, I had Ana Raquel Velasquez and Rachelle Curry. These 2 girls I taught at the same time because, somehow they got double booked on my schedule. Ana I love! She is a young girl that is so full of life. Ana and her friend Gabriela walked in right after a final that they took today and they were talking to us like they would with their friends. They were telling us how frustrated they were with their 2 tests that they had taken: Math and History. They joked and said, “The teachers must not like us.” I laughed, remembering how it felt to take tests. I sat down with Ana for her English lesson and shortly after, Rachelle walked in. They were both at very different levels of English so it was difficult to work with at first. But we figured out a system and God was working. Next, it was time for an adventure. We have teachers that come in for lessons from 4-5. We wanted to find the teachers to ask if they were going to come today, because if not, we could all go home early. Problem is, Taylor, our Spanish speaker, had gone home to the United States, so Sarah and I were on our own for an adventure. We walked into the teacher’s lounge first and they were speaking to us in quick-paced Spanish and we had no idea what they were saying. We took note from their hand motions, nodded our heads, and headed in the direction we thought we should be going. We found a few more groups of people, some that spoke a little bit of English, and eventually found the teachers that we needed. All said that they were going to show. We were happy that they were going to make it! I had Roberto. He is a biology teacher for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. He’s been married for 27 years and has 2 kids. It was neat to talk with Roberto, being that he was my first adult to teach to. All others that I’ve had have been students of 18 or younger. I can definitely relate better to the younger ones in conversation, but it was just as neat to converse with someone older than me. He took 6 years of English awhile back, but says that living in Panama, there is no one to practice English with. So he said that he needed to brush up again. He spends 3 hours every other day studying English through textbooks, but says that its not enough. Pronunciation, as I’ve learned is key to understanding. We jetted out of the school at 5pm hoping to get gas, get dinner, and eat it all before 6 oclock when our students are expected to arrive. We got home with our food at 5:56 and I was shoveling down my food. Christopher and Cassandra came while I was still eating, but he didn’t care because I was sharing my food with him. Cassandra will be coming again and I am so excited for that. She’s such a doll! Every time I see her, her personality comes out a bit more and she becomes less shy. Those two kids are a kick to work with. I love relating the message to things that really interest them. The concept of the story seems to click when they can relate to it. Go figure! When they were done, I found out that Christian was not going to be able to make it because he had practice at the church. But Manuel was over, so I decided to work with him on his English. He was almost finished with the Luke book that we use to teach English with, so the concepts were getting harder. It was difficult to get him to understand at first, but once we got it, we were on a roll! I’m saving my drawings that I use to help explain concepts and words in English so that I can show many of you when I get home. I really think it’s an art. Communication through drawing. I love it. When Manuel and I were finished, we went into the living room to hang out with Christopher and Cassandra. Oh boy… this is a story to remember. I wanted to know how to say slang terms in Spanish. For example, in English, we say What’s up? Or Wazzup! They said ok we have something like that to! You say Que Sopa? So I repeated it back to them and they all started laughing so hard. I thought they were all going to pee their pants. So the first thing that came to my mind was, “Oh no. It must not mean what’s up… it must mean something else…” I found out that all they were laughing at was my pronunciation of the phrase. So I said ok ok I’m going to get this. They would say Que Sopa and I would repeat it. This happened back and forth at least 15 times. And each time, they would laugh harder and harder. They said, “You have such a strong accent!” They got a kick out of it, but I don’t want an accent when I speak in Spanish! I guess there is nothing I can do about it. I thought I was sounding just like them. But nope! Apparently not. It was such a great time for all of us. We were laughing so hard and began saying many different things with many different accents in hopes to get the pronunciation right. The house got louder and louder as people were yelling Que Sopa! And laughing so hard. It was, like a said, a definitely moment to rememeber. Finally it was time for everyone to leave. Sarah, Terry, Delores, and I sat around talking for awhile about the day and ended the night in prayer thanking God for another successful day in Him. I was able to call Lindsay tonight finally and got to hear all of the amazing things she is doing at work! Then I was able to get ahold of Papa to wish him a happy birthday (even though it was yesterday, I wasn’t able to call then) and I got to talk to Grandma as well. They are such an encouragement to me, its indescribable. Now I’m going to grab a snack before bed and hit the hay. Its been a wonderful day! And getting a full night’s rest really does make a difference. So I’m shooting for that again tonight.