It's the end of another weekend in Tamaula. Clay, Caroline, and I opted out of traveling again to Guanajuato City, and even though it was a little slow around here, I'm glad we stayed. Yesterday, I got to play basketball again with some of my students, AND I got to learn how to box! The Chicago Youth Boxing Club has a presence in Tamaula and turned one of the classrooms of the primaria into a room for practicing boxing. One of my students, Ramòn, taught me how to correctly punch, with gloves and everything. Needless to say, I'm a little sore today. We then proceeded to play jumprope games for a while until we got news that the power was back (The power was out all day because of the storm the night before). We invaded the secundaria classroom for another movie, this time "Inspector Gadget." One thing I noticed -- dubbing in Spanish is a lot more noticeable in a movie with real people. Last night, I also learned how to whistle by grabbing my bottom lip/chin in my hand and sucking in air. It's probably the ugliest way to whistle, but still a cool talent, I guess. Santos was a proud teacher after I learned how to do it within an hour.
Yesterday, I also enjoyed some quality time with Esmerelda, or "Esme." She's the two-year-old granddaughter of Dona Mago, and she's absolutely precious. She barely speaks, but she has started referring to me as "Lìn" (or "Leen," in English). I take this as a compliment, seeing as she has not begun to form many complete words or sentences yet. One of her favorite things to do is sit on my bed and play with things on my nightstand, which have included my chapstick, my phone, my travel alarm clock, and my book.
The beautiful Esme
Today, we rode down to Irapuato with Don Candido and some of their visiting family. Clay and I went with them to the zoo, while Caroline went to pick up Angel (novio) from the bus station. Even though I'm actually not the biggest fan of zoos (and this one was no better than the ones I've seen), it was cool to see the kids running around and enjoying it. We spent some more quality time at Dona Martina's family's house (less than usual, actually), then rode back up.
One of Clay and I's somewhat unhealthy goals of the summer (and one that I am sure my mom will disapprove of) is to try and rate all of the Bimbo treats offered here in town. So far, we've made our way through Pinguinos (de chocolate), Pinguinos (de vainilla), Submarinos, Negritos, Plato-Villos, Emperadores, Panquecitos, and Napolitanos. We went on a little eating splurge the past few days (we blame it on the lack of food at our houses), but we've decided to cut back until Tuesday.
Healthy? No. Delicious? Yes.
I'm excited for this week here, especially because I feel like I'm starting to build friendships with my students here. I especially love hanging out with Santos (who actually prefers to be called Mari). She's my fourteen-year-old "sister," and she is hilarious and brilliant. She's only in the second year of secundaria, but she's a genius! I really desire for her to get out of Tamaula and do big things in her life, but I'm afraid she'll get stuck in the same routine as most of the girls here do: finish secundaria (maybe prepa) and either hang out at the house and help your mom with chores or get married and start having kids. Not to say at all that this a bad lifestyle because there are certainly lots of women here that I'm sure enjoy it. But for someone like Santos, and many of the other youth here, who has a brilliant mind and a desire to learn, I want her to have something more. She really wants to be a designer, but if she doesn't have the money to go to the university after graduating prepa, her options are pretty limited. It's a thought that's been going through my head over the past few weeks and something Caroline and I have talked about. Is there a way to offer more becas (scholarships) to students here? How could that be done in a way that benefits more than just one graduate a year? I also wonder about the scholarships offered by the government. Are there any, and if so, does anyone here know about them? As a firm believer in the importance of education, I wonder if there's a way to get more of the students here into the university because I really do think that that could do a lot for them. It's something that I would love to look more into.
God is doing big things here and in the other communities where our companeros are. Still, I'm getting excited to go back home and spend some quality time with my family and friends before getting caught up in another school year. Peace & love :)
"Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city (pueblo/state/country)."
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