Machetes

Before I came to Bolivia, people would ask me what I was going to be doing at Familia Feliz. I honestly had no idea so I’d tell them that I was most likely going to be a teacher, a house dean, a cook (Pretty sure nothing will be edible when it’s my week to cook. The whole cooking over an open fire is a new concept) and maybe even cut the grass with a machete. The last part I always said jokingly but when school finished Monday afternoon and all the students gathered to start work assignments, guess who tramped out to the citrus field with a machete to cut down grass? I carried my machete proudly but it was pretty evident from the start that I had no clue what I was doing. No matter how hard I hit the roots with my machete, it would not cut. Maribel, one of my girls who is small for being seven years old, started cutting weeds right away and put me to shame. After I struggled for a bit, she noticed and tugged on my skirt saying, “No, teacher.” She then proceeded to show me how to cut the grass, which honestly looked the same as how I’d been trying to cut, but she was actually being successful. Two hours later, two more students had tried to teach me how to use a machete and it still wasn’t working. I used a hoe for most of two hours but would occasionally try to figure out the whole machete situation again. One of the other sm’s, Josh, assured me that I’d get the hang of using a machete by the end of the week. By the second day, I had a handle on it and was able to actually cut the grass. It wasn’t perfect but I had the rest of the week to practice.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve only been here for two and a half week. For the one week of school that I have had, this is what a normal school day looks like at Familia Feliz.

5:00am – I wake up and wake up my 13 girls to have their morning worship. It’s definitely a struggle getting up so early and sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m the adult and that I need to get the students up, not the other way around.

5:30 – Depending on the day, we will either all have worship in our living room or we will take a walk to the church and have morning worship there with everyone.

6:00 – staff worship.

6:30 – All the girls in my house have to shower and do their morning chores for the day and prepare for school.

7:30 – Breakfast. This depends on who’s cooking. A couple days ago we ate at 7:50, which started our school day off late.

8:00 – Class. From this time until lunch, I teach.  My first class is a group of 9^th graders and I teach them English. I also teach Bible class to 8^th grade and my final morning class is English to 11^th grade (We have grades k-11).

12:30 – Lunch. Again, it varies on when it can be cooked.

1:30 – Agriculture class. I was asked to help teach this class to grades 1-4 with another teacher. My dad would be so proud of me since he use to be a farmer. As it turns out, agriculture class is just hauling buckets of water from the house to the citrus orchards and watering all the tress. Sorry Dad.

2:15 – P.E. This is for the same class grades 1-4. The two classes kind of run into each other. So far, the students have been just playing soccer and volleyball but starting next week, we’re actually going to have a planned P.E. where we have games to play.

3pm – Job assignments. The jobs vary but they either involve cleaning, cooking or macheting.

5:30 – Supper!

6:20 – Study hall. This time is a blessed time for all the volunteers. This is when all of the students gather in the cafeteria and do their homework and supposedly study. Two volunteers have to be down there to answer questions but the rest of us are free to relax and take a break from the kids. We each rotate with watching the kids each week. So far I’ve used my free time to work on my lesson plans for the next day or write my blogs to upload when I go into town on Sundays and have Internet.

8pm – Worship. This could either be in the church with all of Familia Feliz or in my own house with my girls depending on the day.

9pm – Lights off and bedtime for the girls. I go around to each door with Kimberly and we wish each one of our thirteen girls goodnight, give tons of hugs and kisses then return to our room.

9:30 or 10 – My bedtime! Usually I stay up a little extra making sure the girls are in bed then I talk to Kimberly about my day and work on lesson plans for the next day.

And that’s the routine schedule that I’ve fallen into this week. As far as I know, that’s what it will be every week but I’m guessing there will be some changes.