A Hike with My Students

It is always interesting to see someone you know in only one setting outside of that confined area. Yesterday, I was lucky to get to spend the day with one of my group of police officers during the first day of their free week. The group decided last week that they were going to spend this day together to hike Cerro Chato as only one of them had ever been on the hike, and that was to recover a tourist that had a heart attack while hiking their and died. Thus, as yesterday was the day the groups switched, when the other group arrived, this group and I headed out to start the hike. Not only did I have good company with this hike, there was additional bonus that I didn’t have to pay the normal $10 entrance fee being with the officers. It turned out to be a very nice day to hike, sunny but not as hot as it can be on many days. When we had all driven up to the trail head, we took some photos with the view at this point. I felt like one of the most popular kids on the last day of middle school or something as every officer wanted their own photo taken with me. Although I certainly still could not understand most of their conversations which were obviously in Spanish, I was glad that I could pick up a bit of it. When we got to the green lagoon at the very top, they all got into the water, some stripping down to just their undergarments. Knowing the water would be very cold, and having heard there were leeches in the lagoon, I did not plan or very much want to get in, but with all eight of them chanting “TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER,” I had to get in somewhat, so I got my legs wet and some made sure to splash the rest of me pretty well. We met a nice couple from Orange County CA while there who took a group photo and visited with some of the officers and me for some good English practice. They had heard of Joplin, mostly because of the May 22^nd tornado, and thought the volunteer project I was doing was really neat, and although I already knew it, it was reinforcing of just how lucky I am to be working with such a good group. After a while at the lake, we made our journey back down the mountain, and besides one officer’s shoes totally falling apart, we all made it down easily. One of the oldest officers that teases me the most, especially about having a boyfriend (the one that sings, “Kisa is going to get fat and loose her boyfriend), was so cute as he both felt accomplished and tired. He kept repeating “Aye teacher,” and for some reason, I couldn’t help but laugh every time. Thus, he kept saying it and then turning my way to watch me laugh. It was certainly a tiring but fun trip.

During class last night, I had one of the better and most frustrating classes. With this group, I have touched on verbs quite a bit including present, past, and present progressive tense, and decided to introduce past participle tense. I was very thankful for one of my favorite officers named Walter who has extremely strong English capabilities as he worked very hard to teach himself English. He is always very patient and helps with the classes as what we are going over is very easy material for him. Last night, I came to a realization with his help, that one of the most difficult parts of teaching grammar of a foreign language is first making sure they understand the grammar in their own language. I should have known this as I went through the same struggle while learning Spanish myself. Walter did a great job of explaining the concept of first past participle in Spanish and then in English. I never really got this tense in Spanish down very well, so I know there was no way I could have taught it as well as him. I felt slightly frustrated with myself, but hope to work on some different study guides and material to help them even more and improve the classes. And, we had a very comical moment in class when discussing the different uses of the verb “hacer” which means both “to do” and “to make” in English. One of the officers wanted to know which was used when talking about “making sexo.” I had to try to keep the conversation as serious as possible when explaining it is actual neither but “to have sex” in English, and sex in English does not end in an “o”.

Yesterday was a much needed recovery day for me after the tiring journey back from Jaco beach. I used the morning to blog, watch some soap operas and chat with Evi, and read some. After lunch with the officers, I rested even more as it was a rainy day and took advantage of our HBO to watch a movie with Brandon Frasier and Harrison Ford about the research and development of a drug to treat Pompei?, a disease I had never heard of that affects very young children and is fatal at a very young age as it causes internal organs to grow abnormally; overall a pretty good movie. I then went to the gym for a bit and got ready for class. During class, we always start with asking and answering questions in English. One of the officers asked me if I would miss them when I go back to the U.S. because they would miss me. It was very sweet and made me feel appreciated. I then explained to them the term “bittersweet” and how that is how I will feel when I go back, which now is only about 2 months away.

Today I went on a beautiful long run and visited the gym. The artist completing the big mural in this big area is making progress and is now on the second wall which is cool to see. For lunch, had the usual rice and beans but the best part was this amazing drink that consisted more of tons of little chunks of fruit including pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, and some other sort of melon. I probably had four or five glasses it was so good. Can’t beat the good fruit here, including the mangos which I have been fortunate to have some lately. I spent  my afternoon making a large study guide to print out for all the officers so they have something to study on their free time, including all the irregular English verbs (which there are quite a few of and most of the reason it took all afternoon to make). I also received a call from a woman wanting private English lessons. Although I did not understand everything she said, as I got somewhat nervous while talking to her for some reason, I’m meeting with her tomorrow. Maybe I’ll be able to make a little money teaching while I’m here too.