end of summer

it's september already!  school is back in session this week and people are coming back from vacation.  i, too, am back in school mode.  though i'm not sure what i'll be doing at trafalgar primary this year, i definitely have school on the brain.  if you are reading this you probably already know that i'm applying to grad programs for next fall.  sometimes it's really exciting, other times it's totally overwhelming.  doing everything from abroad is so much more complicated, too.  for instance, the time it takes to mail things to the states (a month) means i cannot procrastinate as much as i usually do.  and yesterday i went to the peace corps office to print out cover letters to send to those writing my recommendations and the printer is such a piece that it took me literally three hours to print out the forms, most of which are now dirty and crinkled after the 10 seconds the paper had to spend inside that god-forsaken machine.  it's helpful that one of my good friends here (michelle) is applying to grad schools, too, so we are helping each other through it.  i am so grateful to those who've been helpful and supportive and willing to answer even my smallest questions (britt).  can't wait to be done with everything!  not that waiting for answers is going to be fun, but at least i will have done all i can.

this past week at oyq we ended our summer program.  as you might recall, i put a lot of work into the summer program this year.  i planned daily educational sessions, recreational activities, outings, arts projects, and therapy sessions.  any time, any day you could look at the schedule and find something to do to occupy the kids.  and that was really my goal, that when there was down time and they weren't doing chores or playing their own games, we'd have an idea for something to keep them occupied.  i tried to use some simple logic to get the staff members on board with this plan:  kids not occupied -- > kids fighting -- > not fun for staff.  while this won some support, it was largely unsuccessful.

i will have to take some time myself to really reflect on the summer program, how i approached it, what worked, and what i could've done differently considering the interpersonal and cultural situation.  overall, i think the kids benefited and enjoyed a lot of the sessions.

this week, we had an end of summer bbq and a fun day with relay races like lime and spoon, sack races, and water balloon tosses.  the staff and kids all enjoyed it.

the teams lining up for thread and needle (where each member of the team had to thread a needle waiting for them at the far end of the court and race back.  totally would not fly in the u.s. - kids running w/ needles is dangerous!):

the lime and spoon relay:

the sack race:

oh yeah! and the kids got their disposable cameras.  this one is crouched paparazzi-style behind a rock:

i think it's important to mention that he was out of film, but that didn't stop him.

after the film was removed, a staff member (not me) decided the kids could keep the disposable cameras.  this led to countless problematic incidents including flashing people in the eye and shocking people with an internal part near the battery.  i didn't even know you could do this.  you learn something every day.