Wednesday, January 19, 2011

what a site to see


January 13, 2011
This week my regional manager came for my site visit. I combined forces with D, and I’m really glad I did.
D has been here a whole year longer than me and it was good to see what she has done in the past year and what she has planned in the next year. At this point I’ve done absolutely nothing. Sure I’ve taught a handful of times in the past month or so, but that doesn’t seem like a lot.
But to see that D has done stuff was really good for me. It was good to see where I could be a year from now. Sometimes in this culture it seems a wonder things get done. Not to say anything against Filipinos. It is just I’ve seen time and time again that their priorities are not what mine might be. Again this is not bad, just different. However, today I saw that you can do things within the systems here.
I was also reassured that I’m still in the observation state of this whole ordeal. Yes I’m teaching, but that doesn’t mean that my work here has actually begun. So yes I can set up reading classes, and fix up buildings, and do projects with D, but none of those things need to be done tomorrow, next week, next month, or even this school year.
I’m still getting my feet wet, and not just because of the rain. I’m still new and have plenty of time to change what little part of the world I can.

January 14, 2011
Today was kind of part two of the site visit. I was observed teaching, and then, since she was gone yesterday we talked with my supervisor. It was good to have a person from Peace Corps tell her what my limitations are and to explain that I am a volunteer and not a source of money.
We were also able to start serious discussions about the nonfunctioning library and what needs to be done to get it functioning. Then we were shown the new space for the library. The structure was sound but the room was a hot mess. I wanted to get a before picture but my battery was dead in my camera. The whole room was three feet deep of rotting workbooks. Before we’d even said goodbye the school had a bonfire going for the books. They pulled pupils out of some class somewhere to sort through the books, and burned the ones not good enough. By the time I left school today the room was all but cleared, the books were sorted, and the fire was going strong.
Again, you never know what will get done and what won’t. 

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