No! Stop! Don’t get sick. You’re too busy to get sick! The
thoughts flashing through my mind last night as I felt the on-comings of a sore
throat and stuffy nose. Despite chugging water and taking some vitamin C, this
morning yielded that “feel like crap” feeling. And though itching to get to the
school and continue work, I decided to do myself a favor and stay home this
morning. However, I suck at just sitting around doing nothing so I decided to
write a blog and share with you what’s going on here in the Phils.
You may remember last year’s post around this time. February
is the month of our school anniversary, village fiesta and Junior-Senior
Prom…and more activities just keep piling on. But this time, I keep telling
myself it’ll be the last chance I experience these things so better make the
most of them. And although crazy hectic, I’m looking forward to the happenings
in this month of love.
The nice thing about taking a break from formal teaching is
that I can explore and try my hand at other things within the school. I began
helping with “career guidance,” a term used for educating senior students about
college and plans after high school graduation. I realized our students were
pretty much clueless about the possibilities out there. And while college is
becoming a very popular choice for high school graduates, many don’t think
about it until the month of enrollment at which time they’ll most likely pick a
college and major that their friends or older siblings took up.
I started collecting resources to share with our advisers and students. The mass of information turned into a book that we've bound and
distributed to other schools. A teacher and I also made a game to help students
map out a degree based on their likes and interests. Hopefully our students
will become more interested in college, and use higher education as a means to
pull themselves out of the poverty in our community. This weekend we are
planning a field trip to take the seniors to visit some universities so they
can tour the campuses and speak with advisers.
Because I’m no longer in the classroom, some students have
requested meeting outside of school. This has lately turned into a sort of “Sir
Matt Club”. Every week we cook dinner and play English games or play the
guitar. While their artistic talents may be bland on paper, these kids sure can
play the heck out of the guitar. The group has decided to translate some
English songs into their local dialect and record a CD that can hopefully be
sold (interested?). Learning the ins and outs of recording software is yet
another skill I’m trying to master. By the end of this service I will be a
professional music producer, teacher, dance instructor, guidance counselor,
chef, computer programmer, film editor, journalist, event planner, curriculum
developer, and training coordinator…all roles I've *expertly* performed on
request from the teachers and students. So, tell all your friends and bosses
that there is soon to be an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer in need of employment who
can assume the capabilities of any professional (or at least pretend to).
Hope you’re all doing well at home! Counting down the last
7½ months till I get to see you all!
P.S. I thought I
wrote a blog update for January. But since I didn’t here is a very short recall of Christmas: I ate a lot,
relaxed a lot. Dry season means no running water, which means I left the faucet
on in hopes that it would come, which means it did come when I was away in the
capitol, which means my apartment flooded and my host mother is now assured
that I am suffering from Alzheimer’s (wish I was kidding). Also, I introduced
the gift-sharing game of White Elephant to the teachers and this was the
result:
