Hello all!
I'm home sick for the day. Rather than relaxing, I'm feeling rather productive today so I'm trying to get a lot of work done before my reading program meeting this afternoon.
With the handover of my reading program, Spice Island Young Readers, to my former worksite I was supposed to finally get a little break in work and have some free time for once. That doesn't seem to be the case. Logically, I know I want a break and I NEED a break but I just can't seem to make that happen. As a naturally hard-working and motivated individual it's hard for me to sit back and relax. It's especially hard when I feel like I'm just getting into a place where I generally understand how to create programs and know what to expect from the process. As a result, it seems that next term will be a busy time for me. Hopefully, my request for an extension will be approved because it would be a shame to get all these projects going and have to leave abruptly in April. As it stands, I will be continuing my afterschool arts and crafts program for grade 6. It also looks like my afterschool tutoring program will finally be able to start back up. I'll still be acting as school librarian, and also working with some students on improving their reading/writing skills. In addition, I'll be starting an afterschool program for grade 3 teaching them to play the recorder. I have to thank Ms. Torchia from Maple Point Middle School for her incredibly generous donation of 20+ recorders, as well as a teaching manual and music. I'm really looking forward to starting the program and I know the kids are going to love it.
Outside of school, I am spearheading (with another volunteer) the playground project at the Grenville Special Education School. The project was supposed to be part of the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Celebration but we've been having a lot of setbacks with it, which I'm hoping will change very soon.
Also outside of school, I am still going weekly to my reading program sessions in Crochu. Our funder came this past weekend to do a final evaluation. She gave me a lot of praise which felt really good. Also, as a result of her visit, I learned that the Ministry has stated that they would like the program to be sustained and will be assigning some Youth Development workers to the program. This could really be helpful if things pan out.
Often times you will hear Peace Corps Volunteers talk about having a large amount of down time on their hands that allows for a lot of self reflection, developing of hobbies and skills, and stacks of books being read. Aside from my first couple of months on the island, I have never had that experience here. Instead, my bucket list of things I want to do/see before I leave keeps getting longer and longer. In all honesty, I am just as stressed out down here as I was at my last job as a child welfare social worker for the City of Philadlelphia, and am working just as many hours if not more (think 50-60 a week). I'm hoping that this Christmas break will provide me with an opportunity to relax and help me to 'chill out' so that I can start next school term refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to appreciate everything that life has to offer. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Grenada and Grenadines? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Grenada and Grenadines in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely