As you may have noticed, some weeks I have a lot more to say than other weeks. I've been trying to mix up the format to keep things fun and exciting but I’m running out of ideas, I’ve done bullets, day-by-day, a poem, F.A.Q.’s, short, long, what else is there? That’s right! A story.
Once upon a time there was a boy named Sue, but this story isn’t about him it is about a girl named Joy. Seemingly, Joy had it all, ravishing beauty, unparalleled intelligence, a captivating personality, the perfect California life. Then, one day she was ripped from her home and thrust (not exactly against her will) into The Quinta Allyson. At first, and probably second, glance The Quinta Allyson apartment complex looked just like her North American home plus a few mango trees, maids, and armed guards, minus some hot water heaters, garbage disposals, and carpeting. But, once the guards opened the gates to trash-laden Caratera Vieja a Leon, she wasn’t in North America at all but Nicaragua .
In this new and exciting land, Joy was faced with various trials, the most prevalent being the strange language that was constantly spoken. Another dilemma was deciding how to fill her time without the conveniences that she was accustomed to, such as a readily available car, reliable electricity (however, recently, when the electricity was on she got shocked and the left side of her body still feels a little tingly), nearly constant studying and homework, and a plethora of friends.
To counter the lack of English spoken around her without having to learn Spanish, she decided to share her English skills with those around her (this also helped fill her excess time). It was not difficult for Joy to find clients, although a little more challenging to find those that pay. It seemed as though everyone assumed since she is a native English speaker she must be an excellent teacher as well.
But, here is a little secret, Joy, until recently doing some on-line research, had no idea that a verb ending in –ing and acting like a noun is called a gerund, or really what prepositions and articles were. While teaching 2nd grade Nicaraguans this doesn’t actually matter but, teaching teen-aged Koreans who actually want to learn English and have been studying it on their own some problems arise.
With the younger, Nicaraguan, student population, Joy’s was faced with other challenges, such as stopping students from spitting on each other and getting them to stay in their seats instead of crawling under their desks. If these issues were dealt with within the allotted 45 minutes, she was then able to teach them phrases such as “My name is Fernando,” and other basic English vocabulary.
These two groups of clientele took much of Joy’s time but still she found time for various other activities. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she tutored an eighth-grader in algebra. This task she found especially satisfying because he rarely asked a question for which she did not have an answer.
Saturdays were Joy’s time to spend however she wished. Often this included watching TV or movies with friends. Recently she was introduced to the Indiana Jones movies although she has not yet formed an opinion as to rather or not they were worth her time.
One Saturday, February 24, 2007 , she went with a group of high school students and teachers to the dumps for a service project. There are many tasks that could be accomplished when twenty, hard-workers, go to a neighborhood/land fill to help-out. This particular group, on this particular day, picked possibly the least obvious task (or maybe the most obvious?). They went to pick up garbage. Looking back, it was mostly moving trash from one area to another, but when is that not the case? This time the trash was picked up from a make-shift soccer field and taken to a designated place depending on if it was recyclable or not. The group was attempting to clean the field enough so that a band could come for a concert.
Once again Joy was shocked to see the filth that some Nicaraguans live in and even more astonished to hear about the depths some have to lower themselves to in order to sustain their meager lifestyles. Seeing people in this state of poverty, yet not necessarily despair, it was easy for Joy to look at her own life and think of how frequently she lets her material possessions effect her attitude, and to realize how completely ridiculous that is.
After this eye-opening experience Joy decided that she needed to take a few days off. Actually she was sick, not even with some cool jungle disease but with a lame-o cold or something. Either way it required her to sleep for the greater part of two days and to continue watching Indiana Jones to figure out why it has lasted for so long. She still thinks the ride is better than the movie, but even that isn’t as good as Space Mountain .
Finally, one Tuesday night at 9:40 Joy decided it was time to go to bed, in hopes that the next morning she would be ready to face whatever new adventure came her way, because, they always did.
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