$217,000 Later…
Construction has concluded and here are a few pictures of the new and improved school. $217,000 later, welcome to the new centro escolar.
Before picture of the center of the school:
After picture of the center of the school:
Before picture of the outside of the library:
After picture of the outside of the library:
Before picture of the inside of the library:
After picture of the inside of the library:
Before picture of the outside of the computer lab:
After picture of the outside of the computer lab:
Before picture of the inside of the computer lab:
After picture of the inside of the computer lab:
We have also started work on the world map we are painting in the library.
The beginning:
A little bit more:
Almost finished drawing:
We are going to start painting the map with a group from the school next week. I will post pictures of the finished product when it is ready.
Once the world map is finished we will be moving in the books. We have about 100 books thanks to
The computer lab is now ready to go and has been supplied with air conditioning to protect the computers.
In addition to the world map we have our regular ongoing projects. Classes have resumed since our swine flu hiatus so I am busy teaching English and health classes again. Our girls soccer team is really taking off. We solicited the mayor for uniforms a few months ago and we will be playing our first soccer game as a uniformed team this Saturday!
We will be starting two new projects soon. We will be starting a women’s club where we will give a health charla and cook a new healthy meal every week. Also, we are soliciting to bring trash pickup to our village. We are asking the mayor to send a truck once a week to collect the trash from five designated areas. If it works out, we will all be breathing a little better:)
I hope that is enough of an update for now. We will try to do a better job with the blog!
One more thing though…I have to tell a story about something Ross did: Since the construction, the school has added a security door to the school that has locks on both sides. The lock on the outside is a slide bar that is only used when everyone has left the school at the end of the day to prevent looters from entering. The lock on the inside is used while school is in session to prevent the children from leaving school property. Ross and I were working in the school a few days ago when he started to feel sick and decided to leave. Without thinking while leaving the school, he locked the slide bar on the outside of the school, he did this about five minutes before the morning session was dismissed from school. Once I wrapped up my work, I walked down to leave the school but was unable to open the door. As classes were dismissed the students started piling up behind me. I started to realize that Ross had to be to blame because none of the classes had been dismissed after he left. Eventually a teacher came to help me try to free the doors. After a few minutes of pushing the doors the teacher started cursing about the juvenile delinquents in our town and how “malcriada” they were. I had to cover my mouth from laughing out loud knowing Ross was to blame for all of the chaos. Luckily a concerned mother arrived when she realized her child hadn’t returned home and freed us from the school.
-Meli