Back to work

Thanks to everyone for the congratulatory words and emails in regards to our GMC (girls' mentoring center) opening.  I was just telling John that I think we both need to take a step back sometime in order to see the full extent of our work here; opening the GMC didn't feel like a big deal (probably because we were both stressed out about it and because it didn't go exactly how he or I envisioned it), but it is the culmination of 6 months' work here.

After we opened the center and had our first adult English class, we both left for a few days in Selibaby and a double birthday party.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but all volunteers talk about "hitting their limit" at sight.  I usually know that I'm about there when I start having urges to throw rocks at kids, hit creepy men in the face, or laugh at pretty much everything.  Then I know it's time for some American time in a regional capital.  It's refreshing to hang out with other Americans, cook for ourselves, and waste entire days watching movies in front of a fan.

On Sunday, John and I travelled back to M'Bout, and yesterday, we had our first GMC meeting for the girls.  We've split the girls into 2 groups:  first- and second-year middle schoolers and third- and fourth-year middle schoolers.  This works a lot better since our space is small, and we're planning on just teaching the same thing two afternoons in a row, which isn't really that much more work for us.  Yesterday, we went over the center rules and had the girls decorate index cards with their names, school years, and birth dates.  I'm hoping to do a lot more art activities with them because art is not taught in the schools here, and most of them have had very few opportunities to do something creative.  We'll begin our computer lessons on Saturday, which I think the girls are really looking forward to as well.

I think that's about it for now.  I know that a lot of you in the States are still very much in winter mode, but the hot season is coming upon us fast here.  Midday is scorching (I think it was 105 the other day), but it's still cooling down at night.  I'm dreading the time when I wake up sweating in the morning.  Think about that when you're shoveling snow!