Storms and chicken feet

Wednesday I started working at the school. I didnt really know what to do it how to do it but I started with just meeting all the teachers. I just went and knocked on their classroom door and explained I wanted a list of all their students who have social, behavioral, family, emotional and academic problems. Then each teacher would give me a detailed account of each student. Each class has about 40 students. The school has 1st through 7 grade and two classes of each grade. So its a pretty big school! Each teacher gave me around 10 students. We are working with both the morning and afternoon schools so I have about 150 students that I am supposed to counsel and come up with plans for. Now that I know all the students I am going to start meeting with each of them. Once I meet with all of them I will try and meet with their parents. I dont really know where to go from there. I actually have no idea what I am doing but hooefully it all works out. 

It is kind of shocking to see the difference between the schools here and in the US. For one the classes are huge. The teachers leave for hours at a time (who knows where) and most of the kids just come and go as they please. There is chaos everywhere. The teachers are allowed to do about anything they want to the students. Some times I would walk into the class hoping for a private discussion with the teacher about their troubled students..but they would just talk about each student loudly in front of the whole class. Its easy to see why so many students have issues..they are humiliated daily by their teacher. Its sad. We so oftan become what others say we are..and some of these kids have no chance to become anything good. 

Not all the teachers were like that though. Some were really wonderful. There are so many children here who cant write or read even in 6th grade. There are a lot of children who never come to school because they work all day with their parents. There are too many children who come to school starving. They steal from other children or out of trash cans. They misbehave and cant concentrate..because they are hungry. And who can focus on anything when you havent eaten in days. Almost all the children have problems with their teeth from lack of nutrition. There are too many children who come to school in clothes too small or big or dirty or with patches all over them. 

Lice is a big problem too. And even though one wonderful teacher personally washes her students hair they come back to school with lice after sleeping in their bed that is crawling with bugs.

There is so much abuse of every kind. So many (small) children are left home alone all day while their parents work. Or they are taken to work all day. A shockingly high number of children are physically abused on a daily basis by their parents. Some are more horrific than others. Some abused children come to school to fight. Others come and are so traumatized that they cant even speak and sit in a daze all day. 

One huge problem is a lack of education all around. The average age for marriage and pregnancy here is 14 years old. So these little girls get pregnant and hardly know how to read and write themselves. They marry and have multiple children. They are too young and poor to care for their children. They cant help them learn how to read. They dont know how to stand up to their abusive husbands and at 30 years old they are already grandmas. Their hands are cut and worn from years of making baskets all day. Sometimes I feel like they are just too exhausted to have the capacity to care at all for their children. And the cycle continues. The number of mothers who have commit suicide in the last year is shocking. But not too shocking when you look at their life. The poor children who normally find their dead moms after the suicide cannot be expected to have the ability to sit still and behave in school. 

Its all terribly heartbreaking. There is so much suffering everywhere. 

But I am happy to be here. And I hope that I can help someone..even just a little bit. 

Our days teaching and helping at the school are pretty long. Once we get home I normally hold all the babies or help make salsa. I feel incredibly safe in this small town. Me and Abbey have started a great tradition of going to the plaza to eat fruit popsicles after school. The popsicles here are amazing. 

I'm reallt grateful to have Abbey here with me. I think it would all be a bit too stressful without her.

Every weekend we leave the rancho and travel to a different city. This weekend we took two busses to guanajuato. Our family was very worried about us leaving. They watched us get on the bus and made sure we arrived safely to guanajuato. 

Guanajuato is a beautiful city. I feel like I've left Mexico though. Its clean and pretty rich feeling. Its very historic and the buidings are beautiful. All the buildings are brightly colored and from far away it looks like hills of different flowers. All the streets are cobble stone and its full of steep hills and alleys. Its adorable and I totally love it. The city also has historic underground tunnels that go through the whole city. All the busses are cars drive in the tunnels instead of above ground. Its like a huge cave with streets in every direction. I cant really describe it but it was really cool. 

Saturday we explored the shops and the city. At night we watched a wedding in this beautiful cathedral. They had a choir and it all echoed off the marble. It was beautiful. One lady also sang ave maria after the vows. Everyone was super dressed up and the cathedral was pretty dreamy. I loved it. After that we danced along to some mariachi bands in the street. They have a wonderful night life here..and I felt totally safe being out late. They also have some ice cream that is pretty life changing. Oh! I also got a picture with Don Quixote! Apparently in October they have a huge Don Quixote festival here... I wish I was going to be here for it. 

Today we went to church in the city. It was a pretty tiny branch but we had sunday school outside overlooking the whole city. Then we took a bus home. I am happy to be in my little rancho again. I had missed my family here. We got home and Rosa talked about how sad she was that we were gone the whole weekend. We helped make dinner...which was amazing! I have tried mole a number if times here and have never really liked it. But Rosa made a mole tonight that was honestly incredible. I was basically drinking it. We ate it with some wonderful tortillas, tomato rice and some fresh chicken (that they had killed earlier this morning). We also ate some chicken feet. That was hard to eat as it looked just like chopped off chicken feet (which it was). 

After dinner there was some big soccer game so we all crowded into a bedroom to watch it. I got to hold a newborn baby through it so I was happy. Also Ivanna, a very mischevious 4 year old girl did my hair... its basically in knots now.

There is a huge storm going on right now. Our bedroom is wet and it is thundering like I have never heard before. Its also flooded and on the edge of completely flooding the house. Its kind of fun. The family is outside just laughing at it..totally unstressed and having a grand old time. 

The family here is so great. All the kids and grandkids stay over every weekend and are here almost every night. All the aunts are like moms to all the kids. Its really sweet to watch. It makes me think that I dont ever want to live far from mom and dad. I want my kids to grow up next to them. If family is the most important thing than why do we all live so far apart? These people would give up anything to be with their family.