The Rainy Season Is Upon Me

So, since I’ve arrived here, its essentially been the rainy season. But as I found out this past week or so, it doesn’t really starting raining until about now, when it rains at least once a day. And Hard. Flooding of the streets is an almost daily occurrences, check out the photo’s below.

At one point yesterday, both of these were cobblestone streets!

What’s crazy is that it can be beautiful out only minutes before, and next thing you know you’re soaked through. You always got to be prepared. For me that means always having a rain jacket on hand, a plastic bag to cover my school materials, and waterproof shoes. Unfortunately, the waterproof shoes aren’t very waterproof anymore. So I have to invest in some cheap rubber boots at the local market. Here’s a weird coincidence. All my shoes have torn through in the last couple of weeks. First the waterproof guys, which now are temporarily sewn up, second my sandals, third my cleats, and fourth a cheap pair of flats I bought at a market to play football sala in. My feet are just getting abused left and right, something I need to fix.

So these past couples of weeks have been a pretty good mixture of business and pleasure. As a result of missing almost a month’s worth of classes in some schools due to the Fiesta Patrias, my classes have fallen behind. And it couldn’t happen at a worse time, as the local and municipal competitions are right around the corner. So first off you may find yourself asking, “So what does Sam wear on his feet?” which is then immediately followed by, “What is Sam talking about, what competitions?” This is a concept I think I may have neglected to mention. So within each of my 11 or 12 sections of classes, the class is split up into groups of 3-6 kids. At the beginning of the school year, based on local resources, knowledge, and skills, each group decides on a product to create over the course of the year, and essentially form a “small business” based on the product. Every class that I teach is a small section of the business plan, which they have to create to pass the class, and to compete in the competition at the end of the year. In theory, they should save their work after every class, so come years end all they have to do is organize everything. But that doesn’t happen, because well, they’re high school kids and other things take precedent (like band practice, which drives me bonkers). So each class I’m teaching themes such as SWOT analysis, Market Studies, Costs and Prices, Accounting, and Marketing to name a few, which they will need to elaborate their business plan. Right now, I’m knee deep in planning these competitions, which includes organizing times, locations, and raising money for all the costs and prizes, while trying to prepare every group. So life is a little hectic now, and it’s tough keeping up with seven schools, so if I didn’t write everything down, I’d be in trouble. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted as I get further into competition season.

            But I’ve been managing to keep things fun as well. Outside of my weekly dose of futball and surfing, me and 14 other small biz volunteers from my class met in Leon for our first real vacation together, to celebrate our buddy Ben’s birthday. The whole thing was just what we all needed, and a great “escape” from teaching and the Spanish language. For me it, all too much resembled nights from spring break or beach week, which in the moment is fun, but takes a toll on your body in the coming week. To keep it short and appropriate, we had a seriously fun time dancing in Leon at night and enjoying the beaches by day. The highlight being that Chalin had a Pinata specially made to mimic the pose of another volunteer, Mateo, from day one. He didn’t have a clue about it, check it out:

Mateo and his temporary twin

Chalin, the creator, and Ben the birthday Boy

 

The Majority of Small Biz 56. Notice the awesome Star Wars Tall  Tee  on Noelle on the far left

And one more thing. If you ask any volunteer the toughest part about your job, they majority of volunteers will respond the amount of free time. Well, this is how some of us in small biz 56 kill some of that time: whereinthewood.blogspot.com

You may notice that the pose in all those photos is what inspired the piñata. Hasta la Proxima!