Monday! Second week...

Start of a new week without Veronica and Betty out sick. Juanita started the morning reading to Ricardo and Franklin, Green Eggs and Ham three times. Also drew pictures of Hostal Torreblanca from a postcard that Juanita brought. Morning was capped off with a reward of a Dona Pepe candy bar.

I started the day working with Alfonso, the gardener. Through sign language and some rudimentary understanding of Spanish I determined I was responsible to move a pile of rocks and debris. It was back-breaking work. I was given a shovel that broke in half. At lunch I asked Edith if she could one day take me to the Mercado so I could buy Alfonso a new shovel. As always, Edith said no problem.

In the afternoon, Juanita and I taught the third grade girls. We were ready to teach the girls English but they all brought their homework. We let them do their homework which was simple addition and subtraction. We observed that all of the students were not able to do simple addition and subtraction in their heads. They had to use their fingers. We decided the next class we would do flash cards to help the girls do addition and subtraction without using their fingers.

Phil (Felipe) Okuma