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The ride over to the Boys Home was unnerving as the traffic was unbelievable, and I thought we were going to be hit several times. After a couple of u turns (the poor cab following us), we arrived. The Father of the Boys Home was most welcoming and had perfect English. I was taken back by the pigs – the little piglets which did not have a long time to live, and then the monster father pig. The father had a harem of mother pigs, much like in some ancient cultures.
I myself had never seen the chickens gathered in such close quarters, not could believe the number of eggs they laid every day. All the animals, gardening, work shops made sense as they were all cumulating in money for the home. We are touring some of the other shops another day.
I took the middle group of boys, since I knew I liked the age group of 5-7. I was alone as far as our group went, and my tutors did not know English. I really didn’t have to do a whole lot in the morning initially, but did manage to mend some clothes (which I saw on the boys in the afternoon), fold clothes, and then I traced pictures for two of the boys to color. Tracing definitely was not a known skill of mine, but I survived.
As the boys arrived, they seemed to come in almost one by one. I had no idea the total number for several minutes. They just started pealing off their clothes to get into their afternoon outfits. I realized they just took whatever shirt/pants were out on the counter, and then many came up to talk to me.
I guess my first name is difficult as when they see it in print, it’s not pronounced like its spelled. My last name they could pronounce correctly every time, just by reading it. I just kind of froze and never really was able to say I didn’t speak English, but laughing and smiling seemed to work.
Lunch was unusual for me, as I didn’t realize the amount of food they ate and the order of how they have to eat it. As I kept trying to give them the drink, I never knew it had to be drunk after the meal. Naturally I was next to the slowest eater in the group, and I felt bad, cause the boys didn’t get chocolate until they had completely emptied their soup bowl, and plate. I made sure he got his chocolate, but it took awhile for him to finish.
After lunch the entire rest of the day was spent on homework. Although it took awhile for everyone to brush their teeth, and use the restroom, I was in charge of counting the number of sections of toilet paper for each boy, and when I gave one boy not enough, he did notice. The journals all had math problems and an essay from the morning. It took me several hours to realize some of the boys hadn’t copied the math problems, and when they kept jumping up and down to look at other boys journals, I actually thought they were coping answers. I had the table with the ones who couldn’t seem to be focused. Although after their showers, some of them settled down, since I understand homework has to be done before bedtime, or they don’t get to go to bed.
Showers and another change of clothes was the last thing I got to be involved with. They were preparing for dinner with a shirt and matching over shirt and pants. They all were dressed alike, and so cute. As we took two of them to the doctor and I had to leave, I got hugs. Hoping tomorrow, I can help more, since I understand the routine more.
Everyone seemed very tired on the way home, so we went straight to dinner. All had stories about their groups. The food here is so good, and very reasonable. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of like that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at he goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
I myself had never seen the chickens gathered in such close quarters, not could believe the number of eggs they laid every day. All the animals, gardening, work shops made sense as they were all cumulating in money for the home. We are touring some of the other shops another day.
I took the middle group of boys, since I knew I liked the age group of 5-7. I was alone as far as our group went, and my tutors did not know English. I really didn’t have to do a whole lot in the morning initially, but did manage to mend some clothes (which I saw on the boys in the afternoon), fold clothes, and then I traced pictures for two of the boys to color. Tracing definitely was not a known skill of mine, but I survived.
As the boys arrived, they seemed to come in almost one by one. I had no idea the total number for several minutes. They just started pealing off their clothes to get into their afternoon outfits. I realized they just took whatever shirt/pants were out on the counter, and then many came up to talk to me.
I guess my first name is difficult as when they see it in print, it’s not pronounced like its spelled. My last name they could pronounce correctly every time, just by reading it. I just kind of froze and never really was able to say I didn’t speak English, but laughing and smiling seemed to work.
Lunch was unusual for me, as I didn’t realize the amount of food they ate and the order of how they have to eat it. As I kept trying to give them the drink, I never knew it had to be drunk after the meal. Naturally I was next to the slowest eater in the group, and I felt bad, cause the boys didn’t get chocolate until they had completely emptied their soup bowl, and plate. I made sure he got his chocolate, but it took awhile for him to finish.
After lunch the entire rest of the day was spent on homework. Although it took awhile for everyone to brush their teeth, and use the restroom, I was in charge of counting the number of sections of toilet paper for each boy, and when I gave one boy not enough, he did notice. The journals all had math problems and an essay from the morning. It took me several hours to realize some of the boys hadn’t copied the math problems, and when they kept jumping up and down to look at other boys journals, I actually thought they were coping answers. I had the table with the ones who couldn’t seem to be focused. Although after their showers, some of them settled down, since I understand homework has to be done before bedtime, or they don’t get to go to bed.
Showers and another change of clothes was the last thing I got to be involved with. They were preparing for dinner with a shirt and matching over shirt and pants. They all were dressed alike, and so cute. As we took two of them to the doctor and I had to leave, I got hugs. Hoping tomorrow, I can help more, since I understand the routine more.
Everyone seemed very tired on the way home, so we went straight to dinner. All had stories about their groups. The food here is so good, and very reasonable. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of like that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at he goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
Laurie Kruppa
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