Thunderstruck in Sarteneja

Hello followers!It's Secondary here giving you another update from the beautiful coastal village of Sarteneja! Oh, how's the weather you ask? Well, this week has treated us with scenes from the Discovery Show, Storm Watchers.  Every night we are lulled to sleep by the cracks of thunder, and with the sky so bright, its like someone flickering the lights on and off outside all night long.  Nonetheless, we are enjoying ourselves so much! We have had the pleasure of staying at a self-sustaining guest house in the middle of a field on the outskirts of town where we get to enjoy the pleasant scenery of mango trees, horses with their baby foals and cute little animals scurrying about (baby Koati, AKA Kenneth).This week we decided to change up teaching partners! Khalif and Logan partnered up and taught in the village at Cornerstone Christian Academy (CCA) and Sarteneja Nazarene Primary.  While at CCA, they taught a peer leader group after school and on Wednesday and Thursday had the opportunity to teach the 1st Form (Grade 9) and 2nd Form (Grade 10) Life Skills classes. In those classes we have been covering material like peer pressure and substance abuse, and with our peer leader group we are discussing things like effective communication, stress, self-esteem and will soon be covering STIs and HIV/AIDs. In our spare time we are helping the principal and administration prepare for the upcoming 4th Form (Grade 12) graduation. In the mornings, Khalif and Logan have also been teaching Life Skills classes at the primary school to both Standard 5s and 6s (grade 7 and 8, respectively). The kids are very enthusiastic and appreciative of our presence and the fact that we are discussing things like stress and bullying. To wrap up the week, Khalif and Logan ran a games day in the village which turned out to be a great time to get to know some of the local kids both in the secondary and primary school.Lauren and Camila headed off to Chunox St. Viator High school, which is closer to the next village, Chunox. On Monday morning they headed off to school bright and early on the School bus which takes the students from Sarteneja to and from school every day. They were greeted very warmly by the students and faculty and they felt right at home. Monday they were thrown into a Form 1 (grade 9) class instantly after their meeting with the principal. The students, in this class of 36, were very energetic and took them by surprise. Nevertheless, they got through their lesson and managed to play some fun activities outdoors. They also got to teach in all of the life skills classes of Forms 1-3 this week, and they were graciously invited to the 4th form graduation party, where they provided some entertainment for the students, in return for some delicious BBQ chicken and Flan made by the students. Lauren and Camila have also been assigned a leadership class consisting of 6 students from each from (form 1-3), and they have been teaching this group every morning the various lessons that we have planned. They are very excited to have enough time with the students in order to cover all of the material! Along with teaching they have been introduced to all of the interesting things that Chunox St. Viator has to offer. As an agriculture school, they host many animals (cows, horses, pigs), plantations, and a tilapia farm! On Thursday they were invited to join the 3rd form class in the preparation of the tilapia (killing, scaling and de-gutting) for a client that they had. Lauren quickly picked up the skill of hitting them on the head with a coke bottle ( much like wack-a-mole), while Camila got right into the de-gutting process. Much fun was had!! On Friday, we planned a sports day for the entire school, which the students were very excited about! They also got the pleasure of tasting the fruits of their labour (the tilapia- which was delicious!!) along with rain water juice. This weekend the students were very kind and showed us around the village and the surrounding areas, which include a manatee reserve and butterfly conservatory!This school is incredibly interesting and very self-sustainable! They have both had a wonderful experience this far and are very excited to go back tomorrow morning on the beat-bumping bus DJ-ed by the students! We can't believe we only have three more teaching days ahead of us. We have had an incredible experience and we'll be sure to make these last three days the most memorable.Signing off from the beautiful sea-side,Laurnie, Wiz Khalifa, Baby Bluez, and Shorts TanAnd our new friend, Tzatzikiel! (protector of the night)