Substitute Teachers and Fist Fights in Church

5-11-09

Today I went back to that seventh grade class to observe. Unfortunately the teacher was not there. A woman told me that she was filling in for the day. The kids were louder than last week and even crazier. They were given nothing to do for the last 30 minutes of class so I ended up giving an impromptu English lesson to the handful of students who actually stayed in the classroom. Apparently the teacher is a lawyer and had to go to court today. He sent his wife to fill in. Hopefully it isn´t a long trial...

On Saturday I went to a meeting at the local church. Since my neighborhood doesn´t have a plaza in town, the church acts as a meeting place. Unfortunately though, the priest who has been here for the past five years just left, leaving no one to cover mass and the church activities. I went to a meeting with my host mother who teaches catechism classes. There were representatives from many of the church groups. One man, who is apparently the current leader, talked nearly the entire time--ironically he mostly talked about the importance of working as a team. I say ironically because he refused to let anyone else speak. There was a bunch of yelling (mostly in Guaraní) and a woman broke down in tears, pleading with the group to remember they´re in God´s house and can´t we all get along?? I must say, I found it rather entertaining. I just kept thinking of my real mother and the amount of swearing she would do when she came home from vestry meetings when I was young.

This Thursday and Friday the schools are closed yet again, this time for Mother´s Day and Independence Day. I´m starting to think that kids here are never in school. I may or may not be in a parade this Thursday with the community center.