This schoolhouse in Queseria was built by Project Amigo with the help of Rotary Clubs to provide a place for the children of the sugar cane workers to attend school.
We made 28 books, but I think we usually had about 20 kids there each day, including the really little preschoolers, who also made books about bugs and worms and other doodles...
Sweet little flower girl!
Cecily also participated, making a book and feeling all grown-up.
Audrey between the two houses in the middle of the pouring rain. I was really trying to get a shot of how hard it was pouring, but it just doesn't show up in a picture.
The look on Audrey's face when her mom says, "No, stay out for just a few more minutes in the pouring rain while I try to take a another picture that will turn out!"
Dear Friends and Family,
This week I started a workshop up in Queseria with Lety. It was based on the Writers’ Workshop that my kids did in their early grades of elementary school. The kids up there spent the week writing and illustrating their own books and then, on Friday, we took up a book binding machine and they got to make their own books. It should be really fun for them to have a book in their house that they wrote, especially since they usually only own a couple of books. Some of the stories that the kids wrote were amazing. I photocopied most of them before we turned them into books. One was about Snow White, and pretty much followed the fairy tale until it came to the point where the prince wanted to marry Snow White, and then she noticed that there was another prince who lived in another kingdom who was really good with kids, so she decided to go and marry him instead. We were joking about what a child psychologist would read into that. Then there was the story of the mermaid who was set to marry a prince until he took her to dinner in a restaurant and ordered seafood, and she told him that she would not marry him unless he gave up eating her friends forever. We also really liked the one about the princess who was sick to death of kissing frogs. The girls all wrote about princesses and the boys mostly wrote about horses.
I had a hard time with Cecily up there in Queseria, so I had Erick come up and help me with her on Tuesday. He also ended up helping out a lot with the kids up there. Edgar, one of the kids from Queseria, just happened to come by while we were handing out treats to the kids. He had just paid to get into a Prepa, which is like their High School, and had come by to show his receipt to Jorge because he was so proud. We took a picture of him and made a big deal about it because Jorge says he’s the first kid from Queseria to make it that far. And he is exactly the same age as Erick, which I think really shocked Erick. He is an upper middle class kid with an Xbox and cell phones who goes to a private English-speaking school, and said he was shocked to see that people were living like that twenty minutes away from him. That night for dinner he fixed us Mexican pizza. He made it on tortillas instead of bread, and put salchichas on top. It was really good. But I didn’t try it with the catsup and hot sauce on it. And he served it with potato chips !?
Elliot slept over at Erick’s house Tuesday night. Wednesday, after Audrey’s summer school was out, her class decided to go to the movie together. So we were supposed to meet them at the mall and waited and waited. We ran into a family we knew from church, but not her friends. When one of the friends finally came running to tell her that they were all in the food court getting something to eat, she just burst into tears. I think she was scared and frustrated and nervous and had just had it. So we walked around the mall for a minute and then she met up with her friends and went to see Harry Potter again, but this time in Spanish. Then the boys decided that they wanted to see a movie too, so they made plans to watch Transformers that night. But Audrey also wanted to go. So Audrey went to Transformers with Bizmarck, their friend from here in Cofradia, Elliot, Erick, and Erick’s cousin Ivan. Bizmarck and Audrey gave the film a 5, Erick gave it an 8, and Elliot a 9.
And poor Audrey is having more boy troubles. This time there was a boy in one of the other summer school classes that she thought was really cute and then he started paying attention to her and started acting like he thought she was cute and then she just started to think he was really annoying. She asked me something to the effect of, “How come when you don’t know boys very well they’re really cute, and as soon as you get to know them they turn annoying?” That has been Audrey’s life lesson for this summer. That the more you get to know a boy, the more annoying he becomes. And it would be just fine with her dad if she kept thinking that boys who liked her were annoying until she was about 25.
We were teasing Audrey about this in the car going somewhere and Erick turned to Cecily and asked, “Who do you like, Cecily?” And without delay, as if she knew exactly what he was talking about, she said, “Diego.” We all laughed and Erick told her that Diego was Elliot’s age, and didn’t she think that his little brother, Hector, who is 3, would be better for her? And she firmly told him no- Diego.
We’ve been having problems with our house again. The hot water heater for the bottom house gave out. So we went a couple of days without hot water until they replaced it. And then, once they replaced it, we couldn’t get more than drips out of the faucet. They had us wait a couple of days to see if there was just a bubble in the system. There wasn’t. So they checked the system and it was the filter- it was clogged. So we went another couple of days without water while they fixed that. Then the toilet stopped working- I guess enough garbage came through while they were cleaning out the filter that it clogged up the toilet. So, then we went a couple of days without our second toilet. We are now very grateful for two toilets.
On Saturday we went to the beach again. We went to the one with the quiet waves, where you can snorkel. It was fun and nice and peaceful. It was much more crowded than it was before, though. The time that we went before, it was a Wednesday.
This week I started a workshop up in Queseria with Lety. It was based on the Writers’ Workshop that my kids did in their early grades of elementary school. The kids up there spent the week writing and illustrating their own books and then, on Friday, we took up a book binding machine and they got to make their own books. It should be really fun for them to have a book in their house that they wrote, especially since they usually only own a couple of books. Some of the stories that the kids wrote were amazing. I photocopied most of them before we turned them into books. One was about Snow White, and pretty much followed the fairy tale until it came to the point where the prince wanted to marry Snow White, and then she noticed that there was another prince who lived in another kingdom who was really good with kids, so she decided to go and marry him instead. We were joking about what a child psychologist would read into that. Then there was the story of the mermaid who was set to marry a prince until he took her to dinner in a restaurant and ordered seafood, and she told him that she would not marry him unless he gave up eating her friends forever. We also really liked the one about the princess who was sick to death of kissing frogs. The girls all wrote about princesses and the boys mostly wrote about horses.
I had a hard time with Cecily up there in Queseria, so I had Erick come up and help me with her on Tuesday. He also ended up helping out a lot with the kids up there. Edgar, one of the kids from Queseria, just happened to come by while we were handing out treats to the kids. He had just paid to get into a Prepa, which is like their High School, and had come by to show his receipt to Jorge because he was so proud. We took a picture of him and made a big deal about it because Jorge says he’s the first kid from Queseria to make it that far. And he is exactly the same age as Erick, which I think really shocked Erick. He is an upper middle class kid with an Xbox and cell phones who goes to a private English-speaking school, and said he was shocked to see that people were living like that twenty minutes away from him. That night for dinner he fixed us Mexican pizza. He made it on tortillas instead of bread, and put salchichas on top. It was really good. But I didn’t try it with the catsup and hot sauce on it. And he served it with potato chips !?
Elliot slept over at Erick’s house Tuesday night. Wednesday, after Audrey’s summer school was out, her class decided to go to the movie together. So we were supposed to meet them at the mall and waited and waited. We ran into a family we knew from church, but not her friends. When one of the friends finally came running to tell her that they were all in the food court getting something to eat, she just burst into tears. I think she was scared and frustrated and nervous and had just had it. So we walked around the mall for a minute and then she met up with her friends and went to see Harry Potter again, but this time in Spanish. Then the boys decided that they wanted to see a movie too, so they made plans to watch Transformers that night. But Audrey also wanted to go. So Audrey went to Transformers with Bizmarck, their friend from here in Cofradia, Elliot, Erick, and Erick’s cousin Ivan. Bizmarck and Audrey gave the film a 5, Erick gave it an 8, and Elliot a 9.
And poor Audrey is having more boy troubles. This time there was a boy in one of the other summer school classes that she thought was really cute and then he started paying attention to her and started acting like he thought she was cute and then she just started to think he was really annoying. She asked me something to the effect of, “How come when you don’t know boys very well they’re really cute, and as soon as you get to know them they turn annoying?” That has been Audrey’s life lesson for this summer. That the more you get to know a boy, the more annoying he becomes. And it would be just fine with her dad if she kept thinking that boys who liked her were annoying until she was about 25.
We were teasing Audrey about this in the car going somewhere and Erick turned to Cecily and asked, “Who do you like, Cecily?” And without delay, as if she knew exactly what he was talking about, she said, “Diego.” We all laughed and Erick told her that Diego was Elliot’s age, and didn’t she think that his little brother, Hector, who is 3, would be better for her? And she firmly told him no- Diego.
We’ve been having problems with our house again. The hot water heater for the bottom house gave out. So we went a couple of days without hot water until they replaced it. And then, once they replaced it, we couldn’t get more than drips out of the faucet. They had us wait a couple of days to see if there was just a bubble in the system. There wasn’t. So they checked the system and it was the filter- it was clogged. So we went another couple of days without water while they fixed that. Then the toilet stopped working- I guess enough garbage came through while they were cleaning out the filter that it clogged up the toilet. So, then we went a couple of days without our second toilet. We are now very grateful for two toilets.
On Saturday we went to the beach again. We went to the one with the quiet waves, where you can snorkel. It was fun and nice and peaceful. It was much more crowded than it was before, though. The time that we went before, it was a Wednesday.
I found the 7th Harry Potter book on sale at the Liverpool (like Dillards). See, we are living in a civilized country! And I have finished it so I am now safe to correspond with my family again, especially Mary who kept leaving annoying hints about what was going to happen. Audrey's reading it now, and I'm hovering over her shoulder trying to get her to hurry so that I can talk to someone about it. Sadly, there is very little Harry Potter fever here. Hmm. Maybe not so civilized after all. Just kidding.
Well, we're having so much fun. We're sad to think that we only have three weeks left! But fun to think that we'll see all of you again in about that much time.
Enjoy the rest of your summer too. Oh, and the rotting shoe of Ichabod Gumbler wasn't either one of the horcruxes Mary, it was a Hallow.....
Jenny and the kids.
Well, we're having so much fun. We're sad to think that we only have three weeks left! But fun to think that we'll see all of you again in about that much time.
Enjoy the rest of your summer too. Oh, and the rotting shoe of Ichabod Gumbler wasn't either one of the horcruxes Mary, it was a Hallow.....
Jenny and the kids.
posted by Parnell Willmores at 5:50 PM
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