On Thursday morning we went to school for the first time for our orientation. Since the director was still in mainland Ecuador, we met with the principal and worked out our volunteering schedule. Michael and I are both going to work in the mornings helping the English teachers. We both have schedules where we move around a lot helping different teachers and grades.
After working out our schedule, we met each of the teachers we are helping. The school is so different from any school I have seen before. That may be because I am from the cold Midwest though. This school is made up of many one room buildings. Each grade is a single class, and each class has their own building. There is an extra building for the principal and teachers’ office and for the kitchen. To get from one class to another, you walk outside. All of the class buildings are situated around a center basketball court. The court doesn’t have hoops yet, but we found out the school was just approved to receive funding to get hoops and a storage building for extra supplies. They also have a big turf soccer field in the back.
We thought we were going to start work on Friday, but the kids have the day off because of Guayaquil’s Independence Day. I am really excited and nervous to get started!