Hurricane Season is Here!

3/June/2010
The rain is so loud I can’t even hear my fan that is sitting right in front of me, nor the keys as I type on my laptop. Ahh but I love it. I don’t actively sweat the entire day (only part of it)!

Last week Tropical Storm Agatha came up the west coast of Central America. It rained for 60 hours straight!! There was a lull of a few hours in which I decided to travel to Leon to go to the gym, because everything (school, stores, etc) was closed anyways and I had nothing to do. Well everything was pretty good and wet when I went to Leon, as it had already been raining for about 36 hours. But as I was leaving the gym, a torrential downpour came, and along with it, a flash flood. I proceeded to the bus station to go back home. I just kept walking with my raincoat and my umbrella as if they were really making a huge difference against the buckets of rain. All of a sudden, I was up to my shins in dirty malaria water (ok I just SAY malaria, but it doesn’t ACTUALLY mean that). I still pressed on. Then all of a sudden I was up almost to my knees. Now THAT was gross. I shuddered at the thought of what was racing through the riverlike streets. As I was crossing one street alongside another lady, I noticed she was suddenly sucked down into the Earth. Ok fine, she just fell. But it was quite dramatic at the time, let me tell ya, Two other ladies nearby and I helped her to her feet. She had been up to her waist in the filthy water. (Quick cultural lesson) Normally, people here laugh at those who fall down, even when they hurt themselves. People just laugh, and occasionally, sometimes lend a hand. I really do not accept nor like this, but it’s just the way it is. But in this scenario, the other ladies were very compassionate and we all helped her up. After that episode, I realized the reason the fell: giant uncovered ‘manholes’ if you will. There are these small to big holes in the streets and on some of the “sidewalks” (aka people’s front porches that are uneven and connected together) that go down into the ground to absolutely nowhere. For the most part, people just throw their trash in them. I went back to the scene a couple days later, and the hole she had fallen in was almost 2 feet deep. I’ve seen them as big as 6 feet deep. Careful crossing the street in a flood kids!

One very productive thing that has taken place since the rains have started are my materials development for class. If you’re stuck in the house, why not get down with some crafts? I’ve been saving any cardboard for the past, well, 9 months. Now I can finally put it to some use. I used old scrap paper to draw pictures and/or make sentences, then “laminated” them with clear tape, and cut them up to separate them so the kids would have an activity for class. They really respond well to hands on learning, as they have nothing besides their notebook and a couple pens for class.