Team Journal ~ January 10

Monday January 10, 2011

Quote of the Day: “A little hard work never killed anybody.”

Written by: Volunteer Brendan

It was another lovely day in Pommern and the sun was shining but there were some clouds off in the distance. We all expected a rain at some point during the day.

Today was supposed to be the day were the students and the teachers should all have been at the school, the timetable should be ready, and the school should be more organized. Kate and I (Brendan) walked down to go teach classes. Jean went to make a detailed map of the school and to use her landscape architect skills to draw the dimentions of the school. And Allie went with Moses to work on the wall of the kitchen.

When I arrived at the school I was told that the chemistry teacher Prosper that I was working with was on a “Journey” and would not return until Thursday, maybe. I was put in a small class of form 2 students. As the class progressed more and more students come into the room. Then Kate came in and then Jean. At the start there were about 20 students and at the end it was more towards 50. Then a teacher came in and said he was suppose to start teaching these student physics about 20 minutes ago and he decided he wanted to start now. Allie was getting fustarated at the slow pace of the construction of the kitchen so she left to go help Jean. Then Kate and I were put in a classroom with form 1 students to teach English with the help of 2 form 6 students to translate. Then it was lunch time at the mission house.

After lunch Kate went back to the school and hung out with 2 girls who brought her to see the dorms and she also had lunch with all of the students. She was happy to get a glimpse into the life of a student.

Allie and I worked on the wall. With her and I working at a good pace with Moses, much work had gotten done. I think we inspired Moses to work harder and faster. Finally, we seemed to get a good amount done in a short period of time before a heavy rain started.

Then we walked home getting soaked where Allie washed her hair and clothes by rubbing soap on her and standing in the rain. The Pommern people must think we are all crazy. Jean was here working on her map and we all sat around a fire Mohamed had built. Then Kate returned when the rain died down. That night we had dinner and continued to discuss how we could be more productive in our limited time left here in Pommern!