Summer School: February 7, 2010

Life in Cashapampa has become increasingly familiar.  I've found that riding a horse around town is a great way to get around.  Chances are good that I will run into someone I'd like to talk to, and I've been able to spread the word about summer school classes.   Week one I found myself sitting in an empty classroom.  Week two brought 1 student, and week three brought 4.  Poco a poco, "little by little," they will arrive. 

With only one month left of summer school before regular classes commence, I have big plans for the handful of students that show up.  Besides coloring and learning about the environment, we will be moving on to bigger and better feats: throwing trash in a hole.  This has been an on-going goal of mine in which I have encountered a plethora of obstacles for what would seem a simple project.  Now all the pieces are in place and I have a good feeling this is going to happen.
Hole: check.  Permission to throw trash in hole: check.  Manual labor to assist in trash clean-up: check.

Another huge undertaking on my list of summer school activities is a World Map project.  We have measured out the grid area, painted it with two coats of ocean blue, and are in the process of drawing the grid itself onto the wall.  Horizontal and vertical lines will create over 1,000 individual blocks at 8 cm² apiece.  Then, the countries are drawn block by block in pencil.  The final step is painting each of the blocks, thus creating the whole world.