Los Problemas con Los Jovenes

Saludos faithful readers! It seems that some of you still do not understand how to add comments?? Ok, well I give you the instructions one more time, but please let me know if you are still confused afterwards or if anything doesn´t make sense! First, scroll all the way down to the end of that particular blog posting (past all the Spanish vocab and everything). You will see a link on the lower right hand corner that says how many comments there are. (If are there are 0 comments, you should still be able to click on and open the link.) Next, put the mouse inside the box on the upper right corner that says ¨leave your comment.¨ Once you have finished typing the comment, click on the part below the box that says ¨anonymous,¨then ¨publish your comment.¨ If it works you will see the comment appear on the left side. I recommend posting the comments using ¨anonymous,¨because otherwise you have to set up a blogger account. Just make sure that if you do it that way you write your name at the end of your comment!

These last two weeks I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning in the school. It´s not something I enjoy, but it had to be done! Chantel has moved into an 1. apartamento in preparation for her upcoming wedding, so I moved all of my 2. cosas up to her room last week. It´s definitely a lot better living 3. arriba!! It´s a lot warmer (I have gone from about 6 heavy blankets on the 4. cama down to 3!), and there is more 5. privacidad. And, since it is actually two rooms divided by a partially open wall, I feel like, for the first time in my 6. vida!, that I have plenty of 7. espacio for everything.

On the other hand, I must say that I feel like more of a fraidy cat than ever now that I live in that casa 8. enorme all by myself! I hear so many noises that make me think someone else is in the house--especially since there are 9. vecinos on two sides with nothing but the wall between us! (Hardly anyone here has a yard.) Sometimes when I sing to myself really loudly in la mañana I have to remind myself that the neighbors can hear 10. todo--(but at least they can´t understand anything I´m saying : ) Today when I left at 2 p.m. I almost stepped on a man who was completely passed out right in front of the house!!! When I first arrived in augosto I got really worried anytime I saw a man in that position, but it turns out they are nothing more than drunks. Now I see drunk men passed out all over the city at all hours of the día, but never has one been so close to my doorstep! But don´t worry, the house/school is very secure and I almost always feel safe. One Saturday I returned at 11. medianoche and the front door was wide open because the students forgot to lock it when they left, but as far as I can tell no one came in and nothing was taken. What are the chances??

Parade in Cintalapa, Mexico celebrating the Mexican Revolution/Desfile en Cintalapa, Mexico para celebrar la revolución mexicana

I mentioned in my last blog that the jovenes have been missing a lot of church and classes lately, and unfortunately that trend has not reversed itself. When we started the Sunday morning classes a few months ago nearly all of the jovenes were coming, but lately José Luis and I both have been averaging only about 5. They have missed for various razones. Some feel like las clases (or church) aren´t really 12. necesario, some arrive really late and don´t want to interrupt the class in the middle, and some are at that in-between age when they can´t decide if they´d rather hang with the jovenes or do more ¨adult¨ things. The smaller class size really doesn´t bother me that much. As I mentioned to José Luis, I grew up attending Bible classes of only about 3 or 4 students of various ages—and was often the only girl. However, we are afraid that the few who are still 13. fiel in their attendance may eventually feel discouraged and stop coming, as well—especially now that they are used to the bigger class size.

So we have been thinking about ways to improve the situation other than telling the truent ones we missed them and asking the non-truent ones to help encourage them. Most likely what we will do is combine the two classes for a while (so that José Luis will teach all of the chicos and chicas 14. juntos.) I don´t really want to give up teaching my girls´class, but as I told the girls on Sunday, we do what we do for them, not for us. So we´re hoping that maybe more of them will come to class if they can be with the opposite sex (ha ha!!!) If not, at least the class size will be 15. doble what it has been. On Sunday I also had my girls write some anonymous suggestions for me of things they don´t like about the class, topics they want to study, lugares they would like to go for get togethers, etc. Well either they didn´t understand the 16. instrucciones or they just really don´t want to change anything, because what they wrote was incredibly vague and not very useful. One of them actually wrote that she would like 17. estudiar ¨topics appropriate for teenagers.¨ I asked them if they would like to start having the class with chicos and chicas together in place of our class, and, surprisingly, many of them were very opposed to la idea. So I think what we might do is have the class with everyone most weeks but still have our girls´class once or twice a month, as well as still have the ¨girls´only¨ get togethers.

José Luis and I both have been struggling not to feel discouraged about la situación. The last time he had a get together for them, on New Years Day, the only ones who ¨came¨ were the ones who live at that house. So he is reluctant to initiate more get togethers and says that it´s not worth it to plan anything if no one´s going to show up. But the way I see it is, if we don´t plan anything for them, they may think that we´re not interested anymore, either, and only feel more discouraged. Besides, I feel like even if there are just a few who do appreciate what we´re doing, it´s definitely worth our time and effort. On Saturday we´re going to have another time of playing soccer and basketball in the 18. parque, so hopefully a lot will come. If anyone has any comments or suggestions about how to encourage the teenagers more, please do let me know!

This week I also went and visited two hermanas who are very sick in the hospital. If I had to pick one word to compare this hospital to American hospitals, it would be: small. The entire hospital was one floor, one block. There was no carpet, no waiting rooms, no TV, and no vending machines. Family members wait to receive news by standing in the hallways, and patients receive a bed assignment, rather than a room assignment. The room that I saw was very similar to a camp cabin—about ten basic beds placed side by side, with no furniture to store belongings. It just so happened that the two ladies from our congregation had beds right across from each other, so that we were ¨kind of¨able to visit them both at the same time. I say kind of because the hospital only allows three people at each bed at one time (regardless of whether they are family or not), and we first had to leave i.d. before we could enter. Supposedly the 19. reglas are so 20. estricto because the hospitals here have had trouble with some people wandering around the rooms stealing items from complete strangers.

I have more to say (a lot can happen in two weeks!) but I don´t want anyone to stop reading in the middle of my blog just because it got to be too long again (ha ha!)

Until the next time,
Elizabeth

Title: Problems with the Teenagers

1. apartment

2. things

3. upstairs

4. bed

5. privacy

6. life

7. space

8. huge/enormous

9. neighbors

10. everything

11. midnight

12. necessary

13. faithful

14. together

15. double

16. instructions

17. to study

18. park

19. rules

20. strict

Weather Words and Phrases:

¿Como está el clima? (What is the weather like?)

Hace calor. (It´s hot.)

Hace frío. (It´s cold.)

Está bonito. (It´s nice out.)

Está lluviendo. (It´s raining.)

Está nublado. (It´s cloudy.)

Está caliente. (It´s warm.)

Está ventoso. (It´s windy.)

Está fresco. (It´s cool.)

clima (climate)

el tiempo (weather)

See the bus in this picture? Maria Auxiliadora is the neighborhood I live in, so this would be one of the busses I would take when I ride public transportation.