English Classes and the Bourne Ultimatum

Ok, so Monday and Tuesday this week were not so so interesting. Not much happened on Monday. Coffee cooperative meeting, and the farmers' English class.

On Tuesday, we worked during the day, and then went downtown to Antigua for a lecture that Franklin was giving on As Green As It Gets' development philosophy. To read it, click here, and then click "Development Philosophy." After the lecture was over, we went to Reilly's, an Irish bar in downtown Antigua and ate dinner. After that, I got dragged to a salsa club called La Sin Aventura (Without Adventure). The name of the place is apt--because it was full of tourists--and I wasn't so interested in hanging out with them.

Then on Wednesday, we held our first English class for kids. We had about 10 kids, and did the basics "Hello, my name is...", "How are you? I am fine, thank you." They had a ball. Most of them were Timoteo's, Filiberto's, and Daniel's kids. So, given how quickly they seemed to learn, we aimed to step up the pace of this class. Not all that surprising, the kids learn much faster than their parents.

After English class on Wednesday, Oriana and I borrowed four of Filiberto's children: Maria Benita, Vicente, Cristobal, and Esvin. We took them downtown to Antigua and treated them to a movie. There's a cafe called the Bagel Barn that shows movies once a week. Well, the movie was free, and we actually treated them to a bagel, soda, and a cab ride. The movie was The Bourne Ultimatum. The boys were completely enthralled, the youngest, Maria Benita, fell asleep toward the end. They were not all that impressed with the bagel and cream cheese. But, given that this is Guatemala--the bagel and cream cheese wasn't so bad!

Then on Thursday, we had another English class. From now on, these kid's English classes are going to be on Tuesday and Thursday. If anyone has ideas for super-easy songs, etc. That would be helpful. We were very impressed with their response to "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes!"
On Thursday night, we had fifteen kids, we're the most popular people here!

So, it's Friday evening. I spent most of today with Maria Benita, who is working on her cosmetic creams with As Green As It Gets. We had some trouble with following the recipe. She didn't measure everything correctly. So, we did a lots melting down and filtering beeswax--and her lip balm still had too much beeswax by the end of the day.

More later! Stay tuned for the next chapter in my adventures below the equator!