novelties

Monday afternoon I was informed that one of the teachers at the primaria had her molars taken out and was not going to be able to be at school the next day - nor accompany the field trip that was planned for that day. So Lizy asked me if I would be able to take her place. I gladly accepted, excited to finally learn what was inside the awesome looking building on Calle Vincente Guerrero that I have passed countless times during my 6.5 months here.

Tuesday morning I was assigned my group of 5 students that I would be responsible for during our trip. We all piled into one ruta that a dad in the community owns and drives daily. (He told us his job is extremely tiring and monotonous as he drives the same route from 5 am until 10 pm every day of the week.) 5 adults and 23 super excited kids in first and second grade made their way to the Papalote Museum.

Walking through the doors the kids' eyes grew huge and I myself was impressed with what I found there, having no idea what to expect. It was a children's museum, but not at all a "museum" in the general sense of the word. It was all hands-on, super colorful, fun, exciting, learning adventures. Examples of options of things to do were: play a giant piano by walking on it with your feet, play "mindball" like soccer but using your brain waves (whoever relaxes more pushes the ball further towards the other persons' goal), and a bed that had thousands of screws pointing up on it...you laid down, the screws raised you up so you were laying on a bed of screws...kind of freaky, but really awesome!

For many of the students who rarely, if ever, even get out of La Via (the community where La Buena Tierra is located), this day was full of new experiences and fascination. I have to say, the most hilarious experience for me was watching a mother and two kids experience novelties of their own... I was waiting outside the bathrooms for my group to use the facilities, when a mother and two kids walked up to a drinking fountain outside the bathroom. Now, this probably sounds like nothing funny is about to happen to any of you. But in a world where drinking out of la llave (the tap) is extremely dangerous and unhealthy, the concept of a drinking fountain is completely foreign to these people. The woman had no clue how to make the water come out, nor did any of them know where to put their mouths, or how to get the water streaming out to go into and stay in their mouths for them to swallow. I seriously had to consciously stop myself from laughing out loud as I watched their struggle...it is completely understandable why they had difficulties with this high-tech device. I had to remind myself that some things that are like "duh" to me are total novelties to others! After this experience I then had to enter the bathrooms to help my group use the automatic sinks and the paper towel dispensers that require you to wave your hand in front of them to have the towel come out. More novelties i tell you. They could not figure those devices out if their life had depended on it. It was a really interesting experience and a great reminder of the differences between the "world" I come from compared to the world these students live in and know.

We arrived back to school around 1:30, with 5 adults glad the day was over and 23 students totally wiped out and exhausted from an exhilarating day of fun and novelties.