Scenes from Santa Ana

Santa Ana. It's hot, dusty, trashy and loud.... and I absolutely love it. One of my favorite pastimes is to walk around the pueblo. Every time is an adventure. I have to say hello to everyone. I pass one of my students just about every minute or two... I am always bombarded with hugs, followed by a mob of children,  or serenaded by a group of my students singing the songs I teach them in class... such as this one (they're favorite):

(sing to the tune of "London Bridge"):

Hello, hello, how are you?

how are you?

how are you? 

Hello, hello how are you?

I'm fine, thank you!

It makes me laugh every time... they also love to scream out English words at me that they are learning in class.

Sometimes I go a couple of days without making it outside of my school. I live at my school and I rarely ever need to go out to buy anything, so I often find myself making up excuses to leave campus. I try to get out of our community bubble whenever I find the time, weather it be to get some ice cream, buy school supplies or just take a walk. It helps me take a break from thinking about school and lesson planning and just relax....

Here are some of my favorite scenes from the most amazing town in the world:

The soccer field... this is where I often see a lot of my students... this is a town with very little, so the kids get very creative when playing. One thing they love to play with is tires... little kids roll tires around the street non-stop. One of my favorite ways of using tires I have seen, was on this field. The children would run as fast as they could onto a large tire, jump on it, flip in the air and gracefully land on their feet... very impressive.

This is the street where the other school in town is located....

Pigs are everywhere... big ones, fat ones, little ones, medium sized ones, baby ones.... they run around everywhere. I often wonder how people know what pig belongs to who.

The store around the corner... I come here to get my favorite snack... "cheese tris"... which is just the Colombian version of Cheetos except it has fake bacon in it (I have to say.... it's an acquired taste).

The main road in Santa Ana... the hut in the corner is "Baru Grande", the one restaurant in town.

The church in the plaza

One of my favorite places in Santa Ana... the mercado, which we like to call the miscellaneous store... it has clothes, shoes, pots, pans, school supplies, jewelry, toys, trash cans, toiletries, towels, mirrors, etc.... except its probably smaller than my parents' living room.... its like a Target, Santa Ana style.

A road in town.... 

The Plaza, probably the nicest part of town aside from Barbacoas.

A common scene on the main road of Santa Ana...

My favorite, favorite, favorite absolute favorite part of town! The Panaderia, where you can buy fresh bread, ice cream and drinks... I love to sit here, eat my rapidly melting ice cream, drink a gatorade and watch the world go round. This is definitely a happy place for me.

Some local Santanero hoodlums... 

A Santanero going about his busy (or not so busy) day.

Outside my beloved school...

The colorful houses of town...

A main road in Santa Ana.

One of the locals who rudely leaves his poop all over the street.....

Some more pigs wondering around.....

And the moto-driver hang out... guaranteed place to find a ride to the beach or ferry

I've been loving it here. Its extremely different from what I have ever experienced but I am learning so much. My students are amazing, but of course... can also be very demonic at times... I am learning how to be a better teacher every day. I have faced a lot of challenges in the classroom and I will continue to face more, but I learn more every day and I continue to work hard to improve my class one day at a time. Teaching is hard, but it is so, incredibly worth the rewards. I love, love, love seeing those students when they have finally learned that new vocabulary word or know the answer to that question that we have been working on for a week. It makes my heart melt :)

This town needs help. One of the most beautiful beaches is only 15 minutes away from their home. The people that live here make a living by selling jewelry, massages, food, and snorkeling sessions on the beach, giving rides on motos and providing other services for tourists. They work for themselves... But plans have come to take over their beach. Huge hotels and resorts are going to be built where they now have their huts and small businesses set up. My students will now need to know English to help them find work after these hotels are built. Instead of working for themselves, they will have to be hired for a job, and knowing English will help them tremendously. Change is coming and they are not prepared. In a few years they will have paved roads, more transportation methods and heaven-forbid.... a bridge will probably be built over the canal. This will also put the moto-drivers out of their jobs, the canoe paddlers will no longer have work and they will need to find other ways of making a living. I know I am not the solution to their problem, but at least I can be part of it. I hope to make just the tiniest bit of a difference in my students' lives... even if its just one student who I help to fall in love with English, I will feel like I have done my job.