Dia Numero 2

Today was my second day as nanny. I’ll start by saying it wasn’t quite as bad as yesterday…however, I think that is only because I knew what to expect, so it wasn’t quite as much of a shock.

I have noticed I don’t have to come until noon or so. I arrived at 11am again today and not a single kid showed up until 12:15.

Once again, all hell broke loose around 1pm when families started arriving. The boys were throwing plastic fruit again, the girls kept being tattle-tales on one another (oh, remember the days), and the stray dogs that wander the neighborhood kept coming into the classroom sniffing for food.

Now, I was able to get the handful of girls to sit and draw quietly. The three teenagers (probably only 13 years old) played UNO together. The boys once again threw legos all over the floor. Their favorite game involves sticking someone inside of a cupboard and holding it shut—for that one, I decided not to get involved until someone got hurt (which they normally didn’t)—and at least it kept them entertained for awhile.

Also, today was a little different because they didn’t open up the dining hall. Families stood in line outside the building with bags of empty plastic containers. Eventually, each family went away with a handful of apples, some bread, and containers full of soup. I asked the main cook Maria why, and all I understood was something about them having to leave early today, and they didn’t have time to clean up the entire dining hall—thus the families just had to pick up their food and eat at home. This resulted in a few mothers sitting in the classroom with their infants and small children while waiting for the food. While it sounds more chaotic, it was actually helpful, because I had multiple mothers and older teenagers keeping peace with their own kids, as well as keeping (some) peace with the kids I was normally in charge of.

Now, because the dining hall wasn’t open, that means the kids who I worked with and I both had to eat in the classroom. This meant spilled soup, spilled water, bread pieces, and apple cores scattered around the floor and tables—making clean up much harder and why stray dogs kept trying to get into the classroom.

Once all the families had left, I had a group of 10 kids (give or take). A few from yesterday plus a few more—two of which were at least 13—which helped me in keeping peace and leading different games. They even taught me a few games (all involving running and tagging people), which kept everyone entertained for quite awhile. I figured there was no point in trying to accomplish anything else, so we just ran around all afternoon. This did result in a few girls crying when they accidentally got hit by a large tomato (yes, they have HUGE stuffed animal-type tomatoes in the classroom, don’t ask me why, but I assume it was the project of some other volunteer). But overall, things went pretty smoothly.

Tonight I plan to buy a soccer ball and hopefully have a game going most of tomorrow afternoon—I’ve noticed everyone is more involved and willing to listen if it involves some sort of physical activity. Also, that way, I don’t have to consistently clean up hundreds of plastic coins, cards, and legos.

Tomorrow is another day, another adventure, and another set of unexpected events. Wish me luck.