It's about 3 weeks since I started working at Casa do Caminho, I'm quite settled now, but that doesn't mean things are going swimmingly either. Basically the Cultural Centre is still trying to get on its feet, so instead of actually spending my time teaching I'm trying to sort out administrative issues or marketing the school. There are very few classes running and most of them have around 3 students. People like to indulge in different excuses to explain the perceived lack of interest and attendance at the centre.
"People in Xerem are too ocuppied with Funk (raunchy Brazilian music), going to church and playing football" "they don't have the time, between work, other studies and church" "they are too ignorant and lazy to be bothered learning another language".
All these loser-mentality attitudes get thrown around, yet nobody can explain why there are other schools capable of making a profit in this town, with much higher fees and running costs (i.e. they actually have to employ people instead of using volunteers), without being able to offer the glamour of native English teachers. The only advantage these other schools have over us is that they are well-known companies and are able to offer their students recognised certificates, even though most people end up with a certificate and no ability to actually speak English.
Previous to my arrival, there were two experienced teachers at the school, and from what I've heard they had quite a high student-base. For whatever reason those students are nowhere to be found, and I doubt that it's because they're all too busy speaking fluent English in Brazilian embassies around the globe. It's hard to market the school knoning that student retention is a major problem, even moreso given the fact that in 5 months´ time I'll no longer be here.
The centre also has some undeniable structural and administrative issues. For example, there is no permanent receptionist/student liason person. The only person permanently employed here is a volunteer-turned staff member from Argentina, who is a good person but has no experience running a school and refuses to teach, based on his own proclamation that he is the worst teacher in the world (not sure if that makes him the best candidate to run an education centre). This has meant that I am the only Spanish teacher at the centre, which is quite challenging but also fun - like most things at Casa do Caminho!
Tomorrow we are staging a "surprise event" in the main square of the town, which will have theater and singing in order to raise the centre's profile and next week I will be visiting public schools and doing English workshops with teenagers. If this doesn't work we have two more options, marketing in churches and in companies. If that doesn't work we might as well give up!
It can be a little bit unmotivating working at the school, especially because there are no kids here and I don't really feel like I'm part of the organisation like I was before. It's good that I have a fixed shift up at the main orphanage, where I am responsible for the kids (about 12) along with another volunteer. This basically means I sleep in their room at night, make sure they are ready for school, that they do all their chores and that they don't kill each other, etc etc. The job itself is quite stressful but it's great being up at the orphanage, it's at a really beautiful location in between rolling green hills and the site just has a unique energy that's hard to describe.
It's nice to get out because the centre really lacks privacy, it kinda sucks to live where you work. The building is actually just an old house, it isn't very big and isn't in very good condition, it's clearly not designed to be a school (you have to walk through the kitchen to get to most of the classrooms) and the left-over space for the 4 residents is not very much. The team I am working from is made up of a guy from the Central Coast (BOGAN ALERT!), France (SNOB ALERT!), and a woman from the UK (PROPERNESS ALERT!).
The team is quite energetic and positive, minus the French part, but it's kind of strange living in a Brazilian town with 3 other foreigners. I try to spend as much time as I can with Brazilians but this isn't always possible.
Sorry if this is all too factual and boring, and you'd really rather hear about me getting up to wild Brazilian adventures involving seductive natives and jungle escapades, but it's actually quite nice for me to get all this out, because working here your life tends to end up just being Casa do Caminho, all the time, and I might be going crazy!
Also, check out my photos from this awesome mountain climb I did in Rio! The other people in the pictures are volunteers from Casa do Caminho.
Take care,
I miss you all,
Tristan
