One of those days

Every once in a while, I have one of those days (i.e. today) where I realize how incredibly and awfully frustrating my job is.   It's one of those days when I have a really hard time believing that I'm going to make a difference in my two years here.  One of those days that I can't help but focus on all the time I've already lost--all of those canceled classes, rescheduled workshops, 2-hour long meetings during which nothing gets accomplished--it's enough to make me want to stay in bed all day and eat my weight in crappy Guatemalan chocolate.

I showed up at the local school this morning to teach my weekly English class to the Sexto primario class.  Upon arrival, I saw that there were no students present, only parents and teachers, some playing soccer in the field, the others sitting in small groups around the school grounds, talking and eating sheets of what appeared to be paper with perfectly round holes punched out of it (like a connect-four board).  As usual, I seemed to be the only one to have missed the memo.  I found my landlord (also a teacher at the primary school) who explained that the parents and teachers were protesting, demanding more money from the government.  Unlike the middle school where the parents pay the teachers' salaries via their children's tuition, the primary school is funded by the government.  And those teachers on contract haven't been paid since the school year began in January.  Thus the protest.  Oh, and the edible connect-four boards?  Leftover communion wafers from the Catholic church that somebody had dropped off that morning.  The wafers had been punched out for communion, leaving the strange-looking sheets the parents and teachers were happily munching on.  I went and saw the Director, briefly discussed the library project that has yet to be started, the teacher workshop that I have yet to do, and the now canceled youth activity that was supposed to happen this Friday.  Then I walked home, resisting my urge to buy tienda candy along the way.

My project adviser loves repeating this in our workshops: "Piensa en grande, actúa en pequeño, pero ¡ahora! (Think big, act small, but do it now!).  It's great advice.  But as it often is with good advice, it's easier said than done.