ARived.

I have arrived in Arkansas. I flew to Jackson, drove through Louisiana to get to Eudora, AR. 2/3rds of the states that I saw yesterday are not in our region for AmeriCorps. It's so close to the border that we actually go grocery shopping in Mississippi. I will be crossing The Mississippi regularly.

The day is very long. We leave the house at 7:10AM and do not get home until about 7:30. We have a break from 11:30 - 2, which encompasses lunch & the time that allows us to stay so late.

My day looks as follows:

7:30-11:30 working in a Pre-K. My teacher, Miss House, said maybe 5 words to me the entire day, including hello and goodbye. She asked me to sit the children down in front of the screen for a little movie. Some of these 3/4 year old's are all but impossible to understand, with the minimal understanding of English they have, and the thick-as-molasses accent. I'm hoping to instigate lots more of me reading books to them, rather than them just watching kid shows for hours, we'll see how it goes. It's really not my place to say, "Oh Hi! I'm Peter from California! You're teaching these kids incorrectly, let me improve upon your methods!" - At All. I would be dancing on her toes by trying to do this. But, again. We'll see how it goes.

11:30 - 2 I went home and took a nap. I am still very behind on my sleep. I would say for good reason, but of course that's only an opinion. I still need a day to catch up. (Some people say that sleep lost is sleep lost, and you can't "catch up", but I just don't feel that is accurate according to my normal sleep schedule regularly relying on nights of catch-up)

2 - 5 I stopped by the Cultural Center for a quick meeting, and then went to the local Elementary School (different from the morning one), to teach a few classes some sign language. This was much more immediately rewarding than the morning babysitting. I was actually able to utilize and capitalize on my ability to communicate and interact with groups of small children. Many of the names here are difficult to understand, and impossible to make sense of. I will make a list for another post, but one example is, "Forever". Her first name is Forever. What.

5 - 6, helped out with an indoor soccer class back at the Cultural Center. Ages ranged from 7 - 16. 13 kids came to play, practice, learn, etc. It was entertaining, but I think my favorite part of the day will continue to be what is called "Enrichment".

6 - 7 tutored a couple kids in Math and History. They're actually in High School so their work was real as opposed to "Sit down. Watch this video."

7 - 7:30 has not happened yet, so I don't actually know. Also I wrote this post in the transition between Soccer and Tutoring/ finished it up while they were working.

A girl on my team is obsessed with Avatar: The Last Airbender. So tonight we're going to go to Walmart & pick up the seasons on DVD. It's a pretty good show, and very easy to get into, so that will be our little thing. I'm supposed to be doing research on the Stock Market and how to invest and everything, but I'm really doubting I'll have the time or energy.

Anyway! I'm busy enough to almost entirely forget the shenanigan about almost going to Big Bend, so that is excellent. Pictures tomorrow!