As cheesy as it sounds, one of the biggest joys of my Peace Corps service is putting a smile on a child’s face. As Justin puts it, it’s very easy to do in Georgia. I consider last two weeks ago a success because I received dozens of smiles, hugs, and kisses from the children in my community. Prior to Peace Corps, I had an awkward stage in life where I did not know what to say to children and sometimes I would walk away by patting them on the head. For me to start off a blog about kids is truly a success and a sign of personal growth- or dare I say, maternal instincts kicking in?!
Two weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to host two wonderful Peace Corps Trainees: Miranda and Rose. Peace Corps Georgia gives trainees an opportunity to job shadow a Peace Corps Volunteer, at their site, so the trainees can gain perspective on a volunteer’s daily life in the community and at their job. On Monday morning, Miranda and Rose had the opportunity to speak with my counterparts. My counterparts informed them about the various work that we do together and the strategic initiatives World Vision and Youth2Georgia work on.
But later, I thought it would also be fun to do an English Club lesson with them at the Day Care Center. If you read my English Club blog post, you would know that my English Club is anything but an English Club. It essentially me attempting to get vulnerable children to sit with me to learn anything. Since the lessons fall apart within 20 minutes, I no longer lesson plan for long activities. So, when Miranda said, “so we should plan for an hour lesson?” I simply looked at her and said, “ha, we are lucky if they sit still for 10 minutes. I think 20 minutes should be sufficient!” So, we planned for a couple of activities and walked to the Day Care Center.
The children were so excited to meet Miranda and Rose. It was the first time I personally brought guests to the Day Care Center. The weather was beautiful, so for the first time ever, we held our activities outdoors. Then, a miracle happened! The children behaved. For. The. First. Time. EVER! Tamta (my Day Care Center counterpart) and I looked at each and were dumbfounded. We have dreamed of this day and when it actually happened, we did not know what to do.
The children literally stayed for the entire duration of our planned activities. Then, they wanted more! They actually wanted more from us. I looked at Rose and Miranda and I was so surprised, “you don’t understand, this has never happened.” So, if you are in need of a miracle, please contact Miranda and Rose- they will be our new official Peace Corps Volunteers in July. They literally have magical powers beyond our imagination. Their magical powers had the kids smiling and laughing. The kids were participating in Simon Says! They were following directions! They craved our attention instead of running away from us!
I’m so sad that I didn’t take any pictures of the event to document this rare miracle. In a sense, that is true Peace Corps. We live for the tiny miracles that occur during our service. The rare glimpse of hope that our work is doing something meaningful. As much as I have struggled with my English Club, last week was a moment I will always cherish.
On Tuesday morning, Justin invited Miranda, Rose, and I to his school. Collectively, we thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to allow the trainees to see another Peace Corps Volunteer’s job as well as mine. However, Justin also had something sinister in mind. He creatively crafted a “spousal revenge” episode of the century. He started off the lesson by giving his third graders questions to ask us. The first question was, “Do you like Star Wars?”
Hmm, that is odd. I see Justin pull out his iPhone to take a video. I knew something was brewing. I choose my words carefully to answer the first question. Then, another third grader asked, “Why don’t you like Star Wars?” Ah-ha! Justin crafted this to publicly shame me in front of his third graders! Why do you ask? Because I refuse to watch Star Wars. I am one of the few Americans who just has no interest in the subject. Justin, on the other hand, has made it his life mission to get me to watch it at least one time in my life (and to enjoy American football). (Sidenote: Justin did get me to play fantasy football, and, while it was totally awesome, it just wasn’t my thing.)
Therefore, be careful who you marry. Their interests might become your interests. After his revenge, we all drew pizzas and hamburgers with the cutest third graders. The children had learned the ingredients for the dishes the week before and this was a creative way for them to review the words for pickles, meat, bread, cheese, etc.
After the class was over, Justin asked us if we would like to stay for the fifth-grade class. At first, I personally felt compelled to return to my job. It was already 10 a.m., but then I saw a bunch of the fifth graders spying on us in the teacher’s lounge. So the three of us thought, “Why not make a bunch of kids happy?” Literally, that is how we decided to stay. At 10:30 a.m., we stood in front of the fifth-grade class introducing ourselves. Justin’s counterpart told the students to ask us questions. All of them were mumbling and laughing. They were so excited that they were nervously giggling and stumbling on their words. The typical questions ensued, such as, “Do you like Georgia?” “Do you like khachapuri?” “Do you like us?” Both younger and older generations ask the same questions, so at this point, I have well-crafted responses to these questions.
Towards the end of the questions, I whispered to Justin, “Do you think they would want a picture with us?” So, Justin asks, “Do you want a picture with our guests?” Never in my life have I seen a bunch of fifth graders get up out of their seats so fast. I thought that Rose, Miranda, and I were going to get trampled. They were so excited and they were all pushing each to be next to one of us. That my friends is what it feels like to be a micro-celebrity. I’m just kidding- we aren’t celebrities. But we do get kids excited when we take pictures with them 😉