Hey Everyone,
For those of you who are curious as to what
I am doing at work, it isn’t much at the moment. I can say that I did mess up
the names of the other interns who are working with me though. It was Ibn and
NOT François. You can try to say the name out loud if you want. I blame the
kids for trying to mess with us in any way they can and that’s why I thought
his name was François. I haven’t yet gotten on a very chummy level yet with the
other interns. This will be one of my first big challenges.
Speaking
of problems, there is another that has actually caused the work I’ve been
assisting very time consuming and inefficient. This problem is the computer
that is assigned to the interns. It looks like it is from the early ‘90s and
goes even slower than that. This is a problem because of the software on it
doesn’t always match up with the software on the employee and manager’s
computers. So, when they send us sheets to edit and revise, sometimes we cannot
even open it. This is something that they should be aware of. There are three
main people who assign us work: Celine, Huardine (I have no idea if that’s how
it’s spelled but that is how I pronounce it in Spanish), and Bénédicte. The
main computer that we use is in the same room as those of Celine and Huardine
who by the way have better computers obviously. They like to come and go when
they please for whatever reason and so sometimes one of us will use another
computer after having asked permission from whoever is there. However, when
they decide to reappear they request their spot back for obvious reasons since
they also have work to do but one piece of work we started Monday just got
finished today because of it being lost three times. Completely understandable and today when we
finished it, it wouldn’t send because of some other technical problem so we
told Bénédicte that it was on the computer and we couldn’t actually send it.
It’s a little silly but frustrating. This was all work done on Excel but
switched between maybe 3 or 4 different versions of it. All this type of work
we do before the kids arrive. We usually have about two hours before the kids
get in to organize and put everything in order because when they arrive, our
main job is to make sure they do some type of school work and engage them into
some type of constructive activity like having them read, write out different
things in cursive, speak, etc. for the next 1-2 hrs. After that, kids leave and
more come for a more open recreational time where all the kids are encouraged
to play and interacting with each other. Why? Because “The purpose of our
association is to work for the development of children and youth through the
practice of educational and cultural activities, the formation of sports teams
can be a part of these activities.” There are many other activities that
involve the children even more than I do like theatre, soccer, and others. I
will be accompany the kids on field trips to different spots in France and rumor
has it that there will be a week trip to Normandy J. Who
knows though? Anyways, back to my work life.
Yesterday,
Tuesday, Omar came into the association super energetic to show me three of his
favorite toys: two action figurines and a plastic foldaway fan. One is
Spiderman and the other he calls “stickman.” He uses the fan as a flying
skateboard for his action figures that magically opens up. He would not stop
bouncing around the room and was one of the first kids that showed up to the
association. Some of the other kids wanted his toys so I had to make sure they
didn’t take any. I will ask his age again tomorrow but I think he is about 4-5
and most the other kids that both him are older like that girl. I know the
pronunciation now and I would phonetically spell it “Doonya/Duña.” I could be
wrong since the NGO claims to accept from ages 6 and up but he looks about age
5 and Maura told me in the beginning that kids are from ages 4 and up.
Another kid,
Camara (10 y/o), ended up lifting Omar’s Spiderman action figure and left with
it. He had been trying to convince him during study time to let him borrow it
and that he would pay him if he broke it or lost it. Camara doesn’t return
until next week and who knows if Spiderman will return. Duña wasn’t there for
the study time so she didn’t bother him today.
After the first
hour, there was story/performance time for the kids. The kids and the interns
gathered in a room while 5 of them read a section from a predetermined book to
us. After that there were little dances and improvisational games until 6pm I think.
I may get a little confused about the times because for you guys I write
“am/pm” and here it is all military time.
There isn’t much
else to say without repeating myself. I will end on an added detail about the
neighborhood where the organization is situated. There is a big Arab community
here. I didn’t get this from the few times I went into stores and heard accents
and also another language being spoken between storeowners and their buddies
but also I guess Maura lived in only blocks away from the association and she
also speaks Arabic. So that’s all for now because I’m sick of looking at the
computer screen.
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