Beautiful views, and beautiful people too

I'm currently sitting in the lobby of the second floor of the Mitharsuu center. Mother Nature is whistling, creating a soft wind that blows through the tall greenery of my surroundings. The leaves on all of the different types of trees waltz, making movement within the canopy. Chirps and coos fill the silence, the noises of all the different birds who sing every single morning. I find myself sitting here to begin all of my days, finding an effortless serenity everywhere I turn.

I have finished my first work week at EarthRights International (ERI), and I can't believe that I am living in such a paradise. Not only because of the impeccable views, but also because of the people that I spend time with every single day. The students, staff, and workers that keep this place running never fail to put a smile on my face. Everyone that I have met has been genuinely kind, and we are beginning to develop a relationship where we learn from each other about our lives, cultures, and languages. Students here are rich in knowledge, and I am collecting golden nuggets of information from their stories.

My job here at ERI is to aid in teaching English to these adult students. They need to understand English because many of them are striving to be leaders in their communities and fight large corporations that are disrupting the natural flow of their hometowns. This ability of knowing English will aid in furthering their research abilities and being able to communicate with people outside of their communities. These students are learning what it means to be a defender of earth rights and human rights, and will move on to do great things with this knowledge.

Starting tomorrow, Annika and I will be co-teaching the English class everyday. Doing so will require lesson planning, trying out different teaching methodologies, and figuring out the best way to teach English as another language. Honestly, I'm so excited to begin teaching and further my skills, as well as building strong relationships with the students. However, this past week we were mostly learning about the organization as well as doing some grading and administrative tasks. We did so because the students were engaging in forum theater.

Forum theater is when students will create a mini play based off of issues in their hometown, act it out, and then invite the audience to help think of ways that the issue could be solved. For example, the two plays were centered around a government taking away a community forest, and a wife who does not have equality in her family. The twist to the forum theater is that when the audience member thinks of an idea, they must replace a main character and act it out themselves. The point of it is to show that one must step into another person's shoes to really gain an understanding of the situation, and that the results may not always go your way. Forum theater is an incredible way to practice experiential learning, and I am glad that I now know about it.

Since I've been here, I've begun to write a daily entry in my journal and read more books, something that I haven't really done much prior to coming here. However, I am grateful for this chance to slow down my life a bit and reflect on each day. I'm excited to see where the next few weeks take me in this journey of a lifetime.