Phew! The first week of classes are behind us. It was quite an amazing week!
The curriculum for this semester includes classes in Design, Props, Sound, Lighting, Technical Direction, Health and Safety, Entrepreneur Studies, Effective Communication, Conflict Resolution and English!!! All of that in one week! Once our wardrobe volunteer arrives in a couple of weeks we will also be finding time for that in the schedule too. Wow!!
The students seem to really be enjoying themselves and I am constantly impressed by their desire to learn. For example, I tried to end English class early by a few minutes on Friday and they were all so upset that we ended up actually staying 20 minutes late so that they could learn something more. Crazy!
I think everyone is adapting well to life in Suchitoto and so far we have only been marked by brief interludes of illness.
So.... onto week two of classes. We will post more pics as soon as possible. And hopefully a video or two of Stephanie's birthday celebrations with the most awesome pinata you have ever seen!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
First week of Classes finito!
One of the students, Manuel Arce, working on his wire chair exercises in Props class with some nice lighting!
One of the dogs that greet us on our morning commute!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Live drawing class!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Information and Donation Link
In case these posts are making you want more information about this incredible project or to get involved I thought I would post some links that might be helpful:
You can find out more about the project on the CUSO International website. EsArtes will be launching their own website in about a week. The link is:
http://cusointernational.org/content/stratford-ontario-suchitoto-el-salvador-cultural-partnership
http://cusointernational.org/content/stratford-ontario-suchitoto-el-salvador-cultural-partnership
If you would like to make a donation to the project you can do so here: Sharing a Dream
If you would like more information about the project in general or about how you can volunteer to help out in Stratford or become a travelling volunteer you can send an email to:
Thanks for following along in our journey with this amazing project!
¿Un Cafe para llevar?
Jeremy et moi avons acheté un café au lait pour emporter ce matin, avant de se mettre au travail.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Some Pictures From Our Day Trip Into San Salvador
We were assured that this is not how you say hot dog in Spanish:
View from the parking garage. Reminds me of Havana.
All of the buses are personalized by their drivers.
Another shot of the city.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Ici à Suchi
Un petit mot pour dire que je suis très contente d'être arrivée à El Salvador pour travailler sur le projet EsArtes. Je suis encore bien en santé (...touche du bois). L'équipe des gens de Stratford & l'équipe de Primer Acto à Suchitoto sont des gens vraiment sympathiques -je verrai bientôt leurs talents mis en oeuvre-, je renoue avec l'espagnol, l'environnement particulier à l'Amérique Centrale, les frijoles, les cucarachas y caramba!
Et je rencontrerai bientôt (j'ai hâte), les étudiants... D'ici là, il y a du pain sur la planche!
À suivre...
Stéphanie
Et je rencontrerai bientôt (j'ai hâte), les étudiants... D'ici là, il y a du pain sur la planche!
À suivre...
Stéphanie
Hola!
We arrived on Monday and flew through the last few days in a flurry of meetings, delicious meals and shopping trips for materials. It's been a full-on, sensory overload of sights, sounds, people, smells and so, so much spanish! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jeremy Cox. I apprenticed in the Stratford Prop Shop for 7 seasons from 1998-04, then went to Sheridan College for Furniture Design from 2004-07. I have since spent time as a propbuiler, scenic painter, stop motion animation set builder and designer, museum display installer, public art installer, Industrial Design tech at OCAD, woodworking teacher, sculptor, furniture maker and designer.
I am very excited to be part of the Es Artes initiative in Suchitoto, El Salvador, as a return to theatre, a return to Central America, and the opportunity to teach students here the skills involved prop building, as well as being part of such a talented team.
I'll be updating soon!
Jeremy
We arrived on Monday and flew through the last few days in a flurry of meetings, delicious meals and shopping trips for materials. It's been a full-on, sensory overload of sights, sounds, people, smells and so, so much spanish! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jeremy Cox. I apprenticed in the Stratford Prop Shop for 7 seasons from 1998-04, then went to Sheridan College for Furniture Design from 2004-07. I have since spent time as a propbuiler, scenic painter, stop motion animation set builder and designer, museum display installer, public art installer, Industrial Design tech at OCAD, woodworking teacher, sculptor, furniture maker and designer.
I am very excited to be part of the Es Artes initiative in Suchitoto, El Salvador, as a return to theatre, a return to Central America, and the opportunity to teach students here the skills involved prop building, as well as being part of such a talented team.
I'll be updating soon!
Jeremy
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Adventure Begins Again!
The adventure begins again! (well, it actually began on Monday but no one has had time to write!)
The next group of volunteers for the Esartes Project set out from a very cold Canada and arrived the warm welcome of a late afternoon in Suchitoto. As part of this latest team we have: Stephanie working in Design, Jeremy working in Props, Mike taking care of Sound and Lighting, Robbin working in Technical Direction, Cynthia mentoring in the Advancement/Fundraising area, and myself who will be holding workshops in Effective Communication/Conflict Resolution and teaching English.
Over the last two days we have been in meetings planning the upcoming week when the students will return for their next semester of school and generally just getting accustomed to being in Suchitoto. This is the third time that Mike has been here and the fourth time for me so we are not so much getting adjusted but reliving that feeling of discovering Suchitoto for the first time through the experience of our first-time volunteers.
During our time here we will be holding workshops in our various areas of expertise. The class schedule is definitely packed and the students have some exciting things in store for them over the next few weeks. A few of the volunteers need to leave at the end of February and after that time the rest of the team will go on to work on a small end-of-year production with the school.
There is much more to say and share and I hope to do this later today. For now I need to run off and join the rest of the group as we are travelling into San Salvador today. I am pretty excited at this as I have only been there for a short time while here to attend the opening of Bernarda Alba back in November 2010 and didn’t see much outside of the theatre and our hotel at that time. I can’t wait to see the crazy huge market everyone has been telling me about! I will try to post as many pics as possible as well.
Hablamos pronto!
The next group of volunteers for the Esartes Project set out from a very cold Canada and arrived the warm welcome of a late afternoon in Suchitoto. As part of this latest team we have: Stephanie working in Design, Jeremy working in Props, Mike taking care of Sound and Lighting, Robbin working in Technical Direction, Cynthia mentoring in the Advancement/Fundraising area, and myself who will be holding workshops in Effective Communication/Conflict Resolution and teaching English.
Over the last two days we have been in meetings planning the upcoming week when the students will return for their next semester of school and generally just getting accustomed to being in Suchitoto. This is the third time that Mike has been here and the fourth time for me so we are not so much getting adjusted but reliving that feeling of discovering Suchitoto for the first time through the experience of our first-time volunteers.
During our time here we will be holding workshops in our various areas of expertise. The class schedule is definitely packed and the students have some exciting things in store for them over the next few weeks. A few of the volunteers need to leave at the end of February and after that time the rest of the team will go on to work on a small end-of-year production with the school.
There is much more to say and share and I hope to do this later today. For now I need to run off and join the rest of the group as we are travelling into San Salvador today. I am pretty excited at this as I have only been there for a short time while here to attend the opening of Bernarda Alba back in November 2010 and didn’t see much outside of the theatre and our hotel at that time. I can’t wait to see the crazy huge market everyone has been telling me about! I will try to post as many pics as possible as well.
Hablamos pronto!
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