As our first week in Brazil is coming to a close, I am anxious to get started with my research. However, getting settled is taking time.
We arrived on Thursday evening, so I spent Friday recovering from the long flights and layovers. Over the weekend, I researched possible places for us to live and do research. For now, we are at a friend’s house. We are very lucky to have someone willing to take in all five of us.
My husband, Fernando, traveled to Perinopolis on Saturday. He loved the city, but it doesn’t seem as if the schools there will be the best options for the kids. Really, we need three things to coincide – my research site, the kids’ school and reasonable temporary housing.
One of my best options for research seems to be the city of Itapurangu. On Sunday, I met Evarando, who is from Itapurangu. He explained to me that there is a lot of emigration from Itapurangu, and that there are at least 200 deportees in that city. So, that seems like a great option for a research site. The problem is that, like Perinopolis, the options for schools are limited.
Here in Brazil, I’d like for the children to have the best experience possible. It is going to be difficult for them in school, as they don’t speak Portuguese. My friend told me about an alternative school in Cidade de Goias, called Vila Esperanca. It is a marvelous school, focused on ethnic diversity, dance therapy, music, and art. They have already said that the girls can enroll them in the school with no problem.
Cidade Goias seems like a great option for us. It has the alternative school, and is an hour away from Itapurangu. Finding temporary housing there, however, seems like it will be a challenge. A friend of ours looked for housing there and was unable to find anything. Nevertheless, Fernando went to Goias yesterday to see what he could find. With luck, Fernando will find a place for us to stay in Cidade Goias.
With a place to stay, a school from the kids and a ready research site, we will be able to get down to business in Brazil. I am looking forward to that.
Showing posts with label methodology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label methodology. Show all posts
The Impossible Trinity: School, Research, and Housing
Posted in
Brazil,
methodology,
travel with kids
Another Day in Guatemala City: Meetings, Books, Walking and Gymnastics.
Posted in
Guatemala,
methodology,
travel with kids
This morning, my research assistant, Oliver, came to pick me up at 8:30am. We had a morning meeting with Professor Miguel Ugalde. We had planned to take the bus, but Oliver unexpectedly had a car, which made the trip there quite a bit easier.
Oliver had originally suggested we walk to a bus stop about a twenty minute walk from my house. When we drove past the bus stop, I thought to myself that Oliver likely walks very fast, as it did not look like a twenty-minute walk.
Our meeting with Miguel was very productive. He gave us a list of at least ten people who work on issues related to migration that I should contact. I likely will not need to talk to all of the people he suggested. However, it is great to have so many leads, as that means I should be able to pick and choose the nice folks.
There are a lot of people, institutes, and agencies who work on migration in Guatemala. Eleven percent of the Guatemalan population resides abroad, and remittances (the money migrants send home) is the largest source of foreign currency in Guatemala. It tops tourism, coffee, and international aid. No wonder migration is such a big deal here.
After our two hour meeting with Miguel, Oliver dropped me off at a bookstore not too far from my apartment. I picked up one book for myself – a book on the Postville Raid by Eric Camayd-Freixas – in addition to several books for the kids. We may or may not home school, but, in the meantime, it seems we should be teaching them something.
When I got home, I spent about an hour with the kids, first doing a math assignment, and then moving on to some Spanish reading instruction. The book we have starts out by pointing out that Spanish is the easiest language to learn to read in the world. That is encouraging.
Once our lesson for the day was over, it was time to go out again. I had an appointment for a trial class for the girls at a gymnastics academy in the wealthy zona 14. Oliver told me it was about a 25 minute walk from our house. I figured that it might be a bit farther, but that we could try walking anyway. We set out from the house, made a left on Calle 12, and then a right on Avenida 6. After about four blocks on Avenida 6, I noticed the numbers were going down instead of up. I asked Nando about that, and he told me we were walking towards the city center. Oops. That was the wrong way. We asked another pedestrian where the Plaza Futeca was, and he told us we needed to get bus #101 on Avenida la Reforma, two blocks over, and in the opposite direction.
We made our way to Avenida la Reforma, and found bus #101. The driver confirmed it did go to Plaza Futeca. After a rather convoluted journey, the driver let us know it was time to get off, and let us off the bus at the intersection of Calle 20 and Avenida 10 in the zona 14. Just ten blocks from the Plaza Futeca. With no buses or taxis in sight, Nando, Tatiana, Soraya, Raymi, and I set out walking towards the Plaza Futeca.
Luckily it was a nice day. And, they were ten short blocks. About 20 minutes later, we were there. BabyGym is a nicely equipped gymnastics center, with all sorts of things for the kids to do. I wasn’t sure exactly what our trial class would consist of. I was hoping it would be that they would get to participate in a class with other students. Turns out it was a private one-hour gymnastics class with Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi as the only students. The kids had fun and got a good workout. At the end of the class, I asked them if they wanted to come back. Tatiana and Raymi were displeased with the idea of being in the same class with their younger sister, Raymi. And, Raymi thought she needed to be in a class with at least one other five-year old girl. Other than that, they said they had fun.
I asked the receptionist about the other students, and she told me that they don’t have many students at the moment. There is one other eight-year old girl that Tatiana and Soraya can take a class with. There also is a four-year old boy Raymi can have a class with. That makes it a bit better, but doesn’t really solve our issue with the lack of socialization of the kids if we end up not being able to send them to school. It is funny – a private gymnastics class sounds fabulous in principle. But, when you are looking for friends for the girls, it is less attractive. Let’s hope they like the one other person in their class, if we decide to enroll them.
In the same plaza where BabyGym is, there is a great gym for me. I definitely need to get back to going to the gym. It wasn’t convenient in Kingston, and I am feeling a bit out of shape. That is one more reason to enroll the kids in BabyGym, as I can go to the gym while they are in their gymnastics class. Plus, if we walk there, I could get a decent walk in addition to the workout.
We told the receptionist we’d think about it. I suppose I will wait to see whether or not the kids ask to go back to the gym. Plus, we might check out other gymnastics centers, if we can find any. As we were leaving, we asked how to get back to our house.
The receptionist told us to walk a few blocks over to a Taco Bell, where we could get a bus going back our way. This was a bit of a shorter walk. When we got to the main street, however, we saw the bus going by. It was very full. People hanging out the front and back door full. I suggested to Nando that we walk. He wasn’t sure how far it was. We asked a young man, and he said it was about eleven blocks down. So, off we set, this time in the right direction.
On the way back, there was a nice playground in the Parque del Obelisco. The kids played there while Nando and I sat down and figured out our budget. I wanted to make sure we could afford to send the kids to this gym, and, if we did, how much we could afford for their schooling. Turns out we have enough, at least on paper.
The walk back was very nice. It was on a big avenue, but the avenue has a hug divider, which is like a little park in the middle of the street. So, the kids ran around, played on the statues and in the grass. Eventually, we made it home.
As you can imagine, the kids fell asleep almost immediately after dinner. I would have to, but I procrastinated too long on writing this blog post.
Oliver had originally suggested we walk to a bus stop about a twenty minute walk from my house. When we drove past the bus stop, I thought to myself that Oliver likely walks very fast, as it did not look like a twenty-minute walk.
Our meeting with Miguel was very productive. He gave us a list of at least ten people who work on issues related to migration that I should contact. I likely will not need to talk to all of the people he suggested. However, it is great to have so many leads, as that means I should be able to pick and choose the nice folks.
There are a lot of people, institutes, and agencies who work on migration in Guatemala. Eleven percent of the Guatemalan population resides abroad, and remittances (the money migrants send home) is the largest source of foreign currency in Guatemala. It tops tourism, coffee, and international aid. No wonder migration is such a big deal here.
After our two hour meeting with Miguel, Oliver dropped me off at a bookstore not too far from my apartment. I picked up one book for myself – a book on the Postville Raid by Eric Camayd-Freixas – in addition to several books for the kids. We may or may not home school, but, in the meantime, it seems we should be teaching them something.
When I got home, I spent about an hour with the kids, first doing a math assignment, and then moving on to some Spanish reading instruction. The book we have starts out by pointing out that Spanish is the easiest language to learn to read in the world. That is encouraging.
Once our lesson for the day was over, it was time to go out again. I had an appointment for a trial class for the girls at a gymnastics academy in the wealthy zona 14. Oliver told me it was about a 25 minute walk from our house. I figured that it might be a bit farther, but that we could try walking anyway. We set out from the house, made a left on Calle 12, and then a right on Avenida 6. After about four blocks on Avenida 6, I noticed the numbers were going down instead of up. I asked Nando about that, and he told me we were walking towards the city center. Oops. That was the wrong way. We asked another pedestrian where the Plaza Futeca was, and he told us we needed to get bus #101 on Avenida la Reforma, two blocks over, and in the opposite direction.
We made our way to Avenida la Reforma, and found bus #101. The driver confirmed it did go to Plaza Futeca. After a rather convoluted journey, the driver let us know it was time to get off, and let us off the bus at the intersection of Calle 20 and Avenida 10 in the zona 14. Just ten blocks from the Plaza Futeca. With no buses or taxis in sight, Nando, Tatiana, Soraya, Raymi, and I set out walking towards the Plaza Futeca.
Luckily it was a nice day. And, they were ten short blocks. About 20 minutes later, we were there. BabyGym is a nicely equipped gymnastics center, with all sorts of things for the kids to do. I wasn’t sure exactly what our trial class would consist of. I was hoping it would be that they would get to participate in a class with other students. Turns out it was a private one-hour gymnastics class with Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi as the only students. The kids had fun and got a good workout. At the end of the class, I asked them if they wanted to come back. Tatiana and Raymi were displeased with the idea of being in the same class with their younger sister, Raymi. And, Raymi thought she needed to be in a class with at least one other five-year old girl. Other than that, they said they had fun.
I asked the receptionist about the other students, and she told me that they don’t have many students at the moment. There is one other eight-year old girl that Tatiana and Soraya can take a class with. There also is a four-year old boy Raymi can have a class with. That makes it a bit better, but doesn’t really solve our issue with the lack of socialization of the kids if we end up not being able to send them to school. It is funny – a private gymnastics class sounds fabulous in principle. But, when you are looking for friends for the girls, it is less attractive. Let’s hope they like the one other person in their class, if we decide to enroll them.
In the same plaza where BabyGym is, there is a great gym for me. I definitely need to get back to going to the gym. It wasn’t convenient in Kingston, and I am feeling a bit out of shape. That is one more reason to enroll the kids in BabyGym, as I can go to the gym while they are in their gymnastics class. Plus, if we walk there, I could get a decent walk in addition to the workout.
We told the receptionist we’d think about it. I suppose I will wait to see whether or not the kids ask to go back to the gym. Plus, we might check out other gymnastics centers, if we can find any. As we were leaving, we asked how to get back to our house.
The receptionist told us to walk a few blocks over to a Taco Bell, where we could get a bus going back our way. This was a bit of a shorter walk. When we got to the main street, however, we saw the bus going by. It was very full. People hanging out the front and back door full. I suggested to Nando that we walk. He wasn’t sure how far it was. We asked a young man, and he said it was about eleven blocks down. So, off we set, this time in the right direction.
On the way back, there was a nice playground in the Parque del Obelisco. The kids played there while Nando and I sat down and figured out our budget. I wanted to make sure we could afford to send the kids to this gym, and, if we did, how much we could afford for their schooling. Turns out we have enough, at least on paper.
The walk back was very nice. It was on a big avenue, but the avenue has a hug divider, which is like a little park in the middle of the street. So, the kids ran around, played on the statues and in the grass. Eventually, we made it home.
As you can imagine, the kids fell asleep almost immediately after dinner. I would have to, but I procrastinated too long on writing this blog post.
Writing with a Full House
Posted in
deportees,
Guatemala,
methodology,
travel with kids
Today is not going exactly as I had hoped in terms of writing, yet has been quite productive in other ways. I started out on the right foot with writing. I promised myself I would devote at least thirty minutes each morning to writing a proposal for a writing fellowship, due in mid-September. This morning, I spent 38 minutes on that project and made some real headway.
The next step, in my mind, was to make the online revisions to a chapter of a book on immigration policy that I am finishing up. However, a series of other issues took over before I could get to that.
First, I got a call from my research assistant. Last night I met with Oliver, an Australian who has lived in Guatemala for a few years. He agreed to work as my research assistant. He will help me set up interviews, accompany me to the interviews, write up fieldnotes after the interviews, and do other various tasks for me. Having a local expert will be a great help, as it will take me a while to learn to navigate Guatemala City. In addition, if I have an interview at 7pm in a poor neighborhood on the other side of town, a male companion is not a bad idea.
I was glad to hear from Oliver this morning, even though it took me away from my writing. He called to tell me that he has set up an appointment for Thursday for us to meet a friend of his who is very well connected in terms of migration issues. However, talking to him reminded me that I also need to get some documents ready for my interviews, and that I needed to contact Professor Miguel Ugalde to set up an appointment. When I called Miguel, he told me that he has arranged for us to go to the military airport where the deportees arrive on Friday. This is fantastic. I am anxious to witness this process, and potentially get contact information for deportees.
Once my phone calls were over, it was 9:30am, and time for Cecilia to come over. Cecilia is a private tutor, and we planned to talk with her about her home schooling the kids for us, or at least helping out with developing a curriculum and getting the kids on track. Despite my misgivings about home schooling, it may be our only option. Most schools in Guatemala are nearly done for the year – they finish in mid-October – and do not want to take new kids at this point. There are schools on a US calendar, but they have outrageous school fees - $6,000 just to enroll one child! We chatted with Cecilia a bit. She said she would suggest some schools to us, and that, if we decided to go with the home schooling, she’d be happy to help us out. Cecilia seems quite qualified. However, there are two things that give me pause. First, she charges US$15 per hour. That is a lot for Guatemala – la señora found it scandalous. Secondly, when I told her about the principal saying the girls were restless (inquietas), she recommended I look into the Monarch School, which specializes in kids who have ADD and other similar disorders. I take offense to even the implication that my kids might have ADD! So, we are not sure about working with Cecilia. For now, we have decided to ask around and continue to weigh our options.
Of course, this indecision means that the kids were running around the house all morning, and not really letting me get much work done. I was able to translate a document for my interviews – the Project Information Sheet. I sent that to my research assistant, Oliver, to look over. I also asked him to translate the Interview Guide. I was tempted to do it myself, but I convinced myself of the importance of delegating what I can.
With the kids in the house, it was difficult to make much progress on any other writing tasks. I spent most of the rest of the morning calling different schools, looking for teachers online, and searching for other activities for the kids. I set up an appointment for the kids to visit a gymnastics center this week. At least if they will be home schooled, they will have the opportunity to meet other kids in the gymnastics classes.
It looks like tomorrow will be a productive day. Miguel agreed to meet with Oliver and me to go over a list of contacts for people who work on migration issues at 9:30 in the morning. That will get the day off to a good start, and will get me out of the house. In addition, we may visit another academic institute in the area in the morning, as I heard they have issued a report on deportees in Guatemala.
After lunch, I gave into the fact that the kids weren’t going to let me work anymore, so long as they were in the house. I asked Nando to take them out. He agreed, and I got them ready. Finally, at 2:00pm, they left me in peace, and I set about writing this blog entry to get my mind back on track about what I have to do.
As soon as I sat down to write, la señora knocked on the door, inviting me over for coffee. I politely declined, telling her I really needed to get some work done, now that the kids were out of the house. She seemed to understand. I felt a bit bad about declining her invitation, but I have a list of things I need to do before the kids come back.
First step is to put the final touches on Chapter Five of my forthcoming book on immigration policy – Immigration Nation? Why Immigrants Come to the US and How US Immigration Policies Tear Families Apart – under contract with Paradigm Publishers, and due on August 31!
The next step, in my mind, was to make the online revisions to a chapter of a book on immigration policy that I am finishing up. However, a series of other issues took over before I could get to that.
First, I got a call from my research assistant. Last night I met with Oliver, an Australian who has lived in Guatemala for a few years. He agreed to work as my research assistant. He will help me set up interviews, accompany me to the interviews, write up fieldnotes after the interviews, and do other various tasks for me. Having a local expert will be a great help, as it will take me a while to learn to navigate Guatemala City. In addition, if I have an interview at 7pm in a poor neighborhood on the other side of town, a male companion is not a bad idea.
I was glad to hear from Oliver this morning, even though it took me away from my writing. He called to tell me that he has set up an appointment for Thursday for us to meet a friend of his who is very well connected in terms of migration issues. However, talking to him reminded me that I also need to get some documents ready for my interviews, and that I needed to contact Professor Miguel Ugalde to set up an appointment. When I called Miguel, he told me that he has arranged for us to go to the military airport where the deportees arrive on Friday. This is fantastic. I am anxious to witness this process, and potentially get contact information for deportees.
Once my phone calls were over, it was 9:30am, and time for Cecilia to come over. Cecilia is a private tutor, and we planned to talk with her about her home schooling the kids for us, or at least helping out with developing a curriculum and getting the kids on track. Despite my misgivings about home schooling, it may be our only option. Most schools in Guatemala are nearly done for the year – they finish in mid-October – and do not want to take new kids at this point. There are schools on a US calendar, but they have outrageous school fees - $6,000 just to enroll one child! We chatted with Cecilia a bit. She said she would suggest some schools to us, and that, if we decided to go with the home schooling, she’d be happy to help us out. Cecilia seems quite qualified. However, there are two things that give me pause. First, she charges US$15 per hour. That is a lot for Guatemala – la señora found it scandalous. Secondly, when I told her about the principal saying the girls were restless (inquietas), she recommended I look into the Monarch School, which specializes in kids who have ADD and other similar disorders. I take offense to even the implication that my kids might have ADD! So, we are not sure about working with Cecilia. For now, we have decided to ask around and continue to weigh our options.
Of course, this indecision means that the kids were running around the house all morning, and not really letting me get much work done. I was able to translate a document for my interviews – the Project Information Sheet. I sent that to my research assistant, Oliver, to look over. I also asked him to translate the Interview Guide. I was tempted to do it myself, but I convinced myself of the importance of delegating what I can.
With the kids in the house, it was difficult to make much progress on any other writing tasks. I spent most of the rest of the morning calling different schools, looking for teachers online, and searching for other activities for the kids. I set up an appointment for the kids to visit a gymnastics center this week. At least if they will be home schooled, they will have the opportunity to meet other kids in the gymnastics classes.
It looks like tomorrow will be a productive day. Miguel agreed to meet with Oliver and me to go over a list of contacts for people who work on migration issues at 9:30 in the morning. That will get the day off to a good start, and will get me out of the house. In addition, we may visit another academic institute in the area in the morning, as I heard they have issued a report on deportees in Guatemala.
After lunch, I gave into the fact that the kids weren’t going to let me work anymore, so long as they were in the house. I asked Nando to take them out. He agreed, and I got them ready. Finally, at 2:00pm, they left me in peace, and I set about writing this blog entry to get my mind back on track about what I have to do.
As soon as I sat down to write, la señora knocked on the door, inviting me over for coffee. I politely declined, telling her I really needed to get some work done, now that the kids were out of the house. She seemed to understand. I felt a bit bad about declining her invitation, but I have a list of things I need to do before the kids come back.
First step is to put the final touches on Chapter Five of my forthcoming book on immigration policy – Immigration Nation? Why Immigrants Come to the US and How US Immigration Policies Tear Families Apart – under contract with Paradigm Publishers, and due on August 31!
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