Day 12

I really like it here at ESD. Its an extremely valuable ministry. Without ESD many students would be put into the horrible public schools here. In Puerto Rico, deaf kids are put into special education classes with autistic kids, kids with Down's syndrome, and mentally handicapped kids so there isn't a lot the teacher can do for them. Also in our public schools there are no substitute teachers. If a teacher is sick, the students don't go to class. Even if the teacher has a baby and needs months off! I've heard stories about kids just not going to school in the middle of the year for months at a time. So the only way to get an education in PR is through private schools. It really sucks. On a lighter note Saul had kind of a temper tantrum and bit one of the volunteers in the van on the way back from our rain forest trip today. As his punishment he will not be aloud to go to the beach tomorrow and he isn't aloud to play with me... he can play with everyone else, just not me. So now we're both being punished.  I just hope he understands why he is being punished. The trip was pretty fun before that happened. We drove up a mountain deep into the rain forest where there was a really cool river that we played in and hiked up. I think everyone had a great time, I did.  Saul's little brother goes to the school, and although he is a hearing child he almost never acts like it. He will almost always ignore you when you call his name and he is very hard to understand. Very cute kid though. Ok I'm going to sleep now. But before I do I would like to end this post with an obscure quote. "Everything changes but change" -Israel Zangwill