The reward is not so great without the struggle

Monday morning I arrived in Tuxtla Gutiérrez at 10h a.m. I had been 19h30 in a (very comfortable) bus. Although it was a very long ride with the bus, I didn't mind since I am a good sleeper and the sights where amazing when we drove through the province of Chiapas. From the busstation I took a taxi to the place I will call home until the end of June ... I had a warm welcome, got some fruits to eat, met everyone that works here (the sisters, the personnel and my fellow voluntary Gioviani). I got thrown into the experience quiet quickly when the children arrived from school. This week I am mostly watching a lot and each day I get more responsabilities of my own. I already have a fixed schedule for the weeks to come. Depending on which group of children I need to take care of I get up at 5:15 or 5:45 in the morning. I need to learn a lot and my Spanish is (although improving greatly every day) sometimes a bit lacking. 

I am struggeling. In a very good way.

I struggle with the early mornings.
I struggle a lot with Spanish.
I struggle with keeping myself nourished well since I do not like to compromise on veganism.
I struggle with all the religious rituals which I do not always understand but respectfully try to follow to the best of my capacities. 
I struggle with keeping balance in trying to give it all I have and taking some time for myself to study Spanish, reading a book, taking care of my basic hygiene, keeping my blog up to date, maintaining a minimum contact with my friends and family at the other side of the world.
I struggle with the low attention span of some children.
I struggle with keeping balance between having some authority over the children and being their friend.
I struggle learning all the names of the sisters and the 33 children.

I guess ... The greater the struggle ... The greater the reward at the end. And the rewards are not only to find in the end, the rewards are there for me to pick up along the way. I feel rewarded every day. Every day I go to sleep (early, around 9 p.m.) very tired but very satisfied. I am here only a few days and my Spanish has improved so much. Also at this moment I have a very good contact with the sisters, I can ask anything and they do their best for me to feel home. I feel very usefull here, I get a lot of responsabilities. Since I am the best English-speaking person in the wide neighborhood I am already the after-school-English-teacher of all the kids. Also I am the one to go to for questions about mathematics. Yesterday I even already gave an after school class about fractions, since all of the children were struggling with that subject. And one kid wants to become a professional guitarplayer, so I give him a daily guitarclass. He learns so quickly, if he keeps practicing like he does, at the end of the year he will be at least as good as I am. Pictures are following later.

B. Supertramp