Well, it's the end of a work week. Honduras does not, in fact, celebrate the Pilgrams and the Mayflower but our school follows the American calendar so we get Thursday, Friday, and Monday off! My roommate Rachel and I are going to celebrate Thanksgiving with the school in Tegucigalpa. They're making us a real Thanksgiving dinner so that should be great! :) After Thanksgiving, things are going to be CRAZY. We are doing a Christmas program and each teacher is in charge of teaching choreography to their class. I'm teaching a dance to a song called "Mary's Baby" which is a parody of "Sherry, Baby". Example of some lyrics?
Mary, Mary's baby, Mary, Mary's baby, Mary-y-y-y-y-y's Baby....
Jesus's mother tonight!
Yup. pretty good. Anyway, the program was supposed to be on December 16, but it's been moved up to December 9 and they gave us the DVDs ... this week. We have 40 minutes each day to teach the move to the kids. My class only has a dance with the girls so I have 13 6th grade girls that I need to teach a two and a half minute song to- I think we're at about 30 seconds. :) Anyway, it's minorly stressful, but I yelled at the girls today and said if they wanted to waste my time then I would go ahead and tell the principals that they didn't need to schedule our dance. That got them to shut up :) We were actually pretty productive at the end of the day, but I'm still nervous about how it's going to turn out.
Today at the end of the day, Mr. Lara (one of our principals) had to talk to me about something so I was rushing to put my stuff in my room and go to his office when about 6 third graders surrounded me. I have a rows system for my music classes where I give the row that earns the most points a sticker at the end of the day. Those third graders wanted their sticker! So, I quickly tried to cut out the ones that they wanted and then noticed I had a girl crying in my room with another girl glaring at her (oh yes! finally sixth graders acting like they're supposed to!) Apparently, they were fighting over the dance and talking about how bad the other was.... so I had to solve that and get the girls on their buses- I did a little trick I learned from my parents and made them each say one nice thing about each other and then give each other hugs. It worked- they're totally best friends now- and I didn't even have to lock them in the bathroom together! (common VP occurance :)) Finally, I was able to go to the office and get my own stuff figured out. :)
Speaking of principal's office visits... I had an evaluation this last week. It was pretty good, I was glad it was at the end of the week instead of the beginning because the beginning of the week I was an emotional wreck. If they had tried constructive criticism on Monday or Tuesday I would have probably burst out crying or something equally unprofessional. ;) But actually didn't have a whole lot of criticism- constructive or otherwise! They haven't actually visited my classroom or seen me teach a lesson, which annoys me a little bit. They base their observations off of if my kids have their workbooks filled out and parents don't complain. When they asked for comments or questions, I requested that they sit in on one of my classes and actually comment on how I interact with the kids. But! I can't complain- they didn't complain about me so I suppose that's not a bad thing :)
I talked to 3/8 family members tonight plus about 2 seconds worth of zach and olivia.... it takes a lot of time to get through everyone, so it sometimes takes me a while but I'm kind of bummed I'm missing Thanksgiving. I'm starting to get really excited for Christmas and am realizing how many traditonal things I'm missing from this time of the year- Turkey Bowl (although I don't think I've actually gotten up for that in a couple years.... ), putting up Christmas decorations (we cut down a regular tree with a machete and hung some lights and ornaments ;)), Advent wreath (I'm for sure buying candles and making my housemates celebrate Advent each week), egg nog.... anyway, I'm excited to be home to get the tail-end of all that stuff!
That's about all for now. I've been thinking a lot about our pastor Chuck and his family tonight- he's in Heaven now... so strange. And wonderful right? But anyway, I've been thinking of their family- pray for them with holidays :(
Talk to you all next week- Enjoy turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE!!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Love of God (look up the sandi patti lyrics :))
Well a lot can change in a week. Last week's blog I wrote about being completely content and loving life here. That part hasnt necessarily changed, but I probably had the saddest weekend in Honduras this last weekend :(
So, I've been dating a guy from here- he's the PE teacher at our school and a wonderful human being, not to mention how amazing he has been as a boyfriend. I really, really liked being in a relationship with him. However, we had a discussion this weekend about our faiths and his isn't quite as solid as I had originally thought. slash.... I kind of avoiding talking about it with him because I was afraid that would be the case. I know, dumb. But! all that to say, I decided to end the relationship this weekend, and as break-ups usually go, it was pretty hard.
The reason for this blog isn't to complain and make people feel sorry for me, but I thought I'd at least let you know how sad I was to explain how surprised I am at how well I am doing a few short days later! This summer was an amazing time of growth for me spiritually, and while I can't help but grow spiritually in a place surrounded by so much of God's beauty, I haven't pursued a relationship with God as much as with Ramon lately. Since Friday night, I have been forced to talk to Jesus about everything and beg Him to make me feel better.... and He has! Let me give you a few examples of the ways He's done it.
~ my wonderful, wonderful roommates- the girls that I live with are full of sweet advice and encouragement. One of the girls said that the thing I'm going to want to is go to the boy for comfort and that won't really help and they've all gone out of their way to be there for me. Saturday we hung out just us girls and I genuinely enjoyed myself. I didn't want to go to my room and cry or be alone. That has been my experience with every other ending of a relationship, so I know God is helping me out!
~ I've been reading through notes from my summer and every sermon talked about God's love and His longing to be the One that fills us. This is definitely a lesson that I need/want to learn and it's so encouraging to have verse after verse, note after note of abiding in Him
~ my mom sent me a book for my birthday called The Satisfied Heart.... sometimes books with titles like this make me not want to read them, especially when I'm single and wanting a husband. blah blah blah, I know that's partly the point of the book but also that it's for single and married people alike! :) anyway, I'm on Day 5 today and everything in it is perfectly in line with what I need to hear. I keep it under my pillow because I know as soon as I wake up I'll think about how sad I am, so I quickly try to counter it with a little God note :)
~ talking with all my friends/family from home.
~ On Monday, I went to school sad because since we work together, I knew it would be a difficult day of minorly avoiding him... one of my students randomly gave me some candy and a card with a Bible verse- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. How appropriate and kind of Him to give me a reminder right away in the morning!
~ On Tuesdays I have music with First Grade which is seriously the worst grade ever. I dread Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of their class! However, Tuesday the kids were PERFECT. I think God knew I just wouldnt be able to handle naughty kids that day. Now today (Wednesday) they were back to their horrible little selves but ... I could handle them today :)
~ I taught some of the classes the song "Skiddamarink...I love you" for music, and at one point this week, I ran to the bathroom to cry and second grade was on a bathroom break. The girls spontaneously broke into song and hugged me. It was precious
~ Our neighbor Paola really liked us dating- as in every chance she got, she would talk to us about when we were getting married ;) she now goes out of her way at school to come give me hugs and kisses. A little fourth grader- so beautiful!
So, I have my kids, my roommates, my family, the mountains, and the promise of a really good friendship with Ramon. And, if I didn't have all that, I would still have Christ and I'm just now starting to realize that- surprise! - He can be enough! He can make me complete and whole and satisfied.
Anyway, that's been my week. I hesitated putting it in my blog because ... relationship-y stuff can be annoying, but .... it's part of the Honduran experience! and my life experience! So... for those of you taking notes on prayer requests... you can just add that my ex-boyfriend becomes a fantastic man of God :) and send up a lot of praises for how wonderful life still is here! I'm going to be home so soon, I can't hardly believe it!
So, I've been dating a guy from here- he's the PE teacher at our school and a wonderful human being, not to mention how amazing he has been as a boyfriend. I really, really liked being in a relationship with him. However, we had a discussion this weekend about our faiths and his isn't quite as solid as I had originally thought. slash.... I kind of avoiding talking about it with him because I was afraid that would be the case. I know, dumb. But! all that to say, I decided to end the relationship this weekend, and as break-ups usually go, it was pretty hard.
The reason for this blog isn't to complain and make people feel sorry for me, but I thought I'd at least let you know how sad I was to explain how surprised I am at how well I am doing a few short days later! This summer was an amazing time of growth for me spiritually, and while I can't help but grow spiritually in a place surrounded by so much of God's beauty, I haven't pursued a relationship with God as much as with Ramon lately. Since Friday night, I have been forced to talk to Jesus about everything and beg Him to make me feel better.... and He has! Let me give you a few examples of the ways He's done it.
~ my wonderful, wonderful roommates- the girls that I live with are full of sweet advice and encouragement. One of the girls said that the thing I'm going to want to is go to the boy for comfort and that won't really help and they've all gone out of their way to be there for me. Saturday we hung out just us girls and I genuinely enjoyed myself. I didn't want to go to my room and cry or be alone. That has been my experience with every other ending of a relationship, so I know God is helping me out!
~ I've been reading through notes from my summer and every sermon talked about God's love and His longing to be the One that fills us. This is definitely a lesson that I need/want to learn and it's so encouraging to have verse after verse, note after note of abiding in Him
~ my mom sent me a book for my birthday called The Satisfied Heart.... sometimes books with titles like this make me not want to read them, especially when I'm single and wanting a husband. blah blah blah, I know that's partly the point of the book but also that it's for single and married people alike! :) anyway, I'm on Day 5 today and everything in it is perfectly in line with what I need to hear. I keep it under my pillow because I know as soon as I wake up I'll think about how sad I am, so I quickly try to counter it with a little God note :)
~ talking with all my friends/family from home.
~ On Monday, I went to school sad because since we work together, I knew it would be a difficult day of minorly avoiding him... one of my students randomly gave me some candy and a card with a Bible verse- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. How appropriate and kind of Him to give me a reminder right away in the morning!
~ On Tuesdays I have music with First Grade which is seriously the worst grade ever. I dread Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of their class! However, Tuesday the kids were PERFECT. I think God knew I just wouldnt be able to handle naughty kids that day. Now today (Wednesday) they were back to their horrible little selves but ... I could handle them today :)
~ I taught some of the classes the song "Skiddamarink...I love you" for music, and at one point this week, I ran to the bathroom to cry and second grade was on a bathroom break. The girls spontaneously broke into song and hugged me. It was precious
~ Our neighbor Paola really liked us dating- as in every chance she got, she would talk to us about when we were getting married ;) she now goes out of her way at school to come give me hugs and kisses. A little fourth grader- so beautiful!
So, I have my kids, my roommates, my family, the mountains, and the promise of a really good friendship with Ramon. And, if I didn't have all that, I would still have Christ and I'm just now starting to realize that- surprise! - He can be enough! He can make me complete and whole and satisfied.
Anyway, that's been my week. I hesitated putting it in my blog because ... relationship-y stuff can be annoying, but .... it's part of the Honduran experience! and my life experience! So... for those of you taking notes on prayer requests... you can just add that my ex-boyfriend becomes a fantastic man of God :) and send up a lot of praises for how wonderful life still is here! I'm going to be home so soon, I can't hardly believe it!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Saturday morning oatmeal
This morning we had oatmeal for breakfast and it reminded me of when we were little and we would have oatmeal every morning. I'm a pretty nostalgic person and I usually wish for simpler times and for the days when we were little and could do whatever we wanted, but I don't get very nostalgic here. I don't know how many times I've told people how content I am here or how much I love my life but... it's been a lot of times. :) My friend Kirsty asked me today if I was really excited about Christmas and going home. Of course I am excited to see my family and friends and to be around familiar things again, but for probably the first time in my life, I'm not waiting for the next thing to happen. I live every day happily and when the next day comes along, I start over. I think we are almost conditioned and expected to live our lives in the future- waiting to graduate high school, finishing college, finding someone to marry, having your first baby... and then when we have all those things, a good job, a content family, a big enough house, then we can start enjoying life and relaxing. I'm so happy I don't feel the pressure to accomplish something or to have a good enough life here. It's great. Now, I say all this in the month that I have to start paying off school loans, so we'll see if my attitude changes but right now I'm pretty mellowed ;)
School has been pretty good. My kids earned a game day this week (they've been working for it for probably a month now so... I'm glad they finally got it!). I brought Twister, Uno, cards, Scattegories, Scrabble, Old Maid, Crazy 8's, marbles, Go Fish, Snow what, Hangman, Checkers, chess... it was great. I gave them the afternoon to play in the field or play games and they had a blast. Next 'prize' they're spelling out is Party Day so... maybe they'll have that when we get back from Christmas break. :)
I am starting reading groups with my kids next week. I just finished a story called Spy Hunt with them about young Andrew Jackson and his brother spying on a neighbor they suspected was a Tory! Imagine trying to explain the difference between the Rebels and the Tories- who are both groups in the US but it was before the US was a country so they were called colonists but the Rebels wanted to become a country and the Tories wanted England to win the war and stay colonies.... try explaining US history to students just to background to a story ;) I am now on the patriotic section of my Abeca curriculum in Reading so instead of making them read all the stories, I let them choose from these selections: Mounted Calvary (the continued story of Andy Jackson and his brother!), The Crimson Arrow (a story of a young colonist and an American Indian that become friends), or Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman doctor from the US). Pretty exciting stuff. Most of my kids chose the continuing Jackson story so I'm going to split them up into 3 separate groups and then have a group for Arrow and Dr. I'm interested to see how it goes- I'm giving out four different roles - Reader, Recorder (answers the questions), Illustrator, and Vocab Finder. I'm going to have them rotate each day, so we'll see if the roles thing works. I've changed my reading curriculum from the beginning of the year and have been writing my own tests and quizzes and the kids seem to be doing a lot better, so it would be great if they could do these literature circles! I think when I go home I'm going to bring back a suitcase filled with as many Great Illustrated Classics as I can bring with my weight limit :)
This evening, I think we're going to go los aguas termales (hot springs) and tomorrow our filipino neighbor is coming over to teach us how to make a dish! She and her husband are teachers at the school and I think we're going to start a Bible study which I'm excited about. Hopefully next week is a good week- I'm pretty sure my kids are going to just start getting back into the rountine and then it will be time for Thanksgiving! Oh well... such is life :)
School has been pretty good. My kids earned a game day this week (they've been working for it for probably a month now so... I'm glad they finally got it!). I brought Twister, Uno, cards, Scattegories, Scrabble, Old Maid, Crazy 8's, marbles, Go Fish, Snow what, Hangman, Checkers, chess... it was great. I gave them the afternoon to play in the field or play games and they had a blast. Next 'prize' they're spelling out is Party Day so... maybe they'll have that when we get back from Christmas break. :)
I am starting reading groups with my kids next week. I just finished a story called Spy Hunt with them about young Andrew Jackson and his brother spying on a neighbor they suspected was a Tory! Imagine trying to explain the difference between the Rebels and the Tories- who are both groups in the US but it was before the US was a country so they were called colonists but the Rebels wanted to become a country and the Tories wanted England to win the war and stay colonies.... try explaining US history to students just to background to a story ;) I am now on the patriotic section of my Abeca curriculum in Reading so instead of making them read all the stories, I let them choose from these selections: Mounted Calvary (the continued story of Andy Jackson and his brother!), The Crimson Arrow (a story of a young colonist and an American Indian that become friends), or Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman doctor from the US). Pretty exciting stuff. Most of my kids chose the continuing Jackson story so I'm going to split them up into 3 separate groups and then have a group for Arrow and Dr. I'm interested to see how it goes- I'm giving out four different roles - Reader, Recorder (answers the questions), Illustrator, and Vocab Finder. I'm going to have them rotate each day, so we'll see if the roles thing works. I've changed my reading curriculum from the beginning of the year and have been writing my own tests and quizzes and the kids seem to be doing a lot better, so it would be great if they could do these literature circles! I think when I go home I'm going to bring back a suitcase filled with as many Great Illustrated Classics as I can bring with my weight limit :)
This evening, I think we're going to go los aguas termales (hot springs) and tomorrow our filipino neighbor is coming over to teach us how to make a dish! She and her husband are teachers at the school and I think we're going to start a Bible study which I'm excited about. Hopefully next week is a good week- I'm pretty sure my kids are going to just start getting back into the rountine and then it will be time for Thanksgiving! Oh well... such is life :)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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