As I write this, my students are laying down for quiet time… today has been a good day, no, an EXCELLENT day!! Mostly because I haven’t had to send anyone to the principles office, like the first three days. I still only have 6 of my 9 students, one of which only speaks and understands French, another speaks Korean and very, very little English (but understands it well enough to figure out what’s going on), I have two teachers kids (which is challenging), one who is not told no by her guardian & is not used to being told what to do, and one who is four, but is super helpful and makes my life easier by doing things like sweeping the floor voluntarily. They are all great kids, and I already love them… but they have given me a headache or two already. The first day was really tough for Noe (the boy who only speaks French). He was confused because his mother told him that after he ate she would be there to get him, meaning after lunch. Well, we have a snack at 9:45, so when she didn’t show up, he wasn’t happy. He was polite to me (I think anyway…) but I could tell he was frustrated, so I got the French teacher to come talk to him. He started freaking out and screaming, so she had to take him in the hallway, and he didn’t like that, so he hit her. He definitely got taken to the principles office (ok, technically I didn’t send him…)!! The next day, Maxine decided she didn’t want to do anything I said, and that she would ignore me… I was at a loss for what to do, so I asked Tim (the Director) to talk to her… she did the same to him & ended up having to sit in his office for a while. On Friday the Preschool teachers son (Silas) didn’t want to leave his mom, or come into the classroom. His mom took him to the office to have Tim talk to him, and he ended up falling asleep, so we are thinking he was just tired…
All that said, today has been a great day!! Noe made it all the way through lunch without even getting upset, Maxine is following directions and obeying, and Silas is his usual smiling self J. One huge prayer request though is the preschool teacher, Auntie Jean. She lives an hour away up on a mountain and she started bleeding on Saturday night. They were able to make it down the mountain and into the city in time and got her to the hospital, and praise God there was a surgeon there!! She very easily could have bled to death, but it wasn’t quite her time yet, she made it & is doing much better. Please pray for her & her family, her husband is not a Christian.
I am doing really well here; I love the people, and even the food!!! We are finding a place quickly among the teachers, the community, and the church. The church has a big futbol match this Saturday against another church in the area, and a few of us are going to root them on!! Check back later for pictures J - The Facebook albums in the last post have been updated with, more pictures, click them again to see!! Here is another with pictures of my students and classroom! Enjoy!!
http://cedarville.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030851&l=97b90&id=141300005
Walking home from school - this is my street, my house is up on the Right.
My Street, Lilly Lane!!
the front of our lovely house
"Prison in Paradise" - the top of the wall w/ barbed wire & a palm tree
Julianne working on carrying "Junior", a random baby at the soccer game we went to
Me dancing to the beat of the drums with all of the Africans taking pictures of ME instead of the other way around as usuall :)
