The Blessing of Friends...

One of my concerns coming down here - unstated - was in making friends and forming relationships with people (adults) down here.  I have a few strikes against me: 1.) I'm going to be here only for a year, and I'm up front about that, which means that any friends I make, I'll be separated from in a year, 2.) I'm mathematically and scientifically minded...which means I say random scientific things from time to time, which sometimes make people look at me sideways, and I sometimes find it difficult to take people who are (to my mind) totally illogical seriously, and 3.) I'm extremely sarcastic, and until you know me well, you can't always tell when I'm serious and when I'm sarcastic.  Couple those with the fact that pretty much all the good friendships I have right now took at least months if not years to start...and I wasn't encouraged by my chances of forming good friendships here.  I don't trust easily...I can be friendly, but that doesn't mean I'm going to share things with you...and without sharing, true friends can't form.  So I pretty much figured I was going to be subsisting this year on good acquaintances...and hoped there would be a few of those so I didn't feel alone.  It's part of my personality that I accepted a while ago...good, bad or indifferent.

I've been here less than a month at this point...a little over three weeks.  I realized this morning that I have two friends here already...people who I actually count as friends and not just good acquaintances with whom I can comfortably spend time.  I can talk with them easily, I can tell them really anything, and they reciprocate in kind.  They encourage me and they support me when I need it.  I've been incredibly blessed in coming here.  Honestly, it's more than I would have felt comfortable hoping for two months ago.  It's not that I'm not friendly...because I can usually get along with just about anyone...emphasis on the "just about".  I can at least be civil to everyone.  But the trust factor usually takes time for me to build.  The number of people in my life that I trust is growing, which is good.  But usually that's after a long period of knowing them.  And the fact that I'm saying this and thinking this after a mere three and a half week of living here surprises me.  It's a good type of surprise.  And to all my friends back home, don't worry, I still definitely love you all, and I miss you!  I have been blessed in so many ways by so many friends!

Friday is here...

Well, shortly after writing the blog yesterday, I felt the need to go for a walk and be alone.  I was thinking through a situation happening to a friend back home, and I wanted time and space to process.  At home, that isn't a big deal...throw on the iPod and head in a variety of directions...here it doesn't work so well.  There are people everywhere...or at least everywhere that I know on the Ranch, and I don't know the area outside the Ranch well enough to go wandering.  Not that I would get lost, but it was getting dark, and being out in the community alone after dark when people don't know me may not be the smartest move.  Just a thought.  I started to head up towards the campo (soccer field) however I could hear people there, so I headed down by the school.  There were two people there, but I went up the back way and avoided them...until they decided to leave and saw me.  Which in the end was a good thing, because they gave me somewhere to go...they gave me very specific directions on how to get to the pond.  They also said change into long pants and sneakers, apply bugspray, and bring a flashlight...all of which I did (and appreciated).  The walk is mostly vertical...not so much that you have to use your hands, but your legs definitely get a workout.  The pond was great, and the solitude was much appreciated.  I was there for probably half an hour or more before I decided that sitting underneath really tall trees by a pond wasn't the smartest thing to do when a thunderstorm was approaching.  So I walked back...the flashlight was now necessary.  I think I've found a new favorite place...which brings my total up to 2 - the screened in porch and the pond.  [I'm in the screened-in porch as I type.]

Today went fairly well.  We had chapel this morning, which was an interesting experience, because it was, by and large, in Spanish.  I understood much of what was being said, and was given an opportunity to read scripture in Spanish.  It went pretty well, a few of my students later told me that my pronunciation was good.  I like that sort of encouragement.  It's definitely appreciated. I've had a few more conversations or snippets of conversations in Spanish this week.  I may not be as far as I want to get, because I do still primarily operate in English, but I'm seeing little steps, which are good.  I'm hoping that pretty soon I'll be able to understand the pastor at my church here without the interpretation.  That will be a great Sunday...whenever it happens. 

And now the gloriousness of the weekend.  I have no plans other than church and hopefully shopping on Sunday (I kind of need groceries).  Tomorrow I should probably try to make copies or whatever for the week, but it's difficult for me to get that motivated on Saturday.  I enjoy being able to take the day off!

Almost Friday :-)

Regardless of country, when teaching school, Friday is a good day.  Tomorrow marks the end of the second week of school, just as yesterday marked the end of my 3rd week in Honduras (or the beginning of my 4th week, whichever way you want to look at it).  In some ways it seems like I've been here forever, and in others it seems like I just got here.  I'm getting to know "my" kids, scholastically at least.  Some of them are great, and some of them really haven't grown up yet...which is understandable when you consider I'm teaching 6th - 12th grade.  That's a lot of growth time.  There's a huge difference between Freshmen and Juniors (sometimes).  Senior year...well, I think there's some reverting that often happens.  But still, it's been a definite learning curve as I try to figure out how to teach younger kids, what I can expect from them, and what guidance they need.  In some ways I feel like I'm back to a first year teacher, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.  I have no reputation here to fall back on...or rather I didn't walk in with a reputation.  I've had two positive comments from students relayed through two different teachers, which is always encouraging.  Starting over in a new school is difficult enough without the whole language barrier.  Granted, my students speak English...with varying levels of proficiency.  Some are very good, and others are conversational, but not necessarily science/math vocabulary proficient.  Math is easier, because regardless, you can show, step by step, on the board, and with simple words and gestures get your point across.  Science...well, that's been an adventure at times. 

I've done a better job this week of being more involved with people.  There has been less hibernating in my room.  I've visited the house next door a bit, spent a bit of time with my roommates (when they weren't playing Mario), and actually had (some long) conversations with people.  I'm mostly getting more comfortable with the people here, which is good.  And I think I've mostly figured out who understands and appreciates sarcasm...aka the people with whom I will be spending the majority of my free time.  I also make it through today (and yesterday I think) not messing up Franklin's name.  [Pretty much every day last week, I called him Kevin at least once...Kevin is his younger brother...and I feel bad about that.] 

There are a few more school things I need to get done.  I potentially have quizzes to write for tomorrow, I have to check what I already have on file.  I need to finish lesson plans for next week (I just have Physics left to look at, so they're mostly done).  I lose one of my prep periods tomorrow because of chapel, so I may want to get that stuff figured out and copied today...but of course that would be thinking ahead too much, right.  Anyway, so back to doing real work stuff.  I hope you all have a blessed day, and I'd love to hear what you're up to. :-)

Wednesday :-)

It's Wednesday, which means half a day of school, because there's a visiting brigade coming in, so the students get out at 11:30 so they can clear the school during the tour and get ready for the soccer game. That will be later...right now it's 7:15 in the morning and I'm enjoying the relative calm of morning on the screened in porch. This is my favorite part of the morning. I'm ready for school, I don't have to leave for 20 minutes at least, so I get to sit here, pray, write, and just bask in the beauty of this place. This is what gets me up in the morning...the knowledge that I get this time. That's what keeps me from hitting snooze 5 times in the morning. I get to spend time with God and enjoy His creation. And that's what I'm going to try to focus on today.

Phone Home...

Or actually I phoned my aunt and uncle's house where some of my family was gathered to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. When I checked e-mail the other day (Friday) I found one from my aunt inviting everyone over to her their place for dinner at 5...so I called about 5:30 their time and ended up getting to speak with my grandma, my parents, and a few cousins. It was definitely good to talk with people, and thank you, Scott, for letting me use your phone/antenna. I still need to get a cell phone down here.

The weekend went really well. I had a lot of time interacting with people and getting to known them better. I went back to the same church I went to last week (sans chicken) and I think I'm going to stay there for this year. I understood the pastor better this week...which hopefully means I'm getting better at picking up the language...or it could mean he was speaking more slowly this week!

I should probably get to bed...because tomorrow starts another week of school. Hopefully interaction with people will keep up this week. Love you all! Have a great week!

Adjustments...

And just when I thought I was adjusting so well...

Don't worry, nothing bad happened, I just realized that maybe my adjustment wasn't happening as smoothly as I anticipated.  I made it through the first week of school, and that is going well.  School is school, I can snap into "teacher mode" in a matter of seconds, figure out what I need to do, and do it.  The kids are nice, and most of them are responsible and get their homework done.  I have a couple of boys that...well, we'll see how that goes.

What did happen is I realized that after school, I'm withdrawing from everyone.  I've read 4 books in the last week.  One of which, I realized after the fact, was 700+ pages long.  (The problem with using kindle/nook apps...you can't really see the size of the book.)  Since Tuesday, I've probably spent a total of 1 hour in the company of my roommates actually talking with them.  The rest of the times I've been by myself reading, facebooking, or e-mailing.  I haven't even really paid attention to school, until it became necessary.  So it hit me yesterday morning as I was reading my Bible and praying on the screened in porch (a GREAT place for devotions) that I'm not adjusting, because I'm not interacting.  I'm surrounding myself by the familiar as much as I can.  It could be in part that with school starting and more responsibility I need time to think and process...but not from 4pm until I go to bed, usually after 10 or 11.  I want to interact here, I want to really participate in life.  I don't want to spend the whole year hiding in my room (or the screened in porch, beautiful as it is...I'm really impressed with it if you couldn't tell).

So yesterday at the teachers meeting before school (we meet together about 15 minutes before school starts to make announcements and pray as a group) when Jennifer asked for prayer requests, I said that pray that I start to adjust and stop withdrawing from everyone, and I described what my roommates had already seen, and apologized for it.  It was good, they were really understanding about it. 

After school yesterday when I went home, no one was there...so I was going to write a blog entry then.  However, I heard noise coming from the house next door (video game noises), so I decided to make an effort and interact.  When I went over there (after knocking) I found three of my students playing video games in the guys' house...which seemed to be a fairly common occurance.  Scott, one of the teachers, was there too.  So I spent the afternoon/evening talking with people.  And it was good times.  When Melody (one roommate) came home, she came over for a while.  After the power went out about 9, Hannah, another teacher, joined us.  And the 5 of us (I forgot to mention that Lucas got home sometime around 6 and my students left shortly thereafter) talked and laughed until probably 10:30 or so.  I did spend a little time checking e-mail, but I definitely didn't start reading a book. 

Today I've been invited (or rather told) that I'm going to the Valle with a group of the teachers here.  More enforced interactions.  I'm looking forward to it, I want to get a purse because I didn't bring any of mine with me, and they sell these huge shoulder bags there.  I had a blue one for a few years before it finally wore out. [I bought it in 2006.]  They don't look overly large, but they can hold everything (okay maybe a slight overstatement, but only slight), and I loved it.  So I'm hoping to get another one of those.  I don't know how long we're planning on being out, we're leaving late morning so my guess is we'll eat lunch out there. 

My hope is, now that I've recognized what I'm doing, I'll be able to work through it (and now that I've brought it to the attention of the rest of the teachers here, a few of them will help me).  Scott told me that he did the same thing when he first got here...at least in terms of withdrawing...and now he's doing really well, so there definitely is hope. :-)  And actually, after yesterday and spending time talking and laughing with everyone, I'm already feeling better.  I just know I'm going to need to be intentional about spending time with other people and not totally hibernating in my room.  A little hibernation is okay, and for me, probably necessary...but definitely not as much as I have been doing lately.

Highlight of the week (well, other than spending time with everyone last night): one of my students came in and told me that now Math is her favorite subject, and she had never liked it before.  She also said that she told her parents that and they didn't believe her at first.  It made me smile.

School has started...

I now have two days of school behind me.  Today went more smoothly than yesterday.  Yesterday, I mostly felt like I was surviving.  I didn't know the students, they didn't know me...and it felt very strange with only two of them in class at a time, so I was feeling a little uncomfortable.  I'm sure they felt a little awkward as well, because they're accustomed to knowing their teachers for the most part, and they don't know me (and in some cases I was the only teacher they didn't already know).  After yesterday I knew I could make this work, but I didn't know what exactly I would need to do to make it work well.

Today was much better.  I had a little bit better sense of the students and of pacing.  I clicked into "teacher mode" at least with the high schoolers.  It may take me another few days to get a sense of the middle schoolers - what I can and should expect of them in terms of ability and learning, but at least we mostly have a sense of rapport down.  I brought in some pictures of my family (and my cat) to show them, and they enjoyed that.  I still need to figure out what I'm doing for tomorrow, but I'm not too worried that I'll be able to get something figured out.  It's just definitely a change teaching 2 kids per class, especially when in some cases one student is much farther advanced than the other.  There's no buffering of other students who are halfway in between, and there's no "hiding" it either.  Even with the fewer kids, I'm also spending more time in school actually teaching than I'm used to.  Preparing for class is much more time consuming as well, but grading is nothing, which is nice.  In the long run, it will probably be less work, but right now, getting the hang of it seems a little more difficult and a little more out of my comfort zone...but it's coming.

So for now, I'm going back to preparing for tomorrow.  Hopefully the process starts going more quickly soon!