As I've been praying about whether or not the Lord wants me to stay here in Jarabacoa for another year, I have had more peace about actually listening to what He has to say. What He wants me to do. I'm selfish and say, "well, I'll stay if so-and-so stays or if such-and-such changes." But I'm challenged to see if those statements are really honoring to God? Why am I putting conditions on God’s will for my life? …because it’s safe. because it would be more comfortable for me if friends stayed. if things at school changed. I know, though, that God doesn’t always want me to be comfortable. If He did, then He wouldn’t have brought me to the DR. I would be in North Carolina, living with my bff, teaching, and living the life. BUT He has different plans for me. Awesome plans, but not always comfortable.
God has blessed me with some pretty amazing gifts here. He's blessed me with good friends, beautiful scenery, and amazing students. I know that I’ve struggled with loving my students this year, but I truly believe that the Lord has opened my eyes in a new way how to love them.
I was talking to one of the girls, Christy, the other night. She is Estheisy’s teacher. Estheisy is the little joy in my life that I am blessed to see 5 days a week (when she comes to school…) Daily, Christy said, she prays for Mrs. Reposa (the aide in the classroom), Christy, and me. What an honor to be prayed for by this little girl. Now, here’s what Christy said about Estheisy (via Mrs. Reposa…) Mrs. Reposa and Christy were talking the other day because Estheisy isn’t doing well in school. She lives with her grandma, aunt, cousins, and who knows who else. I don’t understand why she doesn’t live with her parents, both of which live in the United States, but for some reason or another, they have chosen to live without their daughter. Anyways, Christy was frustrated that Estheisy isn’t performing at the level she should be, and it’s sometimes a struggle to see the “reasoning” behind decisions. Why is this little girl being torn away from her parents when that would be the “safest” thing for her. Mrs. Reposa gently reminded Christy who Estheisy prays for daily. Not her mom or dad, but Christy, Mrs. Reposa, and me. Who are the people who make her feel safe? Pretty big responsibility, eh? Showing these small people who Christ is. Showing them Christ’s love. and praying that they will decide to follow Him. I feel, almost, that if I were to leave, I would be abandoning my kids. these students that I’ve poured so much of myself, so much of Christ’s love, into that it would be so hard to leave them.
I feel like maybe God would want me here for a little while longer?
I feel like it may be easier to go home though?
I just pray for wisdom. pray for discernment. pray to listen. pray for clarity. praying for God to use me where He wants me. not where I want to be (because frankly, I'm not exactly sure where that is...).
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Straight Up Joy!
Hello once again! I have survived exam week and am rearing to go for this new semester! This week was fairly low key...half days of school for my students, hour-long lunches, grading exams, finalizing report cards, preparing for next semester, copying like a mad woman. :) You get the gist. All in all, it was a good week.
Karyn and I have started our Bible study this semester. I'm pretty excited, as it has already been challenging and eye-opening to the ways that satan attacks us. I think that as a "missionary" (I use that term loosely because I feel like I am more of a teacher than a missionary, but in all honesty, this truly is my mission field, where I attest to Christ's love, where I am sharing the Gospel, so yes, I am sort of a missionary.) satan wants to attack even more. He wants to build up walls in our small community, he wants to lure people away from God, he wants us to believe lies that make us forget the Truth. It's good, so good, to be reminded that satan's attacks on us are real. They are hitting us hard and frequently. BUT it's okay. because God is bigger. God is so much more than satan could ever be. Anyways, maybe I'll share more about what I'm learning from Bible study in a later post...
Humorous story of the entry:
I called my mom, and she said she had important things to update me on! She said that one day at school she got a phone call, "Mrs. Brewer, there is a boy from the Dominican Republic on the phone for you." (my thoughts: WHAT?!) My mom is of course in "mom mode" thinking that something has happened to me or I am sick or I am hurt, you know, typical mom stuff. :) She goes to answer the phone. "Hi Mrs. Brewer, my name is Josue and I am in Miss Brewer's class." (my thoughts: OH MY GOODNESS! HOW FUNNY!) It turns out that Josue wanted my mom's home phone number (which he proudly gloats that he has...) and that was pretty much it. :) HOW did he get my mom's school phone number? well, my mom's class and my class have been video chatting back and forth, so my mom decided to give my students some pens and zipper-pulls. and the pens had the phone number for the school on them. I had received questions about whether or not this was the phone number to my mom's school in Indiana, but honestly had never even thought that they would call. How funny is my boy! :)
And today, off to school for another full day of getting ready for next semester, finishing up report cards, and getting life together...
Karyn and I have started our Bible study this semester. I'm pretty excited, as it has already been challenging and eye-opening to the ways that satan attacks us. I think that as a "missionary" (I use that term loosely because I feel like I am more of a teacher than a missionary, but in all honesty, this truly is my mission field, where I attest to Christ's love, where I am sharing the Gospel, so yes, I am sort of a missionary.) satan wants to attack even more. He wants to build up walls in our small community, he wants to lure people away from God, he wants us to believe lies that make us forget the Truth. It's good, so good, to be reminded that satan's attacks on us are real. They are hitting us hard and frequently. BUT it's okay. because God is bigger. God is so much more than satan could ever be. Anyways, maybe I'll share more about what I'm learning from Bible study in a later post...
Humorous story of the entry:
I called my mom, and she said she had important things to update me on! She said that one day at school she got a phone call, "Mrs. Brewer, there is a boy from the Dominican Republic on the phone for you." (my thoughts: WHAT?!) My mom is of course in "mom mode" thinking that something has happened to me or I am sick or I am hurt, you know, typical mom stuff. :) She goes to answer the phone. "Hi Mrs. Brewer, my name is Josue and I am in Miss Brewer's class." (my thoughts: OH MY GOODNESS! HOW FUNNY!) It turns out that Josue wanted my mom's home phone number (which he proudly gloats that he has...) and that was pretty much it. :) HOW did he get my mom's school phone number? well, my mom's class and my class have been video chatting back and forth, so my mom decided to give my students some pens and zipper-pulls. and the pens had the phone number for the school on them. I had received questions about whether or not this was the phone number to my mom's school in Indiana, but honestly had never even thought that they would call. How funny is my boy! :)
And today, off to school for another full day of getting ready for next semester, finishing up report cards, and getting life together...
Monday, January 5, 2009
It's a Christmas Miracle!
Hello friend and family,
After the prompting of 3 important women in my life (Mom, Julie White, and Mrs. Handy) to update my blog, I have decided to concede.
THANKSGIVING
For Thanksgiving, my roommate Kelsey and I headed to an all-inclusive resort for 4 days of sun, surf, pools, snorkeling, eating, tanning, American TV. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot! :) I enjoyed relaxing, reading multiple books, wearing my bathing suit, eating so much food, watching American TV, and enjoying spending time with Kelsey! (you can check out pictures on my Picasa site...including pictures of the "Taino" dancing) The Taino people are the indingenous people of the Dominican. It was definitely an experience that I won't soon be forgetting!
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
After many heated debates and deciding against singing Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (I never realized how inappropriate that song is! especially at a Christan school!) my class and I decided to sing a medley of songs. Michael W. Smith's Prince of Peace and the boys sang N'Sync's Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the girls sang Mariah Carey's Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child and then we ended with Prince of Peace. It was so great! My kids were nervous, which was super cute. :) They did a great job singing (kind of loud). Funny story: during the middle of the performance, one of my boys walked off stage. yep, just walked straight off. came and told me that his stomach hurt. I just said, "okay, just go sit down over there (on a bench)." Other than that, the performance went really well. Highlights: the 2-year olds "danced" to a song called Mi Burrito Sabanero (super cute!) and one first grace class sang "Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Claus" and the other first grade sang "Jingle Bell Rock" very sassy, if I may say so! :) The fifth graders rapped an awesome song. Then the high schoolers danced to Rumba. All in all, it was definitely a successful program!! Brooke has some pictures that I will be commandeering soon, as well as a video of my kids. Hopefully I'll get that on my Picasa site soon!
DOOR DECORATION
Every year at JCS, they have a door decorating contest and then get judged based on Christ as the central theme and creativity. After MANY days of brainstorming, my class finally decided to split the door into two parts: Santa on a Four-Wheeler and Jesus being baptized (based on Luke 3:22) I must say, it was difficult not to give my input as my students were working (sometimes I did anyways...) I must say that the creation of our door turned out well. My students kept saying, "It looks so ugly. Why didn't you do it for us?" But I think they enjoyed being able to decorate their own door (for the first time). (see the pictures on my Picasa site!)
And now I'm back for semester 2 in the DR. the million dollar question right now is if I will be staying another year. And for all of you wondering, join the club. :) I have no idea what I want to do next year. I'm waiting for God to tell me where He wants me (as soon as I decide to listen to Him!). So there's where I'm at. We have to decide by February, so I've heard, so I will let you all know as soon as I figure it out myself! :)
After the prompting of 3 important women in my life (Mom, Julie White, and Mrs. Handy) to update my blog, I have decided to concede.
THANKSGIVING
For Thanksgiving, my roommate Kelsey and I headed to an all-inclusive resort for 4 days of sun, surf, pools, snorkeling, eating, tanning, American TV. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot! :) I enjoyed relaxing, reading multiple books, wearing my bathing suit, eating so much food, watching American TV, and enjoying spending time with Kelsey! (you can check out pictures on my Picasa site...including pictures of the "Taino" dancing) The Taino people are the indingenous people of the Dominican. It was definitely an experience that I won't soon be forgetting!
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
After many heated debates and deciding against singing Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (I never realized how inappropriate that song is! especially at a Christan school!) my class and I decided to sing a medley of songs. Michael W. Smith's Prince of Peace and the boys sang N'Sync's Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the girls sang Mariah Carey's Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child and then we ended with Prince of Peace. It was so great! My kids were nervous, which was super cute. :) They did a great job singing (kind of loud). Funny story: during the middle of the performance, one of my boys walked off stage. yep, just walked straight off. came and told me that his stomach hurt. I just said, "okay, just go sit down over there (on a bench)." Other than that, the performance went really well. Highlights: the 2-year olds "danced" to a song called Mi Burrito Sabanero (super cute!) and one first grace class sang "Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Claus" and the other first grade sang "Jingle Bell Rock" very sassy, if I may say so! :) The fifth graders rapped an awesome song. Then the high schoolers danced to Rumba. All in all, it was definitely a successful program!! Brooke has some pictures that I will be commandeering soon, as well as a video of my kids. Hopefully I'll get that on my Picasa site soon!
DOOR DECORATION
Every year at JCS, they have a door decorating contest and then get judged based on Christ as the central theme and creativity. After MANY days of brainstorming, my class finally decided to split the door into two parts: Santa on a Four-Wheeler and Jesus being baptized (based on Luke 3:22) I must say, it was difficult not to give my input as my students were working (sometimes I did anyways...) I must say that the creation of our door turned out well. My students kept saying, "It looks so ugly. Why didn't you do it for us?" But I think they enjoyed being able to decorate their own door (for the first time). (see the pictures on my Picasa site!)
And now I'm back for semester 2 in the DR. the million dollar question right now is if I will be staying another year. And for all of you wondering, join the club. :) I have no idea what I want to do next year. I'm waiting for God to tell me where He wants me (as soon as I decide to listen to Him!). So there's where I'm at. We have to decide by February, so I've heard, so I will let you all know as soon as I figure it out myself! :)
Monday, November 17, 2008
staircase to heaven.
dramatic title?
possibly.
but let me tell you about one of the beautiful things that is occurring at our house.
as you may (or may not) know, in the DR, it is acceptable...nay...required (another slight exaggeration) to sit on your roof.
there are many reasons why one would choose to perch atop the roof:
1. stargazing (the most obvious)
2. shadow puppet shows on the neighbor's house at sunset
3. quiet time of reflection and prayer
4. sleeping (yes, I slept one night on the roof)
5. watching people in the poor neighborhood (barrio) on the other side of our house.
6. talking to great friends
7. cooking s'mores (yes. for Christy's birthday we sat on the roof to make s'mores. and stargaze and talk. ique bueno!)
Needless to say, there are many great reasons that one would particularly fancy a good sit upon the techo (roof in spanish...one of my newly acquired vocabulary words).
Now onto the good story:
BEFORE:
We used to have to get up on the roof by a homemade ladder that our wonderful, wonderful landlord, Guido, graciously allowed us to borrow.
(below: the ladder)
AFTER:
Guido decided that his girls (that's what I think he thinks of us as...his daughters) should maybe be a little safer when they are going up on the roof. and maybe potentially he wants to build a second story to our house...ENTONCES (therefore) he built us a staircase. Yep. It took him maybe a week, but not we have a fully-functioning staircase. AND Kelsey, Karyn, and I carved our name/initials into it. que bueno, indeed!
(below: the staircase...not fully complete in this picture, but now it is. I don't have many recent pictures)
MORAL OF THE STORY:
get an awesome landlord who thinks of you as his daughters. get a landlord who is motivated to get projects done.
I'm thankful. :)
possibly.
but let me tell you about one of the beautiful things that is occurring at our house.
as you may (or may not) know, in the DR, it is acceptable...nay...required (another slight exaggeration) to sit on your roof.
there are many reasons why one would choose to perch atop the roof:
1. stargazing (the most obvious)
2. shadow puppet shows on the neighbor's house at sunset
3. quiet time of reflection and prayer
4. sleeping (yes, I slept one night on the roof)
5. watching people in the poor neighborhood (barrio) on the other side of our house.
6. talking to great friends
7. cooking s'mores (yes. for Christy's birthday we sat on the roof to make s'mores. and stargaze and talk. ique bueno!)
Needless to say, there are many great reasons that one would particularly fancy a good sit upon the techo (roof in spanish...one of my newly acquired vocabulary words).
Now onto the good story:
BEFORE:
We used to have to get up on the roof by a homemade ladder that our wonderful, wonderful landlord, Guido, graciously allowed us to borrow.
(below: the ladder)
AFTER:
Guido decided that his girls (that's what I think he thinks of us as...his daughters) should maybe be a little safer when they are going up on the roof. and maybe potentially he wants to build a second story to our house...ENTONCES (therefore) he built us a staircase. Yep. It took him maybe a week, but not we have a fully-functioning staircase. AND Kelsey, Karyn, and I carved our name/initials into it. que bueno, indeed!
(below: the staircase...not fully complete in this picture, but now it is. I don't have many recent pictures)
MORAL OF THE STORY:
get an awesome landlord who thinks of you as his daughters. get a landlord who is motivated to get projects done.
I'm thankful. :)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
TARANTULA!
the TARANTULA!
I know many, many of you have been waiting for this story so here goes: during my first prep of the day I walked into a large commotion in the office. I asked "que paso?" (what happened?) they told me to go to the bathroom and see. HOLY SNAP! A HUGE SPIDER is trapped under the garbage can. Wowzers. Then we decided to take it outside and the Domincian science teacher (Mr. Juan) put it outside and let it crawl out. (side note: one of the other teachers has a severe phobia of spiders. that comes into play later...) So the hurrah was over. UNTIL I decide that I want to keep it in my classroom as a pet. BALLER. what other teacher could say that they had a real, wild tarantula as a class pet?? Not too many! So, thanks to Brooke who randomly had a terrarium, I went outside and our amazing gateguard Fausto helped me trap this poor sucker in the cage. Immediately I took it upstairs (away from phobic teacher who never comes upstairs, so plan is flawless right? wrong!) and showed it to my class, who loved it, showed it to the 9th graders, who loved it, and showed it to anyone else who wanted to come see it. 2 minutes later I get a note "Dear Miss Brewer, blah blah blah i'm scared of spiders...blah blah blah please let it go and take it out of the building blah blah blah I love you. Love, phobic teacher" Okay, so maybe that's not exactly what the letter said, and Rachel, I'm totally joking. Seriously. :) But basically I was asked to take it out of the building and then get rid of it after school. Tears were shed in my classroom. I took it to an unknown location for the rest of the day, and then wonderful Christy Elmer took us on her pasola to the ******* (edited to protect sanity) so our little friend the tarantula could have a better life...
Funny after-story: (Rachel, I hope you think this is funny...)
I hid the tarantula in my cubby at school. Unknown to Miss Cunningham. A few teachers asked to see it at the end of the day, but SHOOT! Rachel was sitting in the teacher's lounge on the computer. So we sneakily, very sneakily, took it out of the cage (no just kidding!) I took away the folder that was in front of it, and showed the teachers, after I explained to them Rachel's phobia. I don't think she had any idea. whoops. I'm such a bad person and a bad friend!!
check out more pictures on my picasa site!!!
I know many, many of you have been waiting for this story so here goes: during my first prep of the day I walked into a large commotion in the office. I asked "que paso?" (what happened?) they told me to go to the bathroom and see. HOLY SNAP! A HUGE SPIDER is trapped under the garbage can. Wowzers. Then we decided to take it outside and the Domincian science teacher (Mr. Juan) put it outside and let it crawl out. (side note: one of the other teachers has a severe phobia of spiders. that comes into play later...) So the hurrah was over. UNTIL I decide that I want to keep it in my classroom as a pet. BALLER. what other teacher could say that they had a real, wild tarantula as a class pet?? Not too many! So, thanks to Brooke who randomly had a terrarium, I went outside and our amazing gateguard Fausto helped me trap this poor sucker in the cage. Immediately I took it upstairs (away from phobic teacher who never comes upstairs, so plan is flawless right? wrong!) and showed it to my class, who loved it, showed it to the 9th graders, who loved it, and showed it to anyone else who wanted to come see it. 2 minutes later I get a note "Dear Miss Brewer, blah blah blah i'm scared of spiders...blah blah blah please let it go and take it out of the building blah blah blah I love you. Love, phobic teacher" Okay, so maybe that's not exactly what the letter said, and Rachel, I'm totally joking. Seriously. :) But basically I was asked to take it out of the building and then get rid of it after school. Tears were shed in my classroom. I took it to an unknown location for the rest of the day, and then wonderful Christy Elmer took us on her pasola to the ******* (edited to protect sanity) so our little friend the tarantula could have a better life...
Funny after-story: (Rachel, I hope you think this is funny...)
I hid the tarantula in my cubby at school. Unknown to Miss Cunningham. A few teachers asked to see it at the end of the day, but SHOOT! Rachel was sitting in the teacher's lounge on the computer. So we sneakily, very sneakily, took it out of the cage (no just kidding!) I took away the folder that was in front of it, and showed the teachers, after I explained to them Rachel's phobia. I don't think she had any idea. whoops. I'm such a bad person and a bad friend!!
check out more pictures on my picasa site!!!
the reason...
Teaching Update:
I figured you, as faithful supporters, may want to know how teaching is going since that is the ‘main’ reason why I am here.
Where do I begin? I think I could begin by complaining that we have no functioning printer or copier, I am missing curriculum, and have a class that continually beats each other up and are the meanest kids I have ever encountered.
BUT.
I would love to share with you some of the awesome things that we are learning.
In reading I am attempting to do literature circles with them (ghetto style, as we have no copier, so a lot of it is written by hand or they just don’t answer questions about the chapters). ALSO we only have one copy of each book, therefore the students aren’t getting the best possibly experience, but I’m introducing them to it. ENTONCES a lot of what I do is expose them to literature and books. I’ve been buying (thanks to many gracious donations) books for the kids that they have been EATING up (Seymour Simon, Captain Underpants, Magic Tree House, etc.) so that is encouraging. ALSO I think our library has just gotten set up, so hopefully soon I’m going to schedule a time to go to the library and have my students pick a book to do a book report on (when we are done with our lit circles)
Math is going well. I have students who have many, many gaps in their learning, therefore simple concepts like multiplication facts, are lacking. I get discouraged because I know my students are smart, but many of them lack motivation and the necessary skills to continue to grasp the new concepts as we go through the book. I’ve tried to tutor some of the kids (specifically 2) but they still just cannot grasp concepts. Multiplication and Division are my goals for the year…get those areas of mathematics mastered.
Language and Writing are the big struggle areas. I have no curriculum, therefore am making everything up as I go. I don’t know how to teach Language (please don’t be discouraged Dr. Quinn!). They don’t like to write, although I’m trying to think of creative ways to get them to write…
Basically, I’m struggling through my first year of teaching. Which I feel like is typical for any first year teacher. The lack of resources has made it challenging, but there are always ways around it. I’m trying to become a better teacher through it all, even if that means spending my entire Saturday morning at school…
God is faithful, and I trust that He will bless this year as long as I continue to pursue Him and His plan for these students this year…
I figured you, as faithful supporters, may want to know how teaching is going since that is the ‘main’ reason why I am here.
Where do I begin? I think I could begin by complaining that we have no functioning printer or copier, I am missing curriculum, and have a class that continually beats each other up and are the meanest kids I have ever encountered.
BUT.
I would love to share with you some of the awesome things that we are learning.
In reading I am attempting to do literature circles with them (ghetto style, as we have no copier, so a lot of it is written by hand or they just don’t answer questions about the chapters). ALSO we only have one copy of each book, therefore the students aren’t getting the best possibly experience, but I’m introducing them to it. ENTONCES a lot of what I do is expose them to literature and books. I’ve been buying (thanks to many gracious donations) books for the kids that they have been EATING up (Seymour Simon, Captain Underpants, Magic Tree House, etc.) so that is encouraging. ALSO I think our library has just gotten set up, so hopefully soon I’m going to schedule a time to go to the library and have my students pick a book to do a book report on (when we are done with our lit circles)
Math is going well. I have students who have many, many gaps in their learning, therefore simple concepts like multiplication facts, are lacking. I get discouraged because I know my students are smart, but many of them lack motivation and the necessary skills to continue to grasp the new concepts as we go through the book. I’ve tried to tutor some of the kids (specifically 2) but they still just cannot grasp concepts. Multiplication and Division are my goals for the year…get those areas of mathematics mastered.
Language and Writing are the big struggle areas. I have no curriculum, therefore am making everything up as I go. I don’t know how to teach Language (please don’t be discouraged Dr. Quinn!). They don’t like to write, although I’m trying to think of creative ways to get them to write…
Basically, I’m struggling through my first year of teaching. Which I feel like is typical for any first year teacher. The lack of resources has made it challenging, but there are always ways around it. I’m trying to become a better teacher through it all, even if that means spending my entire Saturday morning at school…
God is faithful, and I trust that He will bless this year as long as I continue to pursue Him and His plan for these students this year…
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
joy in the DR.
I know I have not updated my blog in a LONG while, but I am going to attempt to slowly but surely update you on my life ...
so I am going to begin with the things that give me greatest joy at working at JCS.
4 words: First and Second Graders.
I LOVE my lunch time. I have a special time with the maturing 3rd graders as we sit and talk about school, weekends, the latest Jonas Brothers news, and mostly I just love listening to them as they talk in Spanish and I try and understand what they are saying.
I LOVE after schools. I love being mobbed, once again, by the first and second graders chanting "eh-steekers, eh-steekers, eh-steekers" (stickers) until I give in and then have a massive group of students running up the staircase to my classroom. It's SO great.
Mostly I love the relationships that I'm building with the students. Estheisy who I've mentioned many times before is a big joy in my life. Every morning, noon, and afternoon I get ambushed by this little girl. Oftentimes while I'm sitting with the third graders at lunch, Estheisy comes and sits on my lap and I just hold her for awhile and then she shares my lunch with me. I love my special time with my special girl. :)
another joy:
daily I receive wonderful pictures of hearts and people holding hands and stick figures. I keep them all. I especially love receiving pictures from my friend Nathalia and notes from my dear friend Estheisy. After I write Estheisy a little note, I receive the same words in a note back to me. I think I should maybe start saying how awesome she is...therefore I will receive a note saying how awesome I am. no, just kidding!
Bonus story of love.
Today after I brought my students in from recess, they were writing in their Language/Writing notebooks, I happened to look outside and what I saw just made me smile and laugh a little out loud. I saw the first graders (specifically Miss Elmer's class) outside playing. They were giving each other piggy back rides (which they have learned from me...bad example. I'm sorry, Miss Elmer!) but the funniest part was that they were lopsided or the one on the back was much bigger, therefore they would both just fall over. again and again I watched the first graders just continue to give each other piggy back rides and falling over. again and again. Holy joyful. I cannot even lie to you, it made my day so much better.
Can I just say one thing I love about teaching in the DR? I love that I can go to a student's mom's store and pick her up and take her out for ice cream. One Friday night I just went to a first grader's mom's store and just took her out for ice cream. It made her so happy to spend time with Miss Kelsey and Miss Brewer, and it made me so happy to spend time with my little friend. I love that it is okay to just hang out with the students outside of school. SO different than in the United States. We are allowed, nay, encouraged to develop great relationships with students and are free to facilitate those relationship in any appropriate manner possible. One Sunday we had two girls over (twins: Carla Nicole and Carla Camille) just to spend time with us, play Uno, and go to church. Tell me about how that would fly in the US. not. I love this school because of this. :)
I am so encouraged by this. :)
I will try and update more later, but for now, this is the joy that is coming from my heart! :)
so I am going to begin with the things that give me greatest joy at working at JCS.
4 words: First and Second Graders.
I LOVE walking out every morning to the cafeteria area and being mobbed by wonderful, loving small children who want nothing more than a good morning hug or a FUERTE low-five. or to just hang all over me. It's seriously the joy of the morning.
I LOVE my lunch time. I have a special time with the maturing 3rd graders as we sit and talk about school, weekends, the latest Jonas Brothers news, and mostly I just love listening to them as they talk in Spanish and I try and understand what they are saying.
I LOVE after schools. I love being mobbed, once again, by the first and second graders chanting "eh-steekers, eh-steekers, eh-steekers" (stickers) until I give in and then have a massive group of students running up the staircase to my classroom. It's SO great.
Mostly I love the relationships that I'm building with the students. Estheisy who I've mentioned many times before is a big joy in my life. Every morning, noon, and afternoon I get ambushed by this little girl. Oftentimes while I'm sitting with the third graders at lunch, Estheisy comes and sits on my lap and I just hold her for awhile and then she shares my lunch with me. I love my special time with my special girl. :)
another joy:
daily I receive wonderful pictures of hearts and people holding hands and stick figures. I keep them all. I especially love receiving pictures from my friend Nathalia and notes from my dear friend Estheisy. After I write Estheisy a little note, I receive the same words in a note back to me. I think I should maybe start saying how awesome she is...therefore I will receive a note saying how awesome I am. no, just kidding!
Bonus story of love.
Today after I brought my students in from recess, they were writing in their Language/Writing notebooks, I happened to look outside and what I saw just made me smile and laugh a little out loud. I saw the first graders (specifically Miss Elmer's class) outside playing. They were giving each other piggy back rides (which they have learned from me...bad example. I'm sorry, Miss Elmer!) but the funniest part was that they were lopsided or the one on the back was much bigger, therefore they would both just fall over. again and again I watched the first graders just continue to give each other piggy back rides and falling over. again and again. Holy joyful. I cannot even lie to you, it made my day so much better.
Can I just say one thing I love about teaching in the DR? I love that I can go to a student's mom's store and pick her up and take her out for ice cream. One Friday night I just went to a first grader's mom's store and just took her out for ice cream. It made her so happy to spend time with Miss Kelsey and Miss Brewer, and it made me so happy to spend time with my little friend. I love that it is okay to just hang out with the students outside of school. SO different than in the United States. We are allowed, nay, encouraged to develop great relationships with students and are free to facilitate those relationship in any appropriate manner possible. One Sunday we had two girls over (twins: Carla Nicole and Carla Camille) just to spend time with us, play Uno, and go to church. Tell me about how that would fly in the US. not. I love this school because of this. :)
I am so encouraged by this. :)
I will try and update more later, but for now, this is the joy that is coming from my heart! :)
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