Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve
So Christmas Eve has been slightly different this year. :) Normally I'll be running around making deserts for Christmas Day, and finishing up (read starting and then finishing) my shopping and wrapping and then going to church for the Christmas Eve service. Now for this year...
First of all, I'm not in a part of the world where there are seasons, so my body waiting for it to get cold to tell me that it's getting close to Christmas didn't happen this year. I can walk outside in a tee shirt and Monday was swimming in the river! Yesterday I drove with the administrator and his wife to Cuenca to visit his family. Since I have no family in Ecuador, they invited me to join them for Christmas. It was very entertaining traveling with 2 little boys, a 5 year old and a 3 year old! Of course they slept much of the way, but when they were awake, life was NOT boring. :) I love hanging out with those two, so I had a lot of fun with them in the car. Today, instead of running around shopping and baking, I went with their family to some Incan ruins about an hour from Cuenca, called Ingapirca. I loved it there!!! It was built a little bit before the Conquistadores came to Ecuador, right after the Incas conquered the people here in Cuenca. Such a difference from Salem, where the oldest buildings were built in the late 1800s! I took far more pictures than I needed to, but the countryside was soooo pretty and I loved the ruins that I kept taking pictures of things I saw, so I'll add as many pictures as I can and when I get back to Macas, I'll put more pictures on Facebook and link to it. The first couple are of our drive to Cuenca and then after that from Ingapirca.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Christmas program
I realized anew, last night, how truly blessed I am to have the privilege of teaching at Emanuel. Last night was the annual Christmas program, so very different from the Winter concerts schools I've taught at have had in the past. For starters the theme was Dios al mundo amó (God so Loved the World), which coming from my experience in public schools in the States, as an incredible difference that we were now allowed to talk about God and the true reason we all celebrate Christmas, but the fact that it was an outreach to the community made it even more incredible, in my mind. Every single child (well, at least those who showed up, which was nearly all of them) had a part in the program, from the little not-even-3yrs old preschoolers, all the way up to the teenagers. Some kids danced, some sang, some acted, some recited and some played instruments, but all kids had a chance to do something in the program. The drama that the high schoolers put on was really good, especially considering they only had just over a month to practice for it. It was entitled "The daughter of the king" and was about a king and queen who were celebrating the birth of a prince and in the process forgetting about their daughter. The princess got jealous and decided to run away to show everyone that she shouldn't be forgotten. She got kidnapped by some evil gang in the forest (Robin Hood and his men gone bad). The king sent some soldiers to rescue her, but all except one were killed. The king then decided to send the remaining soldier back to the gang, this time carrying the infant prince, in hopes that the gang would respect the new life and send the princess back. The gang accidentally kill the baby prince, but as a result forget about the princess. This allows her to escape back to her parents with her brother. The last scene brings her home, weeping in shame for having caused the events that lead to the death of the newborn prince. Her father, the king, says that was the baby's reason for being, to bring about peace in the kingdom, just like God sent His son to take our place in death, to bring peace on earth. I enjoyed the message and thought that it was a different take on helping people understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, although I have to admit, I enjoyed the funny parts at the beginning more so. :) Some of the high schoolers are already really good actors and it was fun to watch a different side of these kids that I see every day.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Random
Since I've been bad about writing on here, I've got all sorts of random stories and thoughts, so here's a few.
Beauty
Last week one of the vice-principals invited me to visit a little village over an hour from Macas, where she used to live, called Pablo IV. We got on the bus at 8am and I got a great view of the amazing countryside here. As we were driving along, it hit me that I'm extremely blessed to be surrounded by such beauty. Alongside the road are innumerable banana/plantain trees, tall trees that look like they could reach the sky, tall grasses, ferns of all shapes and sizes, and the amazing fruit plants that grow wild here. The diversity still astounds me and I can't get over it. I love seeing this one kind of plant, it looks like fan-shaped grass, with a tall stalk that divides itself and kind of falls over. It's so different from the plants back in the Willamette Valley that it fascinates me. The amazing part of all this is the weather. All of these plants were shining brightly under a deep blue sky, with the sun overhead. As we got closer to the village, we could see Sangay, the closest volcano to Macas, getting bigger and bigger. It's nearly a perfect triangle and when it's a clear day in Macas, everyone tries to take a picture of it, it's gorgeous, but this time I could see it without any effort at all!
Pablo IV
It was fun to be able to visit a small town/village and meet Maria's friends. I think what made the most impression on me, though, was the church we went to Saturday night. Pablo IV doesn't even have it's own Evangelical church, but there's one in a smaller community about 20 minutes outside the town. We weren't planning on going to church until the leader (too small to have a pastor) showed up in his truck to give us a ride. We bumped along on the dirt/rock road for 15-20 minutes, picking up some guys, along the side of the road, who wanted a ride in the back of the truck (very common here, since not too many people have cars, and a way for people to bless others). We got to the place where we were going to have the service and I realized that it was someone's house. We met in the living room, a tiny room with benches on 3 sides and a tv stand on the 4th. The 2 guys started setting up a microphone and sound system. I couldn't figure out why on earth they would want a sound system in such a small, cement-block room. Once the service started, I understood; they broadcast the service to the area, so that people can listen in, even if they're too scared or proud to attend in person, they can still learn from it. Maria introduced me as a missionary to the leader who then proceeded to ask if I would be able to share with the group. For those who've known me since high school/college, this is a very amusing request. I don't do well speaking in front of people anywhere near my age! However, I couldn't refuse, so I said that I could share my testimony. Before he invited me up front, he asked if I would be willing to share my name with them, so that they could put me on their prayer list. It was so very humbling to hear a small group of people from a little tiny village, in the jungles of Ecuador, pray for me, living in a relatively civilized city, with nearly all of the modern comforts of anywhere in the world! Throughout the night people kept showing up, until there was a grand total of about 14 in the room. As I was sitting there, I was reminded that this was how the entire church started, a small group of people meeting in a small room in someone's house. From that little beginning, God changed the world! It was a very different style of worship from what I was used to, much more Pentacostal, but I still felt extremely privileged to be allowed to be a part of it, even for just one night.
Students
People keep asking me how school is going and I tell them that it's going well. The truth is, I love all of my classes! Of course, some of them drive me more crazy than others, others are learning faster than others, but all are fun, in their own way. Unfortunately, I don't have too many pictures of the students because when I'm with them, I'm usually too busy teaching to take pictures, so I've been accused by April, my sister, that I'm just playing here, when in reality, the majority of my day is with my students! :) The 3 year old class continues to amaze me with how far they've come from the first day. Looking back at my lesson plans, the first week was "console crying 3 year olds". Now they can listen to a story in English, they've started singing along to Jesus Loves Me, they color (sometimes even in the lines) and can tell me a couple colors in English! The 4 year olds have really picked up on colors and family members and love The Wheels on the Bus, I think I'm going to try to incorporate that song into every theme. :) So far we've done school and family members, we'll see what else I can tie into it! My first grade classes are always entertaining, but they've gotten to the point in understanding English where I don't have to give any part of the instructions for the activity in Spanish anymore! I just demonstrate while saying the English directions and then ask what they're supposed to do and they know it! :) The second graders are my most challenging class, it's the largest class and the one with the most new students to the school (well, aside from the preschool), so several of the kids are still figuring out what school's for and how to behave in a classroom. But even with all of that, they're learning the alphabet and vocabulary and also continue to amaze me with what they remember. The third graders are probably my most fun class, aside from the 3 year olds, because they're learning to read in English and so can do much more than the others. Class isn't all about pictures, but words, too (and I love words!). For the Christmas program, the 2nd and 3rd graders are going to sing Away in the Manger, in English, so we've been working on learning the words in those 2 classes. The first time I sang it with them, I wrote the words on the board, drawing pictures for some of the words, so that they would have an idea of what the song was about. Before I even finished writing the first line, I heard about half the class trying to read the words aloud and doing a decent job of it! Today, a bunch of the third graders said the song was too hard to learn and I told them that I was planning on having the words printed up for them to read while singing. The relief on their faces was hilarious! I love that I can use the written word to help them understand what we're doing. :)
That's all that I can think of at the moment, although I know I have more stories, they just aren't coming to mind, so I'll link to some pictures from Facebook for people to look at from Thanksgiving and my trip to Cuenca with Ivonne. :)
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129523&id=517974210&l=105d7b7d35
Beauty
Last week one of the vice-principals invited me to visit a little village over an hour from Macas, where she used to live, called Pablo IV. We got on the bus at 8am and I got a great view of the amazing countryside here. As we were driving along, it hit me that I'm extremely blessed to be surrounded by such beauty. Alongside the road are innumerable banana/plantain trees, tall trees that look like they could reach the sky, tall grasses, ferns of all shapes and sizes, and the amazing fruit plants that grow wild here. The diversity still astounds me and I can't get over it. I love seeing this one kind of plant, it looks like fan-shaped grass, with a tall stalk that divides itself and kind of falls over. It's so different from the plants back in the Willamette Valley that it fascinates me. The amazing part of all this is the weather. All of these plants were shining brightly under a deep blue sky, with the sun overhead. As we got closer to the village, we could see Sangay, the closest volcano to Macas, getting bigger and bigger. It's nearly a perfect triangle and when it's a clear day in Macas, everyone tries to take a picture of it, it's gorgeous, but this time I could see it without any effort at all!
Pablo IV
It was fun to be able to visit a small town/village and meet Maria's friends. I think what made the most impression on me, though, was the church we went to Saturday night. Pablo IV doesn't even have it's own Evangelical church, but there's one in a smaller community about 20 minutes outside the town. We weren't planning on going to church until the leader (too small to have a pastor) showed up in his truck to give us a ride. We bumped along on the dirt/rock road for 15-20 minutes, picking up some guys, along the side of the road, who wanted a ride in the back of the truck (very common here, since not too many people have cars, and a way for people to bless others). We got to the place where we were going to have the service and I realized that it was someone's house. We met in the living room, a tiny room with benches on 3 sides and a tv stand on the 4th. The 2 guys started setting up a microphone and sound system. I couldn't figure out why on earth they would want a sound system in such a small, cement-block room. Once the service started, I understood; they broadcast the service to the area, so that people can listen in, even if they're too scared or proud to attend in person, they can still learn from it. Maria introduced me as a missionary to the leader who then proceeded to ask if I would be able to share with the group. For those who've known me since high school/college, this is a very amusing request. I don't do well speaking in front of people anywhere near my age! However, I couldn't refuse, so I said that I could share my testimony. Before he invited me up front, he asked if I would be willing to share my name with them, so that they could put me on their prayer list. It was so very humbling to hear a small group of people from a little tiny village, in the jungles of Ecuador, pray for me, living in a relatively civilized city, with nearly all of the modern comforts of anywhere in the world! Throughout the night people kept showing up, until there was a grand total of about 14 in the room. As I was sitting there, I was reminded that this was how the entire church started, a small group of people meeting in a small room in someone's house. From that little beginning, God changed the world! It was a very different style of worship from what I was used to, much more Pentacostal, but I still felt extremely privileged to be allowed to be a part of it, even for just one night.
Students
People keep asking me how school is going and I tell them that it's going well. The truth is, I love all of my classes! Of course, some of them drive me more crazy than others, others are learning faster than others, but all are fun, in their own way. Unfortunately, I don't have too many pictures of the students because when I'm with them, I'm usually too busy teaching to take pictures, so I've been accused by April, my sister, that I'm just playing here, when in reality, the majority of my day is with my students! :) The 3 year old class continues to amaze me with how far they've come from the first day. Looking back at my lesson plans, the first week was "console crying 3 year olds". Now they can listen to a story in English, they've started singing along to Jesus Loves Me, they color (sometimes even in the lines) and can tell me a couple colors in English! The 4 year olds have really picked up on colors and family members and love The Wheels on the Bus, I think I'm going to try to incorporate that song into every theme. :) So far we've done school and family members, we'll see what else I can tie into it! My first grade classes are always entertaining, but they've gotten to the point in understanding English where I don't have to give any part of the instructions for the activity in Spanish anymore! I just demonstrate while saying the English directions and then ask what they're supposed to do and they know it! :) The second graders are my most challenging class, it's the largest class and the one with the most new students to the school (well, aside from the preschool), so several of the kids are still figuring out what school's for and how to behave in a classroom. But even with all of that, they're learning the alphabet and vocabulary and also continue to amaze me with what they remember. The third graders are probably my most fun class, aside from the 3 year olds, because they're learning to read in English and so can do much more than the others. Class isn't all about pictures, but words, too (and I love words!). For the Christmas program, the 2nd and 3rd graders are going to sing Away in the Manger, in English, so we've been working on learning the words in those 2 classes. The first time I sang it with them, I wrote the words on the board, drawing pictures for some of the words, so that they would have an idea of what the song was about. Before I even finished writing the first line, I heard about half the class trying to read the words aloud and doing a decent job of it! Today, a bunch of the third graders said the song was too hard to learn and I told them that I was planning on having the words printed up for them to read while singing. The relief on their faces was hilarious! I love that I can use the written word to help them understand what we're doing. :)
That's all that I can think of at the moment, although I know I have more stories, they just aren't coming to mind, so I'll link to some pictures from Facebook for people to look at from Thanksgiving and my trip to Cuenca with Ivonne. :)
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129523&id=517974210&l=105d7b7d35
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