Trimester

Nope, this blog has absolutely nothing to do with being pregnant. :)  The school, here, is on a trimester schedule and we just started the 3rd.  This year is flying by!!!!  I can't believe it's almost over already!  I've really enjoyed my kids and classes this year, some being more difficult than others, but all enjoyable.  Funny thing, though, the most difficult class keeps changing, it never stays the same. :)  Now that it's a new trimester, though, I get to add a few new classes.  Actually, to be more accurate, I should say that I'm adding a few new grades, to the classes I'm teaching.  I'm going to be teaching 1 day a week high school, in addition to preschool and early elementary!! It'll be a "bit" different than what I've been used to, but I enjoy talking with the high schoolers and have been in and out of their class doing observations during English time, so we'll see what happens. :)  I never wanted to get bored! :)

Emanuel Anniversary

So, this week is Emanuel's 10th anniversary as a school and we're celebrating it!  Down here, it appears, that all the schools celebrate their anniversary of when they were founded or approved or something like that, I'm not quite sure.  But this year it's more of a big deal, since it's the 10th anniversary.  Yesterday started the festivities with a whole school chapel.  They even bussed the preschoolers and kindergarteners over from their building.  Chapel was awesome!!  It was hilarious to watch the little kids, who don't get chapel on a weekly basis, jumping up and down and singing the songs.  They even somehow managed to convince some older kids to come out and jump with them! :)  I got pictures and video (although I can't figure out how to put video on here, if anyone knows, let me know!), but unfortunately my asthma was acting up, so I wasn't able to participate and enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

Today was the open house at the preschool/kindergarten building and we had a lot of fun. :)  The preschoolers were in groups, rotating with their parents through different activities to show their parents the types of things they do at school, while the kindergarteners were all in their rooms, doing presentations.  English was out in the back patio and I had a cd player and some books.  I played songs and had them dance for their parents.  It was hilarious to watch how the different groups reacted to the songs! :)  Some groups were practically glued to their mom's legs and wouldn't move or do anything, while other groups were singing and dancing with no inhibitions!  When they got tired of that, I had them look for colors in the books, something that we've sort of done in class.  They were really cute, but unfortunately  my camera was in the other building so I didn't get any pictures!  With the kindergarteners, I had them sing a song and name animals, which they did quite well.  I was so proud of all of my kids today!!! :)

Now I have to focus on the older kids, who have their open house on Friday.  I'll be extremely surprised if I end up having a voice after Friday!  I just have 2 classes at the main building, 2nd and 3rd grade, but I'm also helping the chemistry/biology teacher with his presentation, since he wants to do it bilingually, but doesn't speak English. :)  He chose one of the high schoolers who's good at English and she's going to do all the English speaking, but I've had to help her translate and practice pronunciation.  It's been fun to work with her and get to know some of the high schoolers better.  It should be an interesting week, this week!! :)

Staff Retreat

So life has been a little crazy this past month, I had planned on blogging about the staff retreat, but haven't had time. :)  Oh well, it's never too late, I suppose! So, since my internet's r e a l l y   s l o w, I won't put more pictures on here, just links, otherwise I'd never get anything else done today!!  Oh, and the picture above is of the active volcano that wasn't too far away from us. :)  Close enough that we could see the lava spewing up, at night and hear the thunder of its rumblings, but far enough away that we couldn't get any pictures of the lava or actually feel the earthquakes, or probably get hit with the lava.  On the way home we saw how smart and prepared they were, they'd dug canyons out, for the lava to flow through, so that it wouldn't destroy everything.  There never was any lava in them, not enough came out of the volcano, so it never reached the roads, but still was an interesting thought. :)  (oh, and mom, I purposely didn't tell you, until after we got back, about the volcano) ;)

The speaker's topic was serving God, but I think I learned more about community and supporting others (which does fall under the topic of serving God, but usually is its own). :)  Right before the retreat had started, I found out that my sister, who was almost 9 months pregnant, had viral meningitis.  This was hard news for me to hear, for a number of reasons:  she's my baby sister, her baby is the first niece/nephew born in my family, and I was too far away to be able to call and find out what was going on.  The cafeteria had wireless and I'd brought my computer, intending to use it to download pictures and video, so that I didn't have to worry about filling up my memory card on the camera.  The first time I took my computer to the cafeteria during free time I got some weird looks, but when I explained what I was doing and why, everyone said that they'd pray.  That was the beginning of being able to live out what a church community should look like, when someone is hurting!  Throughout the day people who'd heard what was going on continued to ask me about my sister and nephew and say that they were praying.  Then the 3rd night we were there, I asked to share with everyone, since most people knew about it, I thought it would be easier than updating one person at a time.  After than, many continued to ask me how they were doing and to pray for them.  This has continued to this day (nearly 2 weeks after my nephew was born, yay!!!) and has been a tremendous support to me.  For the most part it's not THAT hard to be far away from my family, I talk to my mom most days and can talk to my brother-in-law and one of my sisters every day, as well, so I do have communication with people, but I realize, when stuff like this happens, that I REALLY am far away from my family.  But I wasn't far away from family, because I had my friends here, supporting me and praying for me and my family, acting as family. :)

Then of course, there were the pranks that we all pulled. :)  There were about 8 males and 20 some females on the trip. :)  Shoes were stolen from us, clothes taken from them, water tossed on numerous people, faces painted, nearly all happening late at night.  It was great!!  At first the guys were all united and winning, pulling better pranks, but then us females, at first in little groups scattered all over, but then working as one team, were able to overcome the initial advantage the guys had and recover our shoes, etc. :)  Unfortunately, we were all sworn to secrecy, so as not to reveal details of what happened, suffice it to say, we had fun!  And, if you choose to moralize it :) we because a community and worked as a team.

And for those who have gone on a retreat/road trip with me, I DID make cookies, a double batch, that barely made it to the campground. :)  I think there were 5 left or so, by the time we got there!!  Of course, the fact that the driver was driving slow enough that we wanted to get out and push, might have had something to do with it. :)

Anyways, here's some pictures from Facebook (I have tons more, but they're not for public consumption, just those who participated in the retreat! :) )  Staff Retreat album.  And here's the workshop pictures, from when I helped my roommate Diana :)  Theater (don't say I didn't warn you about me looking odd!)

And now, I'm off to color some more :)  I love teaching little kids!!!  (I'm actually working, I suppose, making Adjective Bingo cards)

Acting

Diana, my roommate, is the school psychologist and as such, in charge of leading a workshop for each class.  She knew that I liked to act, so she asked me to help her and act out telling a story.  She chose the book You Are Mine by Max Lucado.  I love his kids books, they have such an amazing message and gorgeous illustrations! :)  She wanted me to dress up like a life-size rag doll.  I was trying to come up with where on earth I'd find clothes that would work for that, as it's hard enough to find clothes that fit me (I'm a little taller than most Ecuadorian women), much less a style that would work for a doll.  So, I decided that I'd make it!  At first I was going to make a dress, but the fabric store didn't have enough fabric, so I thought a skirt might work, along with a t-shirt that I already had.  We figured I also needed a wig, so I bought bright pink yarn.  I thought that if I was going to dress up, I'd have fun with it!  I didn't get the fabric until a couple days before we were going to do the workshop, so I took the fabric to school and sewed the skirt by hand (nevermind the fact that this is the first article of clothing that I've ever made!).  It was hilarious to see people's reactions to me sewing!!!  Apparently, girls from the States aren't supposed to know how to sew or cook or anything like that, so for me to know how to sew and sew by hand was a shock to nearly everyone! 

Then came time for the performance.  The book is about a bunch of wooden puppets who get into a competition to collect the most boxes and balls.  It then escalates into seeing who can get the highest, with the most boxes and balls.  I told the kids that I was a puppet from the same village and had a story to tell them about a friend of mine, the main character in the book.  At the end, he accidentally ends up in the house of Eli, the carpenter, who created all of the puppets.  I love how it ends, with the words that Eli uses, being the same that God uses to remind us that our stuff isn't worth anything, without him. 

The kids' reactions were hilarious!  When the first came in, I was hidden, so they couldn't see me, and then, after Diana introduced me, I came out and started telling the story.  They all knew me as the English teacher, as we've only gone to 2 classes, so far, that aren't my students, so they knew who I was and all started laughing as soon as I walked into their sight!  I suppose I looked a little bit different than they normally see me! :) It was fun to watch their faces while listening to the story and hear their questions and responses afterward.  I had so much fun, it'd been waaaaaaaay too long since I'd done any acting! :) (I'll put pictures up when I get back to Macas, I'm in the mountains right now for a staff retreat and the internet isn't wanting to upload pictures, there's some great ones :) even some of me in makeup!)

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.

The other day I was walking out of one of my classes trying to figure out why I was sweating so much.  It wasn't that hot outside, so that couldn't be it.  It didn't make any sense to me that every day after I'm at the preschool building I'm really warm and sweaty.  Then it hit me.  I'd found a far more intense exercise program than I could get at a gym.  It goes as follows...
1. Walk 8 blocks.
2. Sing movement/marching songs with 2 classes of 5 year olds for half hour each, then 2 classes of 4 year olds for half hour each and then play "Ring Around the Rosie with a class of 3 year olds for half hour.
3.  Walk another 5 blocks to the other building.
4.  Teach a class of 6 year olds for 45 minutes, singing movement songs and moving around the classroom, catching kids who are talking.
5.  Teach a class of 7 year olds for 45 minutes, singing movement songs and moving around the classroom, catching kids who are talking.
6.  Walk 14 blocks home for lunch.
7.  Walk 14 blocks back to the school for the afternoon.
8.  Walk 14 blocks home.
(steps 9 and 10 happen a couple times a week)
9.  Walk 14 blocks to the school/church for church service.
10.  Walk 14 blocks back home to go to bed.

Preschoolers singing/marching "The Ants Go Marching". :)

Beginning of the year

I have all sorts of stories saved up in my head, but haven't been able to write any of them down because I've been so busy living them! :)  We're in the middle of our 2nd week with kids and I'm slowly getting the routine down of my schedule and how each class's dynamics differ from the other classes and what works best with the kids.  That's my day and in the evenings and on the weekends I hang out with friends, either at church, their house or around town.  I've actually managed to make it to the river twice!!!  In the 3 years I've been coming here, I'd never made it to the river.  I'd seen pictures of it and heard all about it and even been invited once, but wasn't able to go.  A week and a half ago, Ivonne and Fernando invited me to go with them after church.  It was a really hot day (just walking a couple blocks, I broke out into a sweat), so I was really excited to be able to go.  We went to a portion of the river that formed a slightly moving pond and swam around for probably a couple of hours and then went to the actual river and ate sugar cane.  It was so nice to be able to float around in a lake on such a hot day!  Then this last Sunday (a week later), the some of the youth group decided to go swimming, so I went again. :)  For those who might be a little confused as to why a 27 year old is considered a part of the youth group, the youth group here is for people anywhere from about 15 or 16 up to whenever they get married!!  The group that went to the river was at least half my age or more. :)  I took a ton of pictures, but am not in any of them, my poor parents, they don't get to see me. :)