adventures in cooking

This past weekend, there was a marriage retreat at the San Jeronimo church on Saturday afternoon. Carrie, Shannon and I were asked to make food for the event. Okay, not asked. Volunteered. We weren't that crazy about the idea, but you just do what you're asked to do.
Friday, our friend Marga helped us get massive amounts of chicken breasts, potatoes, carrots, green beans, other assorted vegetables, strawberries, and cake ingredients. Friday afternoon, I came home from school to find 3 people in the house, washing vegetables in dishpans, colanders, containers, whatever - even the mop bucket (disinfected, of course)! After we finished washing just about everything, the water decided to stop flowing from the spigot. This happens regularly at night at our house, usually mostly in the upstairs bathroom. But when we really need water for something, it always seems to turn off during the day too. This time was no exception. There was no water whatsoever anywhere. Yes, we had some buckets full of water awaiting such an occurrence, but, not knowing how long we would be without our water, we didn't want to use too much from them. We had enough water to cover the potatoes so they didn't get brown. And some greasy, nasty dishwater in the sink that we didn't want to let go down the drain, just in case we'd need it for something. And then we set to work, preparing all the vegetables. I went outside with the 25 pounds of green beans and got right down to business, stemming and snapping them. Reminded me of summer in the States. Meanwhile, others were peeling carrots and potatoes. There were various people helping throughout the evening. With all the hands working fast and furiously, we managed to make and bake 6 cakes, peel 50 pounds of potatoes, and peel and cut 50 pounds of green beans and carrots. Oh, and someone managed to drop some mostly still-wet chocolates on the kitchen floor. By the time we stopped laughing and got to cleaning it up, it had hardened on the floor. Without the aid of water, getting it up was, let's just say, difficult. So we cleaned up what we could and left the rest. Coming back into the kitchen before going to bed and seeing it sprawled out there on the floor, I took one look and began laughing. It looked exactly like a cow! In my sleep-deprived mind, it looked quite like a cow had died on our kitchen floor. So I took a whiteboard marker and outlined it so everyone else could see what I was seeing. I think we all got a kick out of the chocolate on the floor. Our kitchen was....well, a bit messy, as you can see. But what can you do when you have no water to wash all the dishes that are generated when cooking for such a massive amount of people? We decided to call it a night around 11 and slept really well!
Thankfully, the water was back on when we woke up on Saturday morning and we were able to wash some of the dishes that had accumulated the night before. Then we set to work again, cutting up onions, strawberries, potatoes, celery, parsley, and oregano and grating cheese, making stuffing, making whipped cream in the mop bucket (please remember it was clean!), filling chicken breasts, seasoning potatoes, and putting everything in baking pans. We ended up with 14 of them till we were done. Where do you bake 14 baking pans full of food? Luckily, if you're in Peru, you likely have a community oven close. Community ovens are a wonderful thing. Since many people don't have ovens in their homes, community ovens are open to anyone. Many people who have them in their houses are bread makers. But they have extra room in their ovens on a regular basis. So people can bring things and they'll bake them for a small fee. You drop them off, come back after a while and voila! You have cooked food! We lugged the 14 baking pans between 5 of us over to the oven, about a block from our house. They easily fit into the oven. Then we called one of the men from the church, who has a taxi, and asked if he could pick us and the food up when we were ready to go out to the church. That detail taken care of, we decided to go out to the church awhile to begin cooking the vegetables. When we got there, we found out that we wouldn't be eating till about an hour later than what we'd thought. So we hung out at the church for about an hour till we had to go pick up the food. Right as we were getting ready to go, it began to rain. Now, around this time of year, often when it rains, it hails. That's just the way the weather is. Yeah, you guessed it. We were running through hail to the bus stop to pick up public transportation to get home to get the food out of the oven. Well, when we got to the bus stop at the bottom of the huge hill on which our house sits, there was no rain. (Not only is rain in Cusco accompanied by hail, it is also very spotty). But till the combi came to pick us up and take us up the hill, it was definitely raining. So we ran up the last bit of hill to our front door in the rain. After changing into dry clothes, we went to the oven with Hermano Satu in his taxi and collected all our various baking pans of chicken and potatoes. Covering them with blankets in the back of the taxi, we headed to the church. In a steady rain, we carried all of the pans to the church kitchen, where we covered them with blankets on the floor till we were ready to serve the food. Hurriedly, we dumped the vegetables in pots so they could boil and be ready by the time everyone was ready to eat. And then it was a mad, scurrying rush of serving and grabbing bites to eat and serving cake. And then it was time to clean up and wash all the dishes, which took us far into the night. Around 10:15, David came back with the church combi from taking the people from Huacarpay and Lucre back to their homes. We loaded in, all our dirty baking pans in tow to wash at home in the morning. We got home around 10:45, tired, with the feeling of having done our job pretty well and now wanting to get some shut-eye! Carrie (my roommate) declared quite emphatically that it will be a while before she cooks for that many people again. It was quite the adventure and tired us all out. It was fun, in a way, but I'm glad I don't have to do it every day. It was, however, a good roommate bonding experience. :)

Moments of Merriment and Mirth with a Mexican Christmas

Okay, I'll admit it. There are sometimes that I just want to laugh at my students. Today there were several of them in third grade. First of all, let me back up and say that we are studying Christmas around the world in both third and fourth grades right now. Last week, we spent the week in Sweden learning about St. Lucia's Day and Tomte (the Swedish Santa Claus) and their Christmas trees with edible decorations. We did several exciting projects. This week we're in Mexico learning about Las Posadas and manger scenes and how Mexican children put their shoes out so that the 3 kings can put gifts in them (I think my kids were somewhat grossed out by that little tidbit of information!). Today in fourth grade, we made a yummy Mexican dessert called Merengon. In third grade we're making piñatas out of balloons, newspaper and toilet paper. And of course paste. Lots and lots of paste. It wasn't a problem on my kitchen table...honest!
And then I took paste into third grade yesterday. Lucky for me, it's just flour and water...not a bad combination. Being the adult, orderly by nature, in my first year of teaching, never having done this with 20 kids in my charge before, it never occurred to me to have the kids bring in an old shirt or something they could use to cover themselves. The result of that was that yesterday, I had 20 kids covered in varying degrees by flour-water paste and a bunch washing out their uniform jackets during recess (the difference between American kids and Peruvian kids is that many Peruvian kids are used to washing clothes by hand). Let me just put a disclaimer on this: doing laundry during recess was completely their idea and was not provoked in any way by their English teacher. So I decided I'd get smart and tell the kids to bring in an old shirt today, for everyone's peace of mind. Well, anyone who's ever worked with kids knows how reliable their memories can be when you don't want them to be and how unreliable they can be when you want them to remember something. The end result of my announcement was about 5-7 old shirts appearing today. The rest of the kids somehow magically remembered when they walked in the school door today. Thus, I was barraged with numerous pronouncements of "Profe, I didn't bring my old shirt". I was contenting myself with just telling them "Then you'll have to be really careful not to get paste on you".
They, however, must not have been content with that (or else they didn't want to wash their uniforms by hand again). I must explain that I had given each one of them a plastic grocery bag with their name on it yesterday on which to lay their piñata as it was drying. When they came in from gym class, their piñatas were on their desks and their grocery bags were lying along the walls of the classroom so they could again place their sticky piñatas on them overnight. Jonatan was the first one to get the brilliant idea. He came up to me with his grocery bag on like an apron and said "Profe, can you tie this for me?" I marveled at his creativity. It took all of about 5 seconds for his idea to spread like wildfire through the entire class. Thus, while several were donning old shirts, numerous others were coming up to me saying "Profe, can you tie this?" Grocery bags, however, unfortunately, have an opening smaller than the waist size of your average Peruvian third grader, causing problems. And then Isaac came up with another brilliant idea. He stepped through the bottom of his grocery bag, pulling it up like a bathing suit, and putting the handles over his shoulders like straps. In the end, this (or variations of it) proved to be by far the most popular design. It didn't take long for me to have virtually 20 third graders decked out in the latest grocery bag fashions. In the midst of the madness, Ron entered to collect library books. Through the myriad rustle of plastic bags, I called "I have a class of artistic geniuses!" He looked at them, in various stages of plasticating themselves, and said "This was their idea?" I assured him I had had absolutely nothing to do with it, to which he laughed and replied "I need to get the camera!" Luckily I had mine too.
I had another interesting thing happen in third grade today - funny, yet thought-provoking too. I decided that since I'd gotten paste on myself as well (funny how that happens when you're working with kids but not when you're doing it by yourself at home...), I'd bring an apron today. So I brought this very old and thin Peruvian style apron that we have at home. I felt a little funny with it on, since I'm not accustomed to wearing aprons of any style - Peruvian or American. (Peruvian aprons, just for the record, cover the front and back and tie on the sides. In the front they have several big pockets. Most more traditional women wear them often. And I think pretty much anyone who sells in the market wears one.) The kids were at gym class when I put it on. When they came back, I met some of them in the hallway to tell them to enter the class calmly and orderly so we could get started right away on our project. Isaac ran up to me, gave me a hug and said "Profe, you look beautiful!" Later, Shally said the same thing. The only thing I can figure out is that this was the first time they'd seen me looking more Peruvian and they liked it! As I was working on putting on plastic bag aprons in the classroom Miriam came in. She came right up to me and, pretending I was a vendor in the market, asked "Do you have any tomatoes?" I played along "6 soles a kilo", I told her. "Do you have change for a 10?" she wondered. Then she wondered if I had potatoes. I told her I didn't. It was a strange, amazing and funny phenomenon all at the same time, how my kids reacted to me in the apron. I'll have to do further experiments with the apron in the future. I'm curious now. (Plus, it has nice big pockets which really come in handy as a teacher!)
Sometimes I just want to laugh. And now that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have a class full of artistic geniuses, I wonder how I can incorporate more artistic aspects into the class, especially in learning grammar.
The pictures are, from top to bottom: Isaac in his bag, Alejandra, Diana and Miriam in their bags, Bethany, Alejandra, Miriam, Yuli and Dany in their bags, Dany in his bag, Stefany and Saraí in their bags.

And so we are coming to the end...

The end is in sight. Not that I am desperately awaiting its arrival, but I can't help but realize that the school year is winding down. I have now handed in my last month planning and we are in the middle of our last unit both in third and fourth grades. It's a longer unit, since it covers the last 6 weeks of the school year instead of the normal 4-week units. And I decided to take advantage of everything that the kids are supposed to learn and make them into 2 units about Christmas around the world. Fourth grade's focus is food and third grade's focus is...well, varied. It includes meeting people, having sensory experiences, etc... We're doing a lot of craft-type projects, which the kids love. And when the kids love what they're doing, they behave better. Which makes me happier too. The rule of thumb that applies to moms also applies to teachers, I think. "When the teacher ain't happy, ain't nobody happy". So far at least, I think we'll end the year on a good note in both classes.
I'm teaching all my students a song that I learned as a child from a tape of Scripture verses in song that we had. It comes from Luke 2:11, 12: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find the baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger." The kids seem to be enjoying it. We've talked about what the words mean, but I really want to get to what the heart of the verse means as well. Jesus the Savior was born for us. He was born humbly. He was born as the promised one sent from God for us. I was very excited the other week when I introduced the verse to my fourth graders. I was telling them that this was the last verse and the last unit for the year. Ronaldo burst out "Awwwww.....this is the last verse?" He's always the first one to wonder when we're going to change the verse (which we do every month), so I've always thought that he didn't really enjoy them. But the disappointment in his voice and the fact that, when I asked him, he told me he wanted more verses, told me otherwise. It was good encouragement to keep going.
And then last week the first graders did a chapel for the whole school based on the armor of God. Over the summer, we worked for several months learning that passage in fourth grade. Since it was so long, we put motions to it and everything. So I decided to do a little review with them after chapel. We went through the entire verse and most of the kids seemed to remember it well. I was very impressed.
This past week we studied Sweden. Fourth grade made St. Lucia buns and third grade made a St. Lucia crown of candles out of paper plates and construction paper. I'll have to put pictures on here. There are definite maturity differences between the two classes (beyond just the fact that one is third grade and the other is fourth). Fourth grade has a much longer attention span, so they caught a lot more of what I was telling them. Next up is Mexico. Should be interesting.
It's been a good last few weeks. Yes, they've had their challenges, but things have been going much better lately than they were during the summer. I'm learning a lot. Teaching is definitely a very complex and delicate process. And it all seems to happen at 80 miles an hour.
5 weeks left. 5 busy weeks. 5 short weeks. 5 weeks of teaching and learning. It's hard to believe. The year has gone so fast. I can definitely feel God's help in so many ways. And yes, I can most DEFINITELY feel the prayers of so many people. Thank you! Here's to the final weeks of the school year.

Moments with my kids

I've had several moments with my kids the past week, ranging from funny to exciting, that I wanted to share.
First of all, I've realized again the value of the spelling bee practice I had when I was in middle school. I asked my fourth graders to bring in pictures of animals, since we're studying them this month. Sara brought in a picture of a bird she called a zarapito. I had no idea whatsoever what it was called in English. So I looked it up on the Internet, only to find that it is called a curlew in English. That wouldn't be funny, except that when I was in about 6th grade, I got out of a spelling bee because I spelled that word incorrectly. So when I saw it, it made me laugh. Sometimes I like to tell my fourth graders random stories. And they seem to enjoy it too. So I decided to tell them the story about the curlew. Well, when I told them, they surprised me and told me they wanted to have a spelling bee in class! So...we had a spelling bee in fourth grade last week and they seemed to love it. Who would've ever thought...maybe it will become an English class staple.
Then there was Jonatan on Friday. I'd brought in prizes for my third graders and told them that I was going to double check what all I had when I got home. If I was missing anything, I'd stop handing out tickets for good behavior until it was found (we've had difficulty with stealing at the school this year at times). At recess, I saw Shally and Jonatan talking. And then, Shally came up to me and gave me a sheet of stickers which I recognized from the prizes I'd bought the night before. "Jonatan wanted me to give you this", she explained. I called Jonatan over and told him that, though I wasn't happy with what he'd done, I was very proud of him for admitting it. We're trying to work on honesty and values in the kids at the school. It was some what of a miracle, very welcome, that Jonatan actually admitted what he'd done and made it right. It was encouraging.
And then today, I had to laugh in fourth grade. We have routines that we do every day and the kids know by this point, almost at the end of the year, what I say every day while we do these routines. Today, some of them decided that they knew them so well that they wanted to say them with me as we did them. So I had a chorus of little parrots saying what I was saying. It made me laugh, but it was also great practice for them.
So those are some of the "teacher moments" from the last week. Hope you can laugh with me as I enjoy the silly and wonderful things that my kids tend to come up with.

He carries the lambs in His arms

A verse that I've been thinking about a lot lately is Isaiah 40:11 - "He tends his flock like a shepherd. He carries the lambs in His arms and gently leads those that have young". I've got a lot of little lambs in my care that so desperately need to know the Father-love of the Good Shepherd. One of the phrases that many of my students have learned this year is "Do you need a hug?" While I'm not God and I don't always show them His love perfectly, I do have a wonderful, God-given pair of arms that has given hundreds of hugs this year.
Many of my students come from difficult home and family situations. Those that act up in class usually have deep emotional needs that fuel the behavior. For instance, there is Jonatan, who, until the last week or so that he has been living with his grandparents, was alone from about 6 AM till he came to school, then went home to an empty house, cooked lunch for himself, and spent the afternoon alone till his dad came home from work in the evening. His parents are separated and he's had experiences he should never have had to have in his short life. Dany and Lucero are brother and sister. They also go home to an empty house, because their mom works really hard selling in the market to make ends meet so they can attend PROMESA.
And then there are the ones who are living only with one parent. Like Yuli, Ibet, Alicia and Shally. And some other ones I'm sure I don't know about.
And then there are the ones whose parents are having marriage problems. The kids don't talk about that one very much, but sometimes I know of one or another. The one breaking my heart right now is Magna. Magna is one of my fourth graders - a precious, sweet, serious girl. She struggles in English, but lately, I've noticed her improving, at least in her participation in class and her ability to understand what I'm saying and translate it. The last week or so, she's been coming to school noticeably very sad. Wednesday we had a school outing to celebrate PROMESA's fourth anniversary. I noticed she looked upset, so I asked her "Magna, are you okay?" She told me she was sad. I asked her what was wrong. "Profe (that is what the kids call their teachers here, in general)", she said, "Have you ever lived with your parents fighting all the time?" My heart broke for her as I hugged her.
And yet, in my mind, I keep coming back to this verse. He carries the lambs in His arms. God is the one taking care of these little ones and He is the one who puts His arms around them when they are scared or sad or lonely or angry. I looked the verse up in Quechua this morning. Not that I understand that much Quechua, but sometimes I find it interesting to read verses in another language or version. It brings new light to the verses. More or less, between my little understanding and a handy-dandy Quechua-Spanish dictionary, I pieced together that this verse says that God carries the little ones in his arms, on his chest. As I thought about those phrases, it struck me as such a beautiful picture of intimacy and deep love. He carries them on his chest, right on his heart. Yes, Jesus carries my little ones on His heart. Even though I can't always be there when their parents are fighting or when they're lonely or sad or angry, Jesus is there carrying them on His heart. What a beautiful picture.
I also like the last phrase of the verse - "He gently leads those that have young". Okay, so I might not be a parent, but I feel like I have young, since I regularly have 33 in my care. Sometimes it feels overwhelming. And then there's Jesus, right there, reminding me that He is gently caring for those who have young. Like me. Like those who are parents. Like all who are responsible for the upbringing of little ones. There He is, shepherding, caring, comforting, being tender with those responsible for their young.
So lately, I've really loved this verse. It's such a beautiful picture of intimacy and God's help and concern for those who are vulnerable. No matter who on this earth lets them down, I want my students to know and learn that God is always there holding them to His chest and wrapping them in His arms.

A Rainy Snow Day and a Loooooong Bike Ride

Every once in a while, we have what we missionaries affectionately like to call "snow days". They are days when those who work in public transportation decide to go on strike for some reason or another (usually protesting the cost of living increases or other such things). They don't really do anything, honestly. But they keep happening anyway. Well, no one can get to school on those days, so we have off. Yesterday was a paro day, one we knew about in advance. So we decided to ride out to Lucre from San Jeronimo and back on bikes (approximately a 25 mile bike ride). Well...
We began our adventure at the bike rental place in San Jeronimo. There were 11 of us. And then the deaf-mute brother of one of the students at the school invited himself along. So there were 12. We rode out of San Jeronimo around 9, headed towards Saylla. We passed Saylla without any notable incidents and headed towards Tipon. My friend Illary and I got behind. At this point, she was on a bike too big for her, so she was going slower. So we were behind. And then I heard a noise like she was going to sneeze. And then I heard a noise like the bike crashed. So I stopped and sure enough, Illary was on the ground. She wasn't hurt, just a bit scared. So we managed to get her back on the bike, though it took some doing. And we headed into Tipon. Coming into Tipon, we saw people gathered on the street protesting who knows what. Illary was like "Oh no! What are we going to do? I'm going to have to get off my bike and how am I going to get back on?" Well, I dismounted and walked my bike through to the other side. Illary was going to use a low cement wall along the side of the road as support to climb back on her bike, but there were people sitting on it. A policeman noticed her predicament and offered to help. So she came out on the other side too and he helped her get back on her bike. To the sound of the cheers of people in Tipon, we rode off together to Oropesa. On the road between Tipon and Oropesa, as we laughed about the situation and Illary recovered her dignity, it began to rain. As we rode into Oropesa, we saw the rest of our group stopped along the side of the road at a bakery (Oropesa calls itself Peru's bread capital...and they do have really good bread). So we stopped. Rain showers in Peru usually don't last very long, so we figured we'd buy bread and wait out the rain. Which is what we did. Predictably, after about 10-15 minutes, the rain stopped and we began again. Shortly after leaving Oropesa, right after I had just told Ron (another missionary) "I really like this bike!", I began hearing a funny noise. Turns out there was glass on the road and a nice big sliver decided it was in the mood to puncture a tire. The deaf-mute brother (Joel) removed my tire, put it on his handlebars and began to ride out to Huacarpay, where we knew there was a tire place. Along came a taxi, so Illary (who was tired because now she was riding a bike that was way too small for her), flagged it down, hopped in, we put the bike in the back, and off she went to Huacarpay. The last mile or so, I rode the little bike to Huacarpay. By the time we got there, the tire was fixed and my bike was back in commission. We went from there to Lucre, where 3 of the youth from the Huacarpay Mennonite church joined us. We had a delicious meal of fresh fried trout at the house of Pastor Eloy, the pastor of the Lucre Mennonite church, who also has a fish farm.
While we were in Lucre, relaxing and enjoying our trout, it decided to rain. We decided to wait it out as long as we could. Just as we decided that we really needed to go to get back in time and started getting onto our bikes, the rain stopped. We made it back to Huacarpay without incidents and decided to split up on the way home so everyone could go at their own pace.
Coming in to Oropesa, Mari, Illary and I, who were all traveling together, met up with Shannon and Carrie. Apparently, the same patch of glass which had been the undoing of my tire earlier in the day, also decided that Shannon's tire looked pretty inviting. Luckily, there was a tire place in Oropesa as well, so she was getting her tire fixed. The 5 of us continued on to Tipon, without incident, then back to Saylla, where Shannon and Carrie went on ahead. By this time, Illary, on her wrong-size bike (too small), was exhausted. Mari was determined to get back to San Jeronimo, by hook or by crook, and I was determined to not leave Illary behind. So we became traveling buddies. By this time, it was getting dark. Between Saylla and San Jeronimo, it officially got dark and began to rain. But we were still determined. Walking for a lot of the time, waiting for Illary, and praying for protection, we arrived on the outskirts of San Jeronimo. We traded bikes one final time, Illary taking mine, which was much more her size, and me taking the little one. And so, at 7:00, we rolled into San Jeronimo and made it back to the bike rental place, exhausted and sore, but very much proud of ourselves and our accomplishment.
It was a great day, a day of learning how much determination can really do, a day of being the one determined not to leave someone behind, a day of enjoying adventures and rain and exercise and just doing something different. I'm not sure I'm necessarily ready to do another 25-mile bike ride again for a little while and I'm still tired, but it was definitely a great way to spend a "snow day". And a great sense of accomplishment.

Unexpectedness

I never quite know exactly what to expect when the kids come in the mornings and I start interacting with them. Who's in a good mood? Who needs a hug? Who's crying and why? What will the day be like in third grade? What are my kids going to say in class? It all changes from day to day. This week I had lots of those unexpected moments.
Tuesday and Wednesday were great days with third grade. After a frustrating last few months, it was a blessing to be able to go home at the end of the day and say "Wow, I had a great day with third grade today!". One of the most encouraging parts of that was that they behaved excellently while I read them a skit about Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel that I am hoping to do with them, since we're studying entertainment this month. Unexpected. Wonderful. An answer to prayer. And I am reminded again that God is good and hears my cries to Him.
Thursday was my brother's birthday. I casually happened to mention it to my fourth graders. And they got all excited and wanted to write him a letter. So we spent half of our English class time composing a letter to Ben and taking a picture of us to put with it. Looking at the pictures tonight that Marysol patiently took for me, I realized how hard it is to get 13 kids to all look at the camera at the same time with all their faces showing. (Yes, I can hear all of you parents laughing right now). Oh, and don't tell anyone how many kids we fit on a sliding board at once. I counted 8. There aren't rules about things like that here.
Thursday was also Meylin's birthday - one of my third graders. So I went to third grade during recess. We sang to her and ate a cake that her mom had brought in. It was a fun but unexpected treat which we all enjoyed.
Another funny unexpected moment this week was Elias (the only boy sitting at the top of the slide in this picture) deciding to call kangaroos "I don't understands". I off-handedly, just for fun, explained to fourth grade the other day that kangaroo, in the language of the Australian aborigines, means "I don't understand". Apparently, at least according to what I've heard, the first English to come to Australia asked what this crazy jumping animal was called. The Aborigines, of course, understood as much English as the Englishmen understood of their language and replied "kangaroo" - I don't understand. The result of this classic Babel moment is that the name stuck and thus we have the kangaroo. It made me laugh the other day when Elias pointed to a picture of a kangaroo and said "Look, Miss Bethany! It's an 'I don't understand'!"
Today I had another unexpected moment when Jonatan decided to chew on his colored pencil lead and paint his mouth different colors...again. Today it was orange and then black. I thought we'd gotten over that. Apparently, I was overly optimistic on that one. That was a not-so-pleasant unexpected moment. Yes, there are definitely that kind too!
These unexpected moments are what make teaching interesting, fun and special and keep me on my toes. They are the spice of life in an elementary school. Mostly, I enjoy them. Well, the good ones anyway. Many times, these unexpected moments are what allow me to see the humanness in my students and see them again, not as little minds to fill with as much knowledge as possible in the few hours I have, but as great little people. These little bits of time in my day knock my brain off its task-oriented track and remind me again how much I love these kids. And many times in these moments I see God's grace and hand at work.
So thank You God for the unexpected and for sending it into my day to help me see again with Your eyes.

Little miracles

It's the little miracles that happen every once in a while that convince me that we're not working in vain and that some day these kids really can grow up to be strong men and women of God. Like yesterday.
I walked in to third grade during recess and the kids were eager to announce to me that Alejandra was crying (Honestly, in third grade, I have 21 pairs of eyes....mine and 20 other pairs always jumping to tell me when they see something). I asked why and somehow they all knew that Lucero had said something about Alejandra's dad and that's why she was crying (news travels fast in third grade as well). So I went to talk to the two girls. Alejandra was indeed crying...maybe sobbing is a better word. Through tears she managed to tell me that Lucero had said something mean about her dad and she was very hurt. Lucero then told me that Alejandra had said mean things about her, although she couldn't remember what at first. So we talked about saying nice things to each other and how we need to be kind in our words and actions, etc. I wrote a note home to Lucero's parents and Alejandra seemed to be feeling better, so I left them to their own devices.
I had brought a birthday cake in to celebrate two birthdays that hadn't gotten recognized yet. I told Lucero that because of what happened between her and Alejandra, she couldn't have a piece of cake. So we sang and then I began to cut the cake. We distributed pieces to the students one by one. When Alejandra came to take her piece, she said "I'll take Lucero's piece too". I reminded her that I had told Lucero she couldn't have a piece because of what had happened. "Oh no," she told me "We said we're sorry and forgave each other. It's okay now". (No, I didn't ask them to do that). I could tell she really meant it. "Okay," I said. "So do you want Lucero to have a piece of cake?" She paused to think it over for a second. "Yes", she replied, and went back to her seat with the two pieces of cake in her hands, one for her and one for Lucero.
Silently, inside, I was amazed and rejoicing. We're trying to teach our students to respect each other and be like Jesus, but so often it seems like a losing battle because the way of the cross is so counter-human and counter-cultural. Every once in a while I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and God gives me hope. It's in those little miracles that I see that God really is working and that all of this is not in vain. Go God!

Ideas...

It seems odd to me that at least twice now, I have gotten good ideas that worked for my third grade class while in the middle of corporate prayer and worship. I could understand it if it was just me and God and I'm asking for the ideas. But while I'm supposed to be concentrated on praying with a group or worshipping? Well, I'm still trying to figure that one out.
But they come anyway, unbidden, filling my mind with plans and thoughts and wondering if they really will work.
And then this morning I had another idea. A big one. Really big. What if I write scripts for my third graders and we make our own TV programming, based on Bible stories? That's what our next unit is about. It sounds like fun...at least to me. A lot of work, but definitely fun.
These ideas are exciting. I enjoy them. They make me energized and excited. But they're also kind of scary. What if they don't work? What if I'm overestimating my students? What if they're too big?
And yet, you never really know until you try. You can live life doubting, scared and never willing to step out and act on things. Or you can grab life by the horns and take everything out of it that you possibly can, trusting in God to take over where you come to an end.
And so I take the leap of faith and trust that there are arms bigger, a creativity larger, a God wiser and more loving than I can possibly know. A God who is big enough to give me big dreams and ideas and big enough to help me make them happen. A God who is stronger and wiser than I am. A God who is more amazing than I can imagine.
Cause at the end of the day, no matter what happens or doesn't happen in English class, that's what really matters. So Jesus, I trust in You. I trust in Your goodness. I trust in Your strength.

crazy times...

Sorry it's been so long...
The last few weeks have been crazy and I have had neither time, energy nor motivation to write on here. Okay, so the last you knew was that there was a possibility that one of the teachers would leave PROMESA. Sadly, that happened, for reasons beyond anyone's control. It was hard to see her go. We're hoping she'll be able to come back next year and teach again. 2 days before Luz left, Leo walked in off the street, said he'd heard that we were looking for a teacher and wondered when he could schedule an interview. It just so happened that Ron had free time right then (some sort of minor miracle), so they did the interview on the spot. To make a long story short, we now have a new third grade teacher and Ron has some male companionship on the teaching team.
The downside to Luz leaving (besides the fact that she isn't here anymore) is that it was very hard for the kids. Because of all the uncertainty that accompanied her leaving, the students didn't actually even know until the morning of her last day. I think that made it even harder for them. They expressed a lot of feelings of rejection, fear, anger, sadness, and insecurity over the days following her leaving. Some of those feelings came out in increased measures of bad behavior. The first week was the worst and they've been gradually getting better since then.
I think it's been a combination of many things that have made the last few weeks difficult. The middle of the year has come and gone. Things that have been bugging me over the last few months (talking in class, not doing homework, playing with things in their desks during class, etc) have built up to a frustration level. One of my students has some emotional and behavioral needs that are beyond what I can help in the middle of class with 20 students. I'm spending a lot of time working and planning. I'm tired.
And yet, in the middle of all this, I have found God's grace to be so great. I have been amazed and in awe of it so many times. I have been finding new depths of grace as I need more of it. And it has been beautiful.
This past week has been easier. I had a very relaxing weekend. I got a lot of exercise, which felt good. I got a guitar, so I've been playing and worshipping with that this week. And then, on top of that, on Monday and Wednesday, there was a transportation strike and we didn't have school either day. Those two days, I had some time to spend with friends and get some things done. And I had a break from nixy kids. So I am feeling better and I feel like I have more hope.
September is here. And with it comes the rainy season and the coming of spring. I felt today like maybe with the coming of a new season outside will come a new season in the classroom as well.
So I will keep pressing on and living in the middle of God's grace, learning more about Him.