March 11, 2006
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March 7, 2006
Heather told Tele that we had two big problems. One, Carol went home crying today, and another is Mateus is not listening in school. Then, she added, Carol went home crying because she could not come back for the afternoon class, and Mateus was not listening in school (during the morning when he attends a different school) because he kept asking his teacher how to say things in English and she didn’t knowJ. I can handle those kind of problems.
I just finished washing my clothes. Solzinha. We don’t have a washing machine here at the moment, so it is by hand. I consider myself quite the expert since I washed my own clothes for three months last trip. I also still manage to get myself just as wet as the clothes when I wash them.
Sometimes it is difficult. Today I bought some flip-flops and the lady was trying to explain to me something about the change but I could not understand, so she gave me “the look.” The “You are dumb but I will be nice since you are a rich American” look. I hate it. I think I dislike the patronizing part even more than them thinking I am dumb. Bleh. Or things like taking the bus so I can use the internet, forgetting where the place is and temporarily freaking out, then finding that we only have one computer to use and three people need to use it. I really really miss instant internet access.
March 11
“You are limiting God by expecting of Him only what you can imagine.” Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The second week of school. Wow. I think we’ve changed and modified it as much as we did the first week. The good news is that we are finding out what works and what does not work. The great news is that my curriculm finally came. Yep, I was making it up and praying “Dear God don’t let them know I don’t know what I am doing!” I really like the new plans and am excited about implementing them next week. The mornings are pretty set and regular now, except Karine got strep throat and so we were scrambling to cover her spot…meaning I was left alone for large amounts of time with three kids under 5 who barely understand me and I normally don’t understand. The secret of my success? Smile and nod. It normally satisfies preschoolers, unless they just asked “Can I go jump in the pool teacher?” but they haven’t caught on to my cluelessness yet, so I am fine.
As for the afternoons, Monday I had one student, Friday I had 11. three cheers for flexility. Afternoons are only two hours and that includes snacktime, so it goes pretty quickly. but I have to admit that after teaching “How are you, I’m fine thank you, my name is, good afternoon, please…” I felt like I was running out of words in the English language. Smile. This week we worked on shapes and colors. After school on Thursday I felt like I never wanted to say “circle” again in my life. After teaching it for 6 hours…bleh. Words get ugly.
I really like my students. Sometimes I get weird looks, but for the most part, they are all willing to repeat after me, and I must say that is very fulfilling to hear them say “bye-bye teacher!” dragging their backpacks to the door at the end of the day. My afternoon class has a 3 year old, a couple 5 year olds, a couple 7 year olds, and then two 9 and 10 year old boys. Oh, gotta love ‘em. On Friday the main word they learned was “crazy” in English. Bruno and Joao. Check out their picture and the others on my weblog (www.xanga.com/rwinzeler).
Compassion. I need God to teach me. Class was over and I was escaping to my daily walk (I call it my survival walk. By 4pm my head is a blur and I find that walking sorts my brain out) when this man came into the Alcance driveway towards me. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and noticed he was dressed like, well, we’d call him a bum in the
In the Bible I am in the middle of Numbers and thoroughly disgusted with the Isrealites. They are quite pathetic. And then I remember me and my issues. Perhaps the Isrealites are in the Bible to let me know I am not alone in my struggles. Yep.
Teaching kids is teaching me how to live life today. Because no matter how much I plan, you have to take it as it comes. Kids refuse to be predictable. So instead of looking at my week, I now look at the next two hours of class time and wonder “So God, what do you have for us now? Just help me through this class.” Don’t ‘cha love it?
Sometimes I sit and wonder if love is really worth it. Loving people is rather exhausting. so often it is a nusance and a pain. But those are also the times I sit and wonder if life is worth it…so I am feeling rather depressed at that moment anywaysJ. Of course love is worth it. And you know what? I think it is the pain and nusance that MAKES it worth it. Love is a choice, and because the choice is hard (at times) it makes it more valuable. If love was simply a thought of “well, there is nothing else to do, so I might as well love you” then love would be pathetic. But the point is, there is always other choices. The choice to hate, to be apathetic, to ignore—or to find a substitute. There are always substitutes for love—always someone else available or something else to do. But the beauty of love is that I choose YOU. Okay, end of whimsical moment.
(David’s part) “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. (God’s response) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.” Psalms 32:7-8
