This is a picture of people getting ready for Carnival - a celebration of water - which includes throwing water balloons at women for a month beforehand!Well friends, yes, time DOES fly... as evidenced by the large gap between my last blog post and now! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated! Please forgive me. Because it has been so long, and it is getting late, I will just give little highlights of the past month (roughly).
*Note: the points may not be in chronological order :)
~ Overall, teaching has been going well. It took a little while for the students to adjust to me and stop testing me, but once they learned that my rules were pretty much the same as their teacher's, and that I expected them to obey, they began to "settle in". The Lord's timing really is perfect, because in Bible we have been learning about the Israelites and how they chose to disobey God (after receiving the ten commandments, and when Moses hit the rock to get water instead of speaking to it, like God told him to do). This theme has been perfect for reminding the students of the necessity of obeying, and how there are consequences when they disobey (and positive consequences when they do obey).
One of the school's School spirit Fridays - here we are dressed up as movie characters... can you tell who I am?~I'll give you a few highlights of what I have taught (not necessarily my original ideas, however): We learned about weather/water in science, and it was fun to do different experiments with water! Science can be so much fun in elementary school! On the back window, they painted a mural of the water cycle, which was pretty cool. In Social Studies we began learning about homes - different kinds of houses, what they are made of, why they are important, etc. The students made a model of their houses with boxes, and we took a tour of the school to find out what the buildings are made of (grass, wood, brick, adobes, stones - a surprisingly large variety!). In math we learned about time, fact families, and most recently, measurement (inches, centimeters, liters, kilograms, cups, etc.). I think that reading is one of my favorites... In language arts last week the students performed a play of The Three Little Pigs in two different groups. They had fun, and so did I! I love their little Spanish accents :) Afterwards, they wrote their own version of the story - The Four Little Pigs.
These are the girls in Monday night Bible study (though the girl next to me, Valerie, has since gone home to Canada).~STORY TIME: Heh heh... let me tell you about my water jug experience. We can't drink the water here, so we get bottled water (20 L) delivered to our houses. Well, I have had help replacing old bottle before, but one Saturday afternoon I decided that I would do it myself. I've climbed mountains, bushwacked trails, and swam around an island, so I should be able to simply turn a bottle of water over onto a stand, right? WRONG. The trick is to turn the bottle over as quickly as possible to minimize the water splashing or spilling. Well, because of my lack of height and leverage (the bottle stand is on a table), I stood on a chair. When I thought that I had mentally prepared myself to turn over the bottle, I got a firm grasp around the bottle and flipped it over. Somehow in this split-second process, I lost my "firm grasp" around the bottle, and it tumbled to the floor. For some strange reason the plastic is not as strong here as it is in the U.S... and I ended up with 20 Liters of good water on my floor. All I could do, my friends was laugh. And then attempt to scoop the water out my door with a plastic folder. HA!
On the playground after our chapel.~ More stories... So I have this little boy in my class (the same one who I had to confine to one little hug a day - and who has wanted a kiss from me before). Well, one day, when all of the students were getting ready to go home, what should I see but this little boy crouching over by the cubbies with his backpack. I asked him what he was doing, and he asked me if I would have everyone leave the room for one minute. I thought this was a rather strange request, so I asked him WHY he wanted me to do this. He simply repeated his request. I repeated my response. I went over to him and asked him if there was something in his backpack. He just looked at me with a strange look on his face. I finally began to open his backpack, and inside he showed me a heap of little rubber cars/boats/airplanes that are from a center. Apparently this precious little boy had been slowly stashing the little toys in his backpack all day long. I asked him why he did this and he replied, "I jus lof bhoats". He HAS been on a crasze about the Titanic lately. Of course, I had to explain to him that he was stealing - taking something that was not his. O brother. I couldn't believe it.
~I planned and led the first grade chapel last Thursday. The students performed a little play of when Moses disobeyed God by hitting the rock instead of speaking to it to get water. They each had one line, and they did a great job! I was so proud. It was fun, but I was glad when it was over. Afterwards, we had a "tea" with the parents on the playground.
~ We missed two days of school towards the end of February, because of a bus strike (roughly translated for you). It was nice to have a couple days to take a break!
~ Last Friday I finished my last full day of teaching, though I still taught this week, and will teach a little more after Easter break. Today I had parent-teacher interviews. They went well, and the Lord gave me the clarity of thought, energy, and confidence that I needed. I don't know why I was surprised; He promises to give us everything that we need.
~ Tomorrow (Thursday) begins field days, so we don't have normal days of school. I will be leaving tomorrow night to take a bus to La Paz with a teacher friend for Easter break. I am going to visit some missionaries from my church (Parkside), and help them out, along with the team who is there right now from Parkside. I am excited to see a different place, and when I come back I WILL be sure to update you! Only THREE more weeks left until I come home! AAGH!
Like I said... time flies... when you're having fun. I guess that's a good sign :)
Thanks for reading, and until next time,
KP
