Hi Bridget's friends and blog followers! This is Brie. BK and I have been friends for almost 20 years! We both have a blog, so we thought it would be fun to guest post on each other's for a day. If you'd like to follow my blog, just go to www.brieg.blogspot.com.
Yesterday at mass, our priest was talking about being appreciative and giving thanks. Most of us who grew up with manners say "thank you" to someone when they hold open a door, buy us a meal, or do something nice for us. Too often, though, we forget to say "thanks" to the people we are closest to in life. Did you tell your mom how much you appreciate the cookies she made for you? Did you express gratitude to your friend for meeting you on short notice to have coffee? Did you tell your dad how much you like your new fire pit that he built for you?
It's amazing how we can be so polite to strangers, and yet sometimes forget to express our gratitude to the ones we love the most.
So, here are a few things I'd like you to thank God for today:
-the clean air you're breathing
-the warmth of the sun (or perhaps a nice, cozy sweater)
-the clean water you're drinking, using to shower, and using for your laundry
-the food you have to eat - you have so many options!
-the money you have in your bank account - it's obviously enough to start an account
-the opportunities you have had so far in life - education, church, social interaction, etc.
-freedom
-people who sacrifice their time and energy so that others can grow, have freedom, get healthier, etc.
-sunsets & sunrises
-the chance to start over each day
-(one of my personal favorites) a nice bed to sleep on, so that you will wake up refreshed each day
My students are the most beautiful little people and I just adore them!
Yesterday during calendar I read them the story of Samson in our children's bible. We talked about Samson having pelo largo (long hair) and being very fuerte (strong). Maria Jose took this as an opportunity to show some of the boys in the class how big her muscles are. She was flexing and just had the biggest smile on her face. This girl is a spit-fire and very sassy! She lives in the orphanage and typically plays with the boys. She is always schooling them in whatever physical activity they may be doing. Today as I read our bible story the question "What do you want to be when you grow up" popped up. Most of the girls said they wanted to be teachers and a few said nurses. It came as no surprise when Maria Jose raised her hand and said "policia!" That girl is going places! I can't wait to come back to Honduras in twenty years and see Maria in her police uniform. Then one of my boys said "Miss King"...that gave me a good laugh!
Teaching is the most AMAZING job in the entire world!! I get so excited everyday to see my students learning and participating more in classroom discussions. Yesterday as we were doing calendar I asked Jose Alberto (star helper for the week) to tell me what color our next circle would be. He looked at the number pattern and finally said "green, miss". When I asked him how he knew he pointed to the yellow circle and then to the green one that came after that! It's all about those moments. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it!
Even though I don't speak Spanish and barely understand anything my students say, they still talk to me every day. They act things out for me and they get so excited when I understand what they're saying. Many days they will teach me words in Spanish, it takes me awhile to get it but they are so patient with me! A few days ago Marcela explained the difference between nina and mujer. She said "Miss, tu mujer...Miss Varela es a mujer...yo nina." It was absolutely adorable! Even when I get frustrated with them and raise my voice to get them to sit in their seats or listen to me, they still leave school with a hug and a smile for me. If only all of us could have the unconditional love of a child. It's pretty incredible!
Last night as I walked to the store I heard a little boy yelling "Miss King, Miss King!" When I looked up I saw little Anyelo running to me. He just slammed into me and gave me a giant hug. I caught him cherry bombing lunch boxes in the hallway earlier that day and he got into big trouble for that. I actually thought it was funny to see lunch boxes go flying through the air from my classroom window, but he had to be punished. Even though I was stern with him he still ran to me like that. I just love that little boy!
I'm so grateful God has called me to a profession that gives me so much joy! Everyday something wonderful happens in my classroom that reinforces why I became a teacher in the first place. That is the most wonderful gift I could ask for.
Please continue to pray for me! I need help with being more patient and understanding with my students. I also need to find more creative ways to reach them because right now they are only understanding about 10% of what I say. That's frustrating for all of us. I know things will continue to improve and I'm excited for the possibilities ahead!
"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness, and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure" -- Emma Golmam
Andrew had a rough day at school last week and wasn't in high spirits so I told him I would go home and send him some jokes to make his day better. I decided to send him a bunch of "You Might be a Redneck if..." jokes. My absolute favorite :)! That gave him the idea to do a blog on "You Might be in Honduras if..." These are the things he came up with...
1) When asking where something is, people respond by making kissy faces at you.
Well, not AT you exactly. When pointing at something, it is customary down here to point with your lips rather than our finger. This is VERY disconcerting if you are not from around here. Especially when your students do it to point at the chalkboard behind you.
2) Clothes hung on the line to dry, when left out in the rain, are considered to have an extra rinse.
Because honestly, it's just too much work to wash them again. They'll be a bit stiff, but at least they don't smell bad anymore.
3) When looking at a dog in the street, you wonder what's going on with it.
Nobody spays or neuters dogs down here. Being a spoiled gringo, I'm used to pedigree, clean cut (in more ways than one) canines kept on leashes. Here they wander free, keep to their own packs and territories, and scare the living daylights out of anyone who walks past their house at night. The blind corners on the doorways get you every time. Thank goodness most doors have fly screens and wrought iron gates.
4) The sound of distant gunfire late at night seems normal to you. What is this, downtown Baltimore city? Apparently two major families in the city are feuding and things have become a bit edgy of late. They aren’t looking for gringos, but it’s still best to keep indoors after 9 in the evening.
5) You have a high speed internet connection and no running water.
I think I’m down to only three or four showers a week, depending on how much work I have in the evening. Honestly you sweat so much at night there almost isn’t any point in showering in the evening, you just end up waking up as filthy as you were when you got home. I would make an effort to shower more, but we just cleaned out the pila two days ago, and the water stopped running just as we started to refill it. If we want to be able to flush the toilet and do the dishes until we get water again, sacrifices must be made. On the plus side, all the dirt helps to keep the sun off. (***This last part doesn't apply to my house, but it's funny so I kept it in!)
Happiness is a conscious choice not an automatic response.
This morning I was trying to make an egg for breakfast. When I went to check on it I realized it wasn't getting cooked at all. I felt the burner with the tip of my finger and realized it wasn't on at all. Then I felt it with the palm of my hand and realized it wasn't even the slightest bit warm. I turned on another burner to see if it worked, but it wasn't heating either. At this point I figured we had lost power, so I went to check my internet connection and I had one. So, I went back over to the stove and just banged my right hand down on the burner to try and wedge it into the stove top more. NOT SMART! The burner had turned on (there must be a short on the stove) and burned my hand! OUCH!!! Not a good feeling! At first I thought it wasn't that bad and I just ran cold water over it, but soon I was in pretty bad pain. Michelle had gone to mass so I was home alone. I called my neighbor Andrew to see if he had any burn cream. Luckily he was home and said he has some stuff I could use. Once I got to his house he was surprised to see that I had a rag covering my whole hand. When I took it off he said "OMG Bridget, that's bad! I thought you just grazed the pan with your finger. I'm going to get Peggy". At that point Jeff woke up. He got me a bucket of water to soak my hand in and started cracking jokes right away. In no time I was laughing and not focusing so much on the pain. Then Peggy and Maki came over to help and Lacey woke up as well. Now I had five wonderful people helping me and doing whatever they could to make me feel better. Peggy and Maki ran to the pharmacy to see what to do, but it wasn't open. Jeff had a book called "When There is No Doctor" and that determined that I had indeed gotten a second degree burn. No one had ever treated a second degree burn so Peggy went home to call her mom who is an infectious disease doctor. While she was gone Jeff put "Hook" in for me to help keep my mind off my hand. When Peggy got back she said I had to take my hand out of the water to dry it out, which I was DREADING -- that's when I felt the most pain! Her mom said it was important for the healing process. After Peggy gave me all the info I needed she made all of us some french toast :) - how nice! Michelle got back from Mass around this time and she had some actual burn cream I could put on it, which definitely helped with the pain level. The aspirin Andrew had given me was also kicking in around this time. Peggy's mom said the pain would be really bad for the first two hours and still hurt for four more after that. She was right! It's been almost twelve hours now and after having the burn cream applied, taking a two hour nap, and eating some dinner that Michelle made for me :), I feel much better!
Here is a picture of the damage done:
This picture was taken six hours after the burn first happened. It's hard to see the blisters in the picture but you can definitely see the grid marks from the stove top across my hand.
I am so thankful that I only injured my hand. Today made me realize how much pain people go through that burn their entire bodies. I'm lucky it was only a second degree burn and I wasn't in pain for too long. It should be healed in about a week, which in wonderful! I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people here. I don't know what I would have done without them today!
I definitely learned my lesson and will not be touching anymore stove tops!
"It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another." -George MacDonald
My classroom is quickly becoming a full blown musical. My little guys have the shortest attention span of any class I have ever taught. That is due to a few things; most of my students being 5 years old and the fact that 95% of them don't understand any English. I try to remind myself of these key points daily when I'm ready to scream and rip my hair out because I'm so frustrated. So, I decided to change a few things up in my room to grab their attention! In the mornings they were taking 15-20 minutes to get their things unpacked while screaming and yelling the whole time. Since there are so many of them it would take me a solid five minutes to get them settled down. This is ridiculous! Now I'm starting to play a Greg and Steve song called "Good Morning" and they have the length of the song (about two and a half minutes) to get all of their things unpacked. I'm starting an individual sticker reward system on Monday--when a student receives twenty stickers they get a prize. Right now that will either be a book mark or a piece of candy. The first student to get their things ready for the day will receive a sticker. That goes for the afternoon too. When it's time to pack up and go home I play "The Freeze" by Greg and Steve. Every time the music stops they HAVE to freeze. They still only have the length of the song to get packed up. It's so fun to watch them dance around the room to get ready. Surprisingly the kids are more calm when they pack up this way too -- it's a win win situation! Here is a little video clip from this afternoon for your enjoyment :)
I also started singing lots of transition songs to get them moving on to the next subject. When it's time for calendar I sing "Are you ready, are you ready, first grade, first grade?" Then they respond "Yes we are, yes we are" and then I say "come sit down, come sit down". Sung to the tune of Frere Jacques. For Math I say "Give me an M (they repeat M), give me an A, etc." I still haven't come up with something for English and Science but that's one of my weekend projects. I have to be as high energy and enthusiastic as I can all day just to keep my students at bay. I know once they start learning more English things will get easier, but right now it's definitely a challenge.
My students took their first spelling test today. I knew more than 75% of them would flunk a traditional spelling test (where the students number their papers 1-10 and spell out all of their words). Instead I gave them a test I created. There were ten rows with three words in each row. I orally told them the words and then used them in sentences. The students then had to circle the correct word in the row. All of their words were part of the "an" family. Dan, man, pan, van, ran, etc. We have been going over these words for about thirty minutes a day all week. Which is why I was so sad when over ninety percent of my students failed the test. They are much lower academically than I was expecting. So now it's on to plan B. Monday I am going to start reviewing letter names and sounds with them and work our way up from there. My biggest goal is to have them reading by the end of the year and I'll do whatever it takes to get them there.
We had our first mass today and it was really cool to see. We will have an all school mass once a month. Today it was only 1st-6th grades but starting next month the kinder (preschool) and prepa (kindergarten) will also be joining us. The mass is held under our concha where the kids also eat their lunch. There are only a few chairs out there so students have to bring their chairs from the classroom. It was so cute to see my little first graders carrying chairs on their heads. It also made me really nervous because a few of them accidently banged their neighbor. Luckily we had no serious injuries. Here are a few pictures of them:
Kids getting ready to head outside
Katherine
Jose Francisco
Aren't they just adorable?!?!
Here is a little video of one of the songs we sung today at the mass. I love how lively masses are here.
I have a little girl in my class named Amanda who is constantly off task and not doing what she's suppose to. She has these super thick glasses that are never all the way on her face and she always looks very confused. Most days I just have to laugh at how out of the loop she is. Today was no exception. When the kids were packing up to go home I found Amanda on the floor by her desk just hanging out. She had made her religion paper into her own personal fan. She was chatting away as she fanned herself off. I had my camera out because I was taking the video clip I posted above. When I said "Amanda!" (wanting her to get her stuff packed up and not be playing around), she ran over and posed for a picture -- with the fan she should have never made in the first place. Ayiyi that child! But of course I had to take a picture once she was there, because it was too funny to pass up. Here she is:
Mom, thank you for the care package! I LOVE the sheets you sent. They make my room look so much more homey:
And I gobbled all of those peanuts right up. I'm enjoying the last few in the can as I write this blog:
Tomorrow I'm going to wash out the can, cover it with construction paper, and make it into a pencil holder for my desk at school. I love things that have multiple purposes!
Oh, and I'm going to cover the boxes you sent with construction paper too, and use them for my books at school. My students will be very appreciative!
One of the things my parents wanted me to do this year was create a blog for them. They wanted me to record videos of the songs we sing in class and the spelling and vocab words we're learning each week. A big thank you to my Aunt Monica for translating my first post for me :)! Here is what I created:
http://missking2.blogspot.com/
Please ignore my horrendous singing and get a good laugh at how silly I look. I only have one song up so far, but I'm going to try and record the rest of them this weekend. Next week I will start going over spelling and vocab words. Should be interesting!
On a more personal note I am currently reading "The Noticer" and I absolutely love it (thanks Julie)! It's a book about perception, and how changing the way you think about and see things can change your life. If you happen to pass it in a bookstore I would definitely pick it up. In the first chapter a man named "Jones" says:
"Everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you'll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what's a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination - our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life's next peak"
Ah, I just love it! It's such a wonderful analogy and so very true!
In another part of the book he is helping a man who is suffering from depression and this is what he tells him to do:
"On a notepad, I want you to list things in your life that you are grateful for. You can list names, objects, feelings...anything. Remember to list clean sheets and a roof over your head--knowing there are millions who spent the night without either. As you eat breakfast or skip it, remember the millions who have none. Be generous and creative as you list the many things you have to be grateful for, young man. Don't be shy about writing the same ones down every day...You will be grateful! After all, the seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart"
I hope this makes all of you think about the many wonderful blessings you been given in your own lives. I know if I wrote down everything I was grateful for I could probably fill hundreds of notebooks!
