Esta Bien

Weekends are sacred.  I am praising God today for days of rest!

Just wanted to quick update you all.  I had a much better week this week.  (This was Week 3 of teaching).  I'm getting in the swing of things, and so are my students.  The attachment and love is growing between me and them, the respect is growing, and we're getting the routine down.  I'm also feeling better--though I'm still congested every morning which is annoying, sleeping better (and naturally--without the use of cold medicine), having more non-school related dreams, and am getting used to the craziness of managing and teaching and planning for a group of 6-year olds (9 boys and 5 girls) that are all at such different language and academic levels. 

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but all of my students are ESL.  Though some of their parents speak a little English, or even speak English fluently, the first and primary language for all of my students (and parents) is either Spanish or Japanese.  I have Natalia, who is new to the school and pretty clueless to what I'm saying most of the day (but is catching onto the routine and displaying her understanding of what we're doing a little bit...sometimes), and then it goes all the way up to Joaquin, whose dad is either from the states or lived there for a bit and knows English, and Joaquin has been learning English since pre-K at the school.  He speaks English very weel, is at an H/I reading level, is a helpful translator for his peers, has complex and very advanced thoughts/ideas, and is just way ahead of the rest academically. 

It'll be a difficult year, that's for sure, but I'm looking forward to it.  There have already been so many highlights, rewarding moments, funny quotes, "I love you's," hugs, and even a kiss on the cheek from Joaquin yesterday at the end of the day! (Shocked me a little, but I guess it's normal here for kids to kiss you on the lips even!  I saw his lips ready for a smooch, so I just leaned down and turned my face to the side...haha). 

This week I also felt like I could start taking on other things and not wrapping my whole life in teaching and planning, which was wonderful.  I played volleyball after school Wednesday with some other teachers and a few middle school/high school students which was like a breath of fresh air...it felt SO good to exercise and have fun with other teachers and not be working in my room till 5 or later.  And then later on we had the kick-off meeting to our women's Bible study and we had almost all of the women teachers at the school come, which was great.  It was so great to fellowship and eat fajitas and lemon bars and drink tea.  We decided we're going to study the book of 1 John.  I think Wednesdays will be my favorite. : )

This Thursday after school, Jess and I are going to start Spanish lessons with the Kindergarten aide, Orieta.  She is anxious, ready, and excited to teach us, which is awesome, and she is charging us the equivalent of about $3.50 a week for lessons.  So nice!

Starting not this Monday, but the following Monday I will start tutoring some of my students after school.  Some of my students are so low in English, I feel I am not the best tutor for them so I'm going to see if they can get some help from one of the ESL teachers.  But there are a couple students that speak English pretty well but need academic help that I can definitely provide for them.  I really like working one-on-one or in a small group with students, so though it'll be more work and planning to take this on as well, I am looking forward to it and hoping it'll help those individuals and begin to bring them up to speed with the rest of the class.

Yesterday after school was an adventure and a lot of fun.  Bekah and I went to immigration with Monica (our last step in the process).  All we had to do was fill out a form and Monica had other paperwork and money for us to give them.  They took our folders of stuff with our passports and wrote on papers and stamped things and we were all set after only about an hour there, which was a blessing.

So since Bekah and I were in the city (Calacoto, where we live is not "really" the city..or "downtown"..and neither is Mallasilla, where the school is..that's even further out), we decided it'd be fun to eat out in the city so we met up with Sarah, Scott, Becky, Bjorlie, Becca, Ali, Joy, and Jess at an Asian restaurant in a section of the city called Sopacachi at 7 for some amazing food!  But before that, we had time to kill and we were hungry for something little to tide us over till dinner (it was like 5), so Monica gave us directions to a donut shop that we keep hearing is the best place to go for a good donut (and for those of you that don't know, i LOVE donuts..haha), but we got lost and couldn't find it :(  We ended up going to Alexander's, which is a coffee chain around the city that's kind of like Starbucks (even has free wifi!), and I got a cookie and Bekah got a muffin.  We were sitting in there for awhile just talking and then trying to figure out where to go/how to kill time, and Bekah teaches middle school English and Social Studies, so she had 3 books in her bag that she needs to read because her students are reading them, one of which was "Maniac Magee," which is one of my favorite books ever.  And I also love reading out loud, so we sat in Alexander's and I read aloud part of Maniac Magee to her.  Then it got kind of smokey in there, so we went out in the plaza and sat on a bench and I read more...haha.  We were getting some stares...Then we met up with the group at the Asian restaurant.  I got Thai food--Shrimp in coconut milk with red curry and pineapple.  It came with onions and rice too.  Oh man, it was DELICIOUS.  And I had my first "Sex on the Beach" drink too.  Mmmm.  It was a good time and I definitely want to go back there.

Today I slept in and have been just lounging in my pajamas.  I just talked to my friend Kenzie on Skype, which was wonderful.  I miss her a lot and it's great to share first year teaching experiences.  We definitely have very different experiences, but both are hard and good in their own ways.

Tonight Sarah, Bekah, and I (and probably others) are going to Community Group at a missionary couple's house.  We have to come up with a dish to bring to share...And tomorrow morning at the English-speaking church I'm beginning to go to, there is a potluck lunch after church, so we have to figure out something to bring to that too!  The ketal (grocery store) and Yamaha store (yes, there's one within walking distance of my apartment!) are on my list of places to go/things to do today.  I have been meaning to get guitar strings for FOREVER so that I can finally play this guitar that was left for me.  I miss playing so much.  My life has just been crazy and I keep forgetting/I went last weekend and didn't know what type of strings to get (but Isaac recommended steel over nylon for this guitar...so now I know). 

Life is good.  It's always good.  It just has its mountains to climb (speaking of which, I'm getting antsy to climb these beautiful mountains around me...sometime soon I'm determined to).  God is faithful and I appreciate all your prayers and encouragement.

Love to you all,

Jules