Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods?

1. Have you ever been without water for two whole days and been surprised at yourself how much you depend on water?
- I have.

2. Have you ever taken a camp shower and brushed your teeth in the school bathroom before the kids arrived because you've been in situation #1?
- I have.

3. Has your living room ever flooded?
- Yes.

4. Have you ever prayed that the bedroom didn't also flood, potentially ruining all electrical equipment and computers?
- Yes. And thank God it didn't flood.

5. Have you ever gone out to dinner with a student and her mom?
- Yes!

6. Has the mother in the situation above offered you some of her food, on her fork, to taste? And did you accept?
- Yes. And it was amazingly delicious.

7. Have you ever been told by your students that your butt was covered in streaks of yellow chalk?
- Oh yes.

8. Have you ever heard someone use the word "humilitize" in a prayer ("and God, please humilitize our hearts"), tried hard not to laugh and snort during the rest of the prayer, and been called out on your failed suppressed laughter by the person who used said word?
- I have.

9. Have you ever had silent reading time in the sun on a soccer field with 10 beautiful kids who actually wanted to read their books, and did so in an incredibly well-behaved way?
-I have.

10. Have you ever decided to commit to trusting God for something despite the outcome and the price of trusting in Him, praying that He will make you wiser through your commitment?
-Working on that one.

Lesson of the week:
It is always okay (and even advisable) to let your students think they are the ones keeping you in check when you mess up a long division math problem on the board, even when the truth is that you actually thought 7 x 0 = 7...
Oh, and don't be afraid to laugh at yourself when you get chalk on your butt and all the kids see it before you do.

too dynamic to be safe

The newest news: YoungLife.
For those who haven't heard of this ministry before, YoungLife's purpose is to reach out to kids of all ages with the gospel, but YL here in Jarabcoa is focusing primarily on the 6-8 grade range (called WyldLife) and the 9-12 graders (calle YoungLife). I learned today that YL also has the same youth-group type ministry for disabled children, called Capernaum, and for pregnant teen moms, called YoungLives, as well as for kids on college campuses (which is a bit newer).  YL leaders strive to provide its kids with an exceptional experience every time they gather for "club" (think youth group meeting) or an "event" (think photo scavenger hunt or movie night).

Needless to say, the goal of YL is simple: to reach kids with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
How?
By befriending them.
By meeting them on their turf, where they're at.
By being Christ's love to them....
.....without exception or strings attached.

YL asks for a two year commitment from its leaders, and requires that all of their leaders have growing personal relationships with Christ. It asks leaders to focus on the "we" of the gospel, and not the "you". It's not "you" need Jesus because "you" are a sinner. On the contrary, "we" all need Jesus, and I'm so excited to tell you what He's done for "us"...

As I was reminded today, having to give and pour out for and into others when you are empty is...impossible. So whether I am filled with the joy of the Lord and in a lush, tropical place spiritually speaking, or in a desert where there is no water, I need to rely on the Lord to fill me with His love for these kids. I need humility to remember that it's not about how funny I am or how ridiculous I can be when pretending I'm a ghetto fabulous rapstar.
It's about doing these things to ULTIMATELY exemplify God's love to these kids, and sharing His truth with them each time we gather. It's about glorifying our Father and joining Him in His work to change hearts and transform lives.

That said, please pray for me as I finish leadership training next weekend and decide whether to do Young or WyldLife. I'll be sure to update which it is once I've made a decision. I really want it to be lead by God, not by my own comfort (which is why I want to choose WyldLife, but at the same time feel like the challenge of YoungLife might be where I should go....ahhh, decisions, decisions).
So please pray!


Lesson of the week:
This is the dogma we find so dull—this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and the hero. If this is dull, then what, in Heaven's name, is worthy to be called exciting? The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore—on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe.
-Dorothy Sayers

http://www.younglife.org/

September 12

It´s been one week since you looked at me...and almost three since my last blog udpate.
We´re starting our third full week of school (hence the lack of frequent updates) and it´s still hot here all the time. Instead of rambling on for multiple paragraphs, I´m going to list some of the newest/most exciting things that have happened over the last 21 days, which will hopefully give you a brief yet accurate update.
From most recently to least recently:
-This weekend I swam in a waterfall for the second time in my life, and climbed up one for the first time! It was impossible to see on the climb upñ I had to reach for the rocks and just hope that I wouldn´t slip off. It was fun, exciting, and I´d definitely do it again. Note: the waterfall water was much colder than the ¨cold¨ water I´ve been showering in since August 1st.
-My students have taken their first tests of the semester. We´ve had two spelling tests, one Bible test, and one Math test. So far, a lot of the Math is review. The Bible stories are ones they have heard before, but the kids have memorized Romans 3:23, 24 and John 13: 34, 35 and are starting 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 for this week. They love creating actions to help them remember the verses. We also started singing worship songs for Bible, we´ll hopefully do this every Friday morning after they take their Bible test. The Spelling tests have also gone well so far, these kids are intelligent, quick to pick up patterns and new words, and they will work hard and thoroughly when you challenge them to do their best.
-We had our first staff Bible study with the American teachers. Spanglish Bananagrams, laughter, coffeecake, tea and coffee, prayer and scripture...what more could you want?!
-I survived my first (hopefully last?) round of ¨tummy troubles¨which is a euphemism for diarrhea. Enough said. I am so thankful to be better!

I can´t think of much else that would interest you to know. There was a little gecko in the coffee pot last Monday morning. I went to grab the coffee pot and screamed when I saw the flash of his tail and his dark body--what I thought was a shadow inside the coffee pot started moving!--and then ended up laughing at the whole thing.

Please keep praying for me and for the students and staff at JCS. Pray for the staff to seek to be God´s love to one another and to the kids, to strive for excellence and not give ¨just enough¨ to get by. Pray for me to be excited and looking forward to time with Jesus every morning, for me to be patient and perseverant (is that a real word?) in my prayer life. And pray for these kids. They are far from perfect, sometimes frustrating, easily annoying, yet so valuable in God´s eyes and.....by His grace....in mine as well. I mean, I´m far from perfect, easily frustrating, and sometimes annoying too. And He still loves me!

p.s. If you´re looking for a great place to ¨meet¨ Jesus, to feel connected to the God of creation, GO OUTSIDE! For me, there´s no better place to feel completely surrounded by a God who is so majestic yet so intimately interested in us and knowing us than to be face to face with His beauty...

from hurricane Emily to Irene...and chocolate chip cookies

Emily was the first hurricane we were threatened with two weeks ago, now Irene has school cancelled today and this time there really is rain to show for the weatherman’s predictions. Snow days in the US are usually announced via the news on television; they mean hot chocolate, sleeping in, making snowmen and running around in the snow (if snow actually falls), and movies. Would you say that’s an accurate summary? So far Dominican hurricanes that call for a cancelled day of school are announced by word of mouth to the teachers, result in delayed lesson planning, call for chocolate chip cookie making, movies once again, and tking picture of the rain (if rain actually falls). Oh. And the students and their parents don’t find out that school is cancelled until they get to school the next morning. Or, if it starts raining over night and the roads flood, well that serves as a pretty good sign that there isn’t school. At first I wasn’t sure why a hurricane like this (it’s raining, but nothing more than that right now) would necessitate closing school. Then I remembered: dirt roads. Rain is to dirt roads what ice and snow are to paved roads. If and when it rains during a hurricane, the roads that lead to school develop huge potholes, puddles, and are not easy or safe to drive on. Basically, canceling school due to threat of a hurricane is similar to canceling school preemptively due to a snowstorm. Just our precipitation in New England is a little bit colder.

Lesson of the day: When you hear about hurricane Emily and then hurricane Irene and wonder why you haven’t heard about hurricanes F through H it’s probably because hurricanes F through H weren’t big enough for you to have to worry about, they were some other country’s problem.

first day of school

This Thursday was the first day of school at JCS. It was a half-day of school, as was Friday.  I can’t speak for my students but I was dead tired by the time they left for home and lunch and the rest of their afternoons. Wednesday night I was certain I wouldn’t be able to sleep because of nerves, but I slept fine and woke up more excited for this first day of school than any other first day of school I can remember.

Dressed in black pants, teal JCS-issue polo, and new black teacherly flats, I walked into the comedor (cafeteria area) of school to see a few hundred kids very excited to reunite with one another. Now, it’s one thing to feel out of place when, on your first day of school, you walk into the cafeteria trying to figure out which, if any, of your friends will have the same lunch as you, wondering who to sit with until you figure out where your friends are, and debating whether or not it’s cool to take out the napkin with mom’s “Hi honey, happy first day! Let your light shine! I love you, Mom” note. It’s quite another feeling to walk into the cafeteria (which doubles as the pick up and drop off spot), watch 250 kids running around with backpacks, hugs, secrets, smiles, laughs, slaps on the back, and the fastest Spanish I’ve ever heard in my life. I couldn’t stop smiling myself because…I guess I didn’t really feel out of place…I was just amazed and in awe of the incredible job that lays before me.

My first thought about my kids: they’re so little! I expected them to be much taller than they are. I have to keep reminding myself they’re only 9 and 10 years old, which apparently means they’re more petite than 9 and 10 year old Americans. I have 11 students, 9 girls, 2 boys, 9 who have come for the first two days of school and 2 who have yet to show up. We did the whole first day drill: 15 minutes of journal time to start, followed by classroom rules and expectations, introducing myself with a little “About Me” poster I made, and then practicing walking in a silent line from our 5^th grade classroom to the comedor for snack/break time.

Later in the morning we practiced singing“Every Move I Make” so we can sing it this coming Wednesday at Chapel with the 3^rd and 4^th graders. This was my chance to be a little silly and help them shake off their first day jitters. I was really happy that the “She is crazy.” look they first watched me with quickly turned into them trying to memorize the lyrics and following my hands-in-the-air-while-we-stomp-around-the-classroom-to-the-beat song practice. By the end of the second day they were asking if they could do it again, marching and clapping around the room singing and excited about this new song.

It was a really great first two days. Friday and Sunday afternoons have been full of looking at curricula and planning lessons, deciding where the kids need to be by Christmas and then by June in each of the subjects and trying to figure out what needs to happen when. This is a lot more than I ever though I would be entrusted with, but so far, even though it’s only been the first two relatively easy and fun days, I’m excited. I can’t wait to see these kids learn and grow and to play a part in it. The first memory verse we learned was John 13: 34, 35 “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Imagine that, I did it by memory myself just now! Memory verse test for the kids tomorrow, and I know they’ve already got it down.

Lesson of the day: This was the first first day of school that didn’t leave me feeling out of place at any moment, even in the cafeteria.

p.s. I always loved those napkin notes, mom.

teach me how to teach

The book I’m currently reading on how to be a good teacher says that just because you know how to cook steak doesn’t mean you’ll be a good restaurant owner. You also need to have people skills, be able to manage a business and know the ins and outs of certain laws, codes, requirements and specifics. At the very end of acquiring all of this knowledge and putting it into practice, then your steak cooking skills will come in handy.  

Apparently the same applies to teaching: knowing American history or Spanish grammar or Latin declensions or world geography or Shakespeare’s plays does not necessarily mean you will be a good teacher. Being a good teacher is about preparation: preparing yourself, preparing your classroom and preparing your material so that you can instruct your students. Oh. This makes me feel a lot better. Why? Because thinking about teaching in terms of preparedness, thinking ahead and proactivity is, at least for me, a lot more swallowable than believing I have to have all the answers to all the questions and able to reduce fractions and tell you where Kazakhstan is located.

The school year at JCS is supposed to start next Thursday, and I do have so much to do. Every session of orientation leaves my mind reeling with to do lists and thoughts and questions and ideas. And feelings of overwhelmedness. However, knowing this bit about preparedness is keeping me from feeling completely incapable and a little bit more certain that maybe I really can be a good teacher.

Today we were told that in Dominican Republic, unlike in the U.S., students will often initiate hugs, parents will invite teachers over for dinner or coffee, and establishing a bond of love and care between teacher and student is expected, especially at a Christian school. I’ve already heard so much about my 12 students: they were a terror last year for the 4^th grade teacher, but came a long way over the course of the year and are expected to behave better, but certainly aren’t angels. I am excited to pour into my kids, to learn about them and love them, to teach them and watch them be successful, learn, and grow throughout the year. I can’t help thinking about all the kids I’ve seen at summer camps over the years, those that I’ve had as campers and have worked with otherwise…and I can’t help believing that God has prepared me at least a little bit to be the teacher of this specific 5^th grade group of kids. I just know I’ll have awful stories, funny ones, sad ones, crazy ones, frustrating ones, nonsensical ones, memorable ones…and that, beyond a doubt, my kids and I will all grow together this year.

I am thankful to be here. I am surrounded by blue-jean-colored, misty, cloudy, tree covered, gently rising mountains, by sunshine and fresh air, by sounds of life and the assurance that God is leading me in all I do…despite the franticness I feel, the overwhelmedness, the uncertainty, the doubt, the anxiety and worry that creep into my head far too quickly. I know I am His and I know I am here by His hand.

 
Lesson of the day: Romans 12: 6-12

Groceries

Who knew they could be so exciting? Elisabeth and I went to the fruteria (fruit market) and mercado de vegetales (vegetable maket) yesterday and bought gigantic mangoes, avocadoes, tomatoes, garlic, onion, kiwi, and limes. In general, the prices for fresh produce here is 200% less than American prices. And the guacamole we made was phenomenal. We both decided it's something we could eat every day!

Coke is also ten times better in countries other than America. Why, you ask? Because in the USA it's made with corn syrup while in Europe, the UK, Central America, and DR (speaking from experience only) they make it with real sugar. You can taste the difference and it's better for you too because it's not fake sweetener. Needless to say, we've consumed 4 liters of coke over a span of 5 days...we may need to cut down.

Final update before I eat a Dominican pastrami sandwich for dinner (!), the apartment we're renting is amazing...much nicer than we had anticipated. We have 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a large kitchen and very big dining/living room area, a balcony in the back with the washer and ironing board, and a pretty balcony out front. And of course, we can see various mountain peaks depending on which window we look out of. We live on the second floor, which is a plus especially if/when it rains, an there's also a ton of natural light because there are so many windows. We have to unpadlock the gate over the front door before unlocking the wooden front door...this is a time-consuming process, although both Elisabeth and I are getting better at unlocking and locking quickly. In general, I feel and realistically am pretty safe in the area we live in. And actually, ear plugs really do help block out the incessant roosters., so what more can I ask for? Oh, a stove. Which still isn't fixed yet but should be a permanent fixture to the apartment tomorrow...? We'll see about this. I have yet to learn how to cook and how to do laundry. But, I'm all moved in! And so is Elisabeth! Our impirio (empire, it's our nickname for our amazing apartment) is starting to look all home-y. Tomorrow starts teacher orientation!

Lesson of the day: you can buy 2.5 litres of Coke at the colmado (corner store) for 75 pesos (less than $2)! Who knew Coke came in 2.5 litre bottles? (Apparently, not I...)

Roosters and Sunburns

There are roosters in my dreams and in my waking hours.
I have written a song as an ode to them.
No, I don't live on a farm in Jarabacoa, it's just a regular neighborhood street, but roosters are apparently part of daily life here. Not only do they populate the day time, they also really like to scream loudly at each other from the hours of...10:30pm...to 3am...to 6 and 7am...to 9:30am....to ALL HOURS OF THE DAY. The worst time, obviously, is the middle of the night when I'm trying to sleep and all of a sudden the screeching, wailing, blood curdling cry of these stupid birds leaves me wishing it were traffic or party music or any other sound coming slamming through the windows of the apartment. But no, rooster screams. And man, they are so loud.

Today after church and a lunch of peanut butter and jelly, we went to El Gran Jimenoa, a hotel 7 minutes from the teacher apartments that we teachers can get into for free because we teach at JCS! It's a really nice complex with a relatively clean pool and a rope bridge over a beautiful river. My second newest facebook friend, Melisa Gomez (who is returning for her second year at JCS and is the 4th grade teacher) was kind enough to tote Elisabeth and I around on her sweet little moped bike motorcycle thing. Speaking of motorcycles...they're really more like mopeds or motorized bicycles, not Harleys or anything crazy, motoconchos are the best and most fun way to get around here. On Friday we bought a ton of groceries in town and got a motoconcho back to our apartment, easy as that. No, you don't have to wear a helmet and sometimes you can squeeze 3 or even 4 people onto one bike. This makes things even more exciting!

Apologies for the jumping all over the place, but I keep remembering things I was supposed to update on and haven't taken the time to. Actually, I wrote an awesome blog two days ago and something happened to it (as in, it got deleted) and then I was defeated and decided I should cool off before trying to blog again. So behold, this scattered entry. Maybe I should make it two entries? I will. Last thing though, sunburns. No, I don't think I got one at the pool today, but you can definitely feel that we're closer to the equator and the sun is so much hotter and more powerful. And all that stuff about "dry" heat and no humidity, psssh. Not true. It still gets humid here.

Lesson of the day: Never again turn down the opportunity to kill a rooster.

Arriving to DR: Day 1

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for and thinking of me as I leave the US to travel to Jarabacoa, DR! Both flights went well, my second flight from Puerto Rico to Santiago, Dominican Republic was delayed an hour for mantenimiento (maintenance): they were cleaning and upkeeping the plane, doing all the usual checks so we could take off. I explained this to Maribel and Juan (Maribel works at JCS and her husband is a self-employed forest worker...) who graciously waited to pick me up at the airport, and Juan wanted the airline to pay the expensive parking ticket fee since they're based on the amount of time you spend waiting!

The drive from Santiago to Jarabacoa took about an hour. The roads are paved, and narrow, and winding as you ascend up the mountain. I kept reminding myself that people live (survive?) here all the time driving crazily on these roads with little motorbikes weaving in and out of trucks full of chicken crates and people literally hanging out on the guard rails of the carreterita (little highway). I was able to spend the night with two other American JCS teachers who have been in Jarabacoa since last week; I was really thankful for this since one of my main fears was spending the first night alone!

Today has been spent at the vegetable market, the fruit market, the shoe repair store (english: cobbler), the meat market and the grocery store. It feels good to be speaking spanish again and to be surrounded by the language. This morning (Tuesday) I had a short conversation with Guido, the landlord of the apartment I stayed at last night (which is not the one I'll be living in), and it was great! Just a reminder to 1. not be afraid to laugh at myself and admit when I don't understand something, but 2. at the same time to use what I do know and be confident that 10 years of studying a language do yield a bit of experience and knowledge!

I am happy to be here and I feel healthy thus far. When I saw the mountains of la Republica Dominicana, my very first view of this beautiful country took my breath away and reminded me that God has brought me here in His faithfulness, by His grace and purpose.

Most recent 24 hour lesson: trust is both a noun AND a verb, and being patient with yourself is paramount to adjusting to any new experience.