Yesterday was open house. I had a list of 7 students. Of those I met 3 of their parents. I did meet another student's parents. He had just registered that day. It was good. I was a little nervous, but pretty comfortable. There was only 1 parent that made me a bit nervous, but I think it was just me. Then one of the parents decided to take all the teachers out to dinner. It was pretty awesome. I came home smelling of bacon grease and stuffed. We then proceeded to do p90x and I almost died. But it was great!!
Today was the first day of school. The kids were super well behaved (of course because it was the first day ;), but I don't think I did what I thought I would, if that makes sense.
The day went by pretty quickly. I don't know if what I planned was good enough or low enough for their level, but they worked their brains off.
Tomorrow I will be teaching english to the 5th and 6th graders. This is going to be a bit challenging because there are 17 students. Then, there is a student who has learning disabilities. I know it will be tough, but I know God will get me through it.
Well after school (half day) another parent bought us lunch (eating way too much!). We ate a bunch and all the teachers hung out. Then we sat at a nice little cafe. I guess think Kinley's or The Bagel Cafe and kind of Starbucksy. We did some work and we shared some stories that made us cry.
These students are really in a bad place. Some have great families, but educationally they are behind. Some have horrible families and are educationally behind, or are not. It's a big mix of students who need lots of love and attention. They need a lot of prayer and so do we. It won't be easy for us to have help our students go through this. We may feel stressed, but more importantly we may be down because we can't help them the way we want to. They go through so much and laws and customs are different here, making it next to impossible for us to help them. However, we can pray for them. We can love them. We may never see the fruit of this and that will be the hardest part. But Abraham only saw the tiniest part of God's promise to him come true. We must continue on because this is where He has us, because those kids need us, and because we need those kids.
(Getting off the soapbox) We did a little home shopping and I got some Bori cha! yay! I love the food here. I have yet to crave american food. The only problem is that koreans eat and eat and eat. Oh and they are still skinny. So I've gotten a few stares here and there but I haven't let it get to me. I'm trying to work on it but everyone wants to take us out to eat. The good thing is that I've saving lots of money but I'm still stuffed. I plan on cutting out most rice and some noodles, but who knows how that will go. So please pray for me on that.
Alright ya'll. This is it for tonight. Short and sweet I know. I have to get up early. There is a typhoon coming and school is still in session for us but we will see what happens.
Numbers 6:24-26
2 comments:
I'm so glad that it's been working out for the most part and that you are getting to eat while saving money. But it's unfortunate that rice and noodles are empty calories, :/ soo yummy. How's the jet lag, going?
But I was wondering, why are some of these kids lacking in education? Either way though, I think you are doing something amazing, by putting yourself in a position to give love and inspiration to kids who don't have it (or enough).
Take care, and hope that typhoon doesn't cause any damange. I miss you already!
awwww... nanci! I miss you as well. Jet lag, as far as I can tell, hasn't really been an issue. Although I've never had it before, I think I've been ok.
The kids are lacking for several reasons. Some have abusive home relationships or traumatic events in their past. When that happens it's hard to concentrate on school.
For others their english is extremely lacking so they are behind. The kids who come here usually have one parent who is not korean so they send them there. They actually do not usually allow full koreans. They are considering allowing full koreans this semester because enrollment is low.
There others who couldn't afford to come to school because in korea you have to pay to come to school. So there are many reasons. Most kids have a crazy heart wrenching story. So it's hard but God is good.
I'll let you know about the typhoon stuff. Miss you girlie! tell bea to email me!!!
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