Nothing much different has happened lately, although I have given an excessive amount of demerits in the past 2 days. Oh well, I think the point got across-I spent a good hour between yesterday and today dealing with 2 boys, and thankfully they realize the problem with what they did and are truly sorry, not just because of the demerits they received.
This weekend promises to be interesting. The plan, at least for right now, consists of going home, and going to bed early to recover some sleep. Tomorrow morning I'm going to a College/high school activity to play volleyball and help out because one of the youth sponsors is out of town. I'm looking forward to the chance to slam a few volleyballs over the net. Perfect stress reliever! I know I'll be sore later, though, because it's been too long since I've played much. I did play some I think it was 2 weeks ago when the highschool was playing volleyball in PE and I was able to join them. After the volleyball thing, the plan is to go to El Morro with Jonathan and Heather, and Janice. I've been before, but none of them have.
By the way, I welcome comments from anyone who reads this-if you don' t know how to comment, click on the link that says 0 comments (or 1 or 2 , etc) and there will be a place for you to add yours.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Killer Ceiling Fans!
Mom was right when she warned about getting near the fan. Not that I usually ignore my mom, but I always did wonder how bad a wooden fan blade could hurt-after all, it's not metal, not sharp. How bad could it be? Last night I found out. The wires to my new ceiling fan (it plugs into a wall outlet) are covered in this plastic wire covering stuff which is stuck to my concrete ceiling with double sided tape, and last night the wires began to fall. Smart intelligent me decides to try to stick the wires back without turning off the fan. I know, sounds stupid, but it is awfully hot in my room-if it's only 92 in there, that's a good day, so I didn't really want to turn the fan off. Well, now, the fan is off, and the wires are hanging down from the ceiling instead of running over to the wall and hanging there. Hopefully I'll be able to fix that tonight after getting some more double sided tape.
There's lots of things to write about lately, and I don't know when the next time is that I'll get to sit down here, so I'll throw it all out there today. Last week was adventurous, to say the least. I am now driving my car, I'm pretty used to the clutch and all that, but I am still getting used to the Puerto Rican drivers. I love the puertorican people, but you have to drive like an idiot here to survive-and yes, I include myself in that statement. Some of the things they will do are unbelievable. The Lord has really protected me here. I guess the thing to see will be how I drive when I go home this Christmas. It could be pretty interesting. I'll probably have to plaster all over my dashboard: "This is not Puerto Rico. This is not Puerto Rico." I'll have to remember that in the US stop signs mean something, that if a policeman has his lights on he wants to pull you over, that you can only turn from a turn lane, not all available lanes of traffic, and that the lane markings mean that's how many lanes there are-you can't just make a lane if there's room.
Another part of life in Puerto Rico: Thursday we had school off because we had no water. Not a good thing when you have 650 children who always need to go to the bathroom, get a drink, etc. It seems that a large pump for our area broke, and the water company did not notify anyone. So by the time we learned there was a problem, all 3 of our reserve tanks (this happens a lot) were empty. Now if we had known, we could have saved water and survived on the 3 tanks, but we didn't know until the tanks were empty. So, we got a day off of school. Teachers didn't find out til we got here, so we worked til noon and then went home.
Disturbing thing number 1: Thursday night I decided to listen to a sermon by Jim VanGelderen that my dad had given me to put on my computer. I was rather disturbed when I fould he talked so fast I could not understand him. I guess my brain is conditioned to the rhythm of Spanish. I had never had trouble understanding him the many times I've heard him before, but I was really struggling.
Disturbing thing number 2: Friday night a couple of other teachers and I went to the beach about an hour away to watch the sunset and take pictures. We got to watch the sunset, but it was really too dark to take pictures. We spent an hour or so there just listening to the waves, and all 3 of us on the phone with different people. (it's kinda fun to call and say "Guess where I am" or "Can you hear the water?") When we were ready to leave, we decided to get some pinchos to eat. I had not had pinchos in a long time, and I really wanted some. A pincho is basically pieces of chicken on a stick that has been grilled and slathered in barbecue sauce-good stuff! Anyway, one of the teachers with us knew of this place about 10 minutes away where the pinchos were really good, and the owners were people she had met at her previous church. As soon as we got to the roadside stand and walked up, a man sitting there greeted this teacher, and so did the couple with him. They all began to talk, and we found out that the couple were missionaries assisting missionaries to the military all over the world, and they were headed to Germany the next day. They mentioned the name of one of the missionaries, and it sounded familiar to me, so I asked what his wife's name was. Turns out that this was my first grade teacher and her husband that these people were talking about. By default, they also knew 2 of my piano teachers from elementary school who happen to be related to my first grade teacher. I ended up in a roadside stand in Puerto Rico meeting missionaries headed to Germany to visit my first grade teacher from Texas. Weird!! We did enjoy some good fellowship with these people.
This weekend on our outing to Old San Juan we began planning our College and Career activity for Columbus day (which we get off of school). It should be interesting-a photo scavenger hunt through San Juan. I'm looking forward to it-of course, I know several of the things they'll have to find, so it should be fun.
I was so thankful during choir on Sunday that one of the new teachers is a pianist. We began the final runthrough for the Sunday night choir song, and I realized I had never played the accompaniment before, and it was crazy. We had spent all our time before with me playing parts along with the choir, so I was really scared when I found out we were singing it that night, and I couldn't play it well at all. Thankfully Janice had played it before, so we made a switch-she played, and I sang alto. I would have gotten it with practice, but Sunday afternoon choir practice is too late to practice the accompaniment!
Yesterday I was thankful for Javier, the mechanic up the street. I was dropping off a teacher whose car had been in the shop, and as I was sitting there, he noticed my tire was very low on air. He told me to pull over, and he filled it and didn't charge me anything. I am finding steering so much easier now-I don't have power steering, and it was becoming a challenge.
Now for students: Waldemar is a sweet child who loves all kinds of reptiles, and plans to build his career around them. I think it was mentioned once in a newsletter interview that I like lizards and such, so ever since then every time he sees me he tells me or shows me something. now that he's in my class once a week, I hear from him more often. Like the time he came to me before class, and said, "Teacher, my snake has the same birthday as me!" On a sadder note, his book report book is by Steve and Terri Irwin-as I walked past, he showed it to me, and said, "He was my inspiration!" I don't know that I've ever seen a sadder face on a child. Finally, last week he showed me a snake magazine he has, and after school he brought by the subscription card so I could sign up for it too. I appreciate the thought, but I don't think $40 for a reptile magazine (while it would be interesting) would be the best investment of my money. Oh well.
Often my first graders will giggle when I speak Spanish to them. I only do this on the occasion that my English is not getting their attention, or when one of the children who is new to English needs to understand very clearly what we are doing. They tell me that my Spanish is not bad, it's just funny. Apparently even if their teacher has Spanish as their first language the kids laugh when the teacher speaks Spanish. I guess after the intense work in kindergarten to teach them English, they expect that all teachers speak English only. One day in piano, Nicole was giggling at me again, so I asked her if my Spanish was funny. She said, "No teacher, it's that you moved your nose!"
And finally, on Thursdays and Fridays, I watch K4, K5 and 1st grade from 7:00 to 7:30 in the lunchroom until their teachers come to pick them up. For the kindergarteners, this is the only time I see them. Last Thursday morning, Alejandra in K5 walked in and gave me a hug. She used to come in crying every morning, but has graduated to a very serious face-in fact I've never seen her smile. After she hugged me, she stepped back, and with a very solemn faced told me, "Te quiero mucho!" (I love you a lot!)
There's lots of things to write about lately, and I don't know when the next time is that I'll get to sit down here, so I'll throw it all out there today. Last week was adventurous, to say the least. I am now driving my car, I'm pretty used to the clutch and all that, but I am still getting used to the Puerto Rican drivers. I love the puertorican people, but you have to drive like an idiot here to survive-and yes, I include myself in that statement. Some of the things they will do are unbelievable. The Lord has really protected me here. I guess the thing to see will be how I drive when I go home this Christmas. It could be pretty interesting. I'll probably have to plaster all over my dashboard: "This is not Puerto Rico. This is not Puerto Rico." I'll have to remember that in the US stop signs mean something, that if a policeman has his lights on he wants to pull you over, that you can only turn from a turn lane, not all available lanes of traffic, and that the lane markings mean that's how many lanes there are-you can't just make a lane if there's room.
Another part of life in Puerto Rico: Thursday we had school off because we had no water. Not a good thing when you have 650 children who always need to go to the bathroom, get a drink, etc. It seems that a large pump for our area broke, and the water company did not notify anyone. So by the time we learned there was a problem, all 3 of our reserve tanks (this happens a lot) were empty. Now if we had known, we could have saved water and survived on the 3 tanks, but we didn't know until the tanks were empty. So, we got a day off of school. Teachers didn't find out til we got here, so we worked til noon and then went home.
Disturbing thing number 1: Thursday night I decided to listen to a sermon by Jim VanGelderen that my dad had given me to put on my computer. I was rather disturbed when I fould he talked so fast I could not understand him. I guess my brain is conditioned to the rhythm of Spanish. I had never had trouble understanding him the many times I've heard him before, but I was really struggling.
Disturbing thing number 2: Friday night a couple of other teachers and I went to the beach about an hour away to watch the sunset and take pictures. We got to watch the sunset, but it was really too dark to take pictures. We spent an hour or so there just listening to the waves, and all 3 of us on the phone with different people. (it's kinda fun to call and say "Guess where I am" or "Can you hear the water?") When we were ready to leave, we decided to get some pinchos to eat. I had not had pinchos in a long time, and I really wanted some. A pincho is basically pieces of chicken on a stick that has been grilled and slathered in barbecue sauce-good stuff! Anyway, one of the teachers with us knew of this place about 10 minutes away where the pinchos were really good, and the owners were people she had met at her previous church. As soon as we got to the roadside stand and walked up, a man sitting there greeted this teacher, and so did the couple with him. They all began to talk, and we found out that the couple were missionaries assisting missionaries to the military all over the world, and they were headed to Germany the next day. They mentioned the name of one of the missionaries, and it sounded familiar to me, so I asked what his wife's name was. Turns out that this was my first grade teacher and her husband that these people were talking about. By default, they also knew 2 of my piano teachers from elementary school who happen to be related to my first grade teacher. I ended up in a roadside stand in Puerto Rico meeting missionaries headed to Germany to visit my first grade teacher from Texas. Weird!! We did enjoy some good fellowship with these people.
This weekend on our outing to Old San Juan we began planning our College and Career activity for Columbus day (which we get off of school). It should be interesting-a photo scavenger hunt through San Juan. I'm looking forward to it-of course, I know several of the things they'll have to find, so it should be fun.
I was so thankful during choir on Sunday that one of the new teachers is a pianist. We began the final runthrough for the Sunday night choir song, and I realized I had never played the accompaniment before, and it was crazy. We had spent all our time before with me playing parts along with the choir, so I was really scared when I found out we were singing it that night, and I couldn't play it well at all. Thankfully Janice had played it before, so we made a switch-she played, and I sang alto. I would have gotten it with practice, but Sunday afternoon choir practice is too late to practice the accompaniment!
Yesterday I was thankful for Javier, the mechanic up the street. I was dropping off a teacher whose car had been in the shop, and as I was sitting there, he noticed my tire was very low on air. He told me to pull over, and he filled it and didn't charge me anything. I am finding steering so much easier now-I don't have power steering, and it was becoming a challenge.
Now for students: Waldemar is a sweet child who loves all kinds of reptiles, and plans to build his career around them. I think it was mentioned once in a newsletter interview that I like lizards and such, so ever since then every time he sees me he tells me or shows me something. now that he's in my class once a week, I hear from him more often. Like the time he came to me before class, and said, "Teacher, my snake has the same birthday as me!" On a sadder note, his book report book is by Steve and Terri Irwin-as I walked past, he showed it to me, and said, "He was my inspiration!" I don't know that I've ever seen a sadder face on a child. Finally, last week he showed me a snake magazine he has, and after school he brought by the subscription card so I could sign up for it too. I appreciate the thought, but I don't think $40 for a reptile magazine (while it would be interesting) would be the best investment of my money. Oh well.
Often my first graders will giggle when I speak Spanish to them. I only do this on the occasion that my English is not getting their attention, or when one of the children who is new to English needs to understand very clearly what we are doing. They tell me that my Spanish is not bad, it's just funny. Apparently even if their teacher has Spanish as their first language the kids laugh when the teacher speaks Spanish. I guess after the intense work in kindergarten to teach them English, they expect that all teachers speak English only. One day in piano, Nicole was giggling at me again, so I asked her if my Spanish was funny. She said, "No teacher, it's that you moved your nose!"
And finally, on Thursdays and Fridays, I watch K4, K5 and 1st grade from 7:00 to 7:30 in the lunchroom until their teachers come to pick them up. For the kindergarteners, this is the only time I see them. Last Thursday morning, Alejandra in K5 walked in and gave me a hug. She used to come in crying every morning, but has graduated to a very serious face-in fact I've never seen her smile. After she hugged me, she stepped back, and with a very solemn faced told me, "Te quiero mucho!" (I love you a lot!)
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Iguanas
Well, it's been over a month since I've written anything. Life has been crazy, and the internet has been down. Things are going well, though. My Spanish is improving, I think, though Amy says it getting worse. She laughs at my Puertorican accent. =) I am really enjoying PE. They provide me with many amusing moments. One day we were walking across campus to the basketball court, and Shania had her hand in the air the whole time. I kept telling her that I was not answering questions while we were in line and on our way somewhere. Finally when her part of the line walked past me, she leaned over, hugged, me, and said, "I love you, teacher." That's why she was raising her hand and I kept telling her to put it down. As we continued walking that same day, several of the children suddenly started saying "Mira, teacher!" ("Look, teacher!") "Iguanas!" When I looked, about 20 feet away were 2 large iguanas heading our direction. They were probably the largest ones I had seen since I've been here, and my guess is that they were a bit longer than a first grader is tall, and therefore fairly scary to the kids. I crossed the sidewalk to the other side of the line putting myself between the iguanas and my children, though I don't really know what I would have done had the iguanas come running. It did seem to calm the kids some, though. I just told them to wave hello to the iguanas and keep walking. I heard a chorus of "Hello, Mr. iguana!", then they kept walking and made it safely to the basketball court. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me. I think iguanas are fascinating, and would love to have one. Another day during PE, I asked if anyone had questions about the game we were playing, and one boy raised his hand to say, "Teacher, when I was born, I was very sick and had to stay in the hospital for a very long time." Not sure where that one came from, but I just kept going. later that same day, the same child raised his hand in the middle of something else to tell me that he had a new baby cousin.
Monday on the way back from PE, they were instructed several times to stay on the sidewalk-cars are coming into the parking lot getting ready for dismissal, so it's really a safety issue as well as one to keep their lines straight. Two or three of them stepped off onto the pavement, and when I looked at the end of the line, I saw Rochellie step off into the grass and stand there for a couple of seconds, probably to see if I would notice. Of course when she saw me looking, she immediately stepped back onto the side walk. This was a particularly frustrating PE day for me, because they were not listening at all. So, when I headed back to the court to pick up my equipment, and found the high school boys playing volleyball for PE, I joined them and slammed a few balls over the net since I had a free half hour and I was already in my PE clothes. What a great stress reliever! Of course since I haven't been playing volleyball for a while, I'm feeling it now, but it was great fun.
Another thing I had not thought of in relation to PE is shoelaces. They are supposed to know how to tie their shoes from kindergarten, but invariably at the beginning of class I will have anywhere from 5-10 with their shoes untied. I used to tie them myself, but have lately been having the ones who do tie shoes helping their classmates. Takes a lot less time.
This year's visitation has been interesting so far. I don't know if I've explained it here before, but our church's visitation program is basically to schedule visits in the home of each child in the school since the majority of them come from non Christian homes. The way things are set up here with gated communities does not make it very practical or even possible sometimes for a door to door type thing. The teacher will go into the home, talk about how the child is doing in school, ask if the parent has any questions, and then explain that this is also a visit from the church, and try to share the gospel. We have seen many of the parents saved, and several families brought into the church. The second visit I was scheduled for was an hour to an hour and a half away, I was supposed to be translating, and I was sick. Mom was praying and so were some others that I would be able to think and help communicate. Thankfully I was able to breathe the whole time, and the father wanted to practice his English, but we did speak Spanish a lot. The visit went fairly well, we found out that the parents were Christians and that they frequently take missions trips. This week, we set out on a visit that was supposed to be very close, but we could not find the place that was written down on the information card. After about 20 minutes of searching, and 2 or 3 phone calls, we finally figured out that the address on the card was the child's grandmother, and the place we had been given directions to was the child's house. When we got there, we found out that the family was another Christian family, but this time I had to do more translating. The mother understood a lot of English, but did not speak much. I'm really enjoying these opportunities to use the Spanish I know. Some day I will be fluent, at least I'm working on that.
And finally, the funny translation for the week: one of the new college students trying to learn English translated this line "una mama, un papa, y muchos hermanos" into "A mother, a potato, and many siblings." The line should have been translated into "a mother, a father and many siblings," but an accent was missed, resulting in the potato mistake. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.
Monday on the way back from PE, they were instructed several times to stay on the sidewalk-cars are coming into the parking lot getting ready for dismissal, so it's really a safety issue as well as one to keep their lines straight. Two or three of them stepped off onto the pavement, and when I looked at the end of the line, I saw Rochellie step off into the grass and stand there for a couple of seconds, probably to see if I would notice. Of course when she saw me looking, she immediately stepped back onto the side walk. This was a particularly frustrating PE day for me, because they were not listening at all. So, when I headed back to the court to pick up my equipment, and found the high school boys playing volleyball for PE, I joined them and slammed a few balls over the net since I had a free half hour and I was already in my PE clothes. What a great stress reliever! Of course since I haven't been playing volleyball for a while, I'm feeling it now, but it was great fun.
Another thing I had not thought of in relation to PE is shoelaces. They are supposed to know how to tie their shoes from kindergarten, but invariably at the beginning of class I will have anywhere from 5-10 with their shoes untied. I used to tie them myself, but have lately been having the ones who do tie shoes helping their classmates. Takes a lot less time.
This year's visitation has been interesting so far. I don't know if I've explained it here before, but our church's visitation program is basically to schedule visits in the home of each child in the school since the majority of them come from non Christian homes. The way things are set up here with gated communities does not make it very practical or even possible sometimes for a door to door type thing. The teacher will go into the home, talk about how the child is doing in school, ask if the parent has any questions, and then explain that this is also a visit from the church, and try to share the gospel. We have seen many of the parents saved, and several families brought into the church. The second visit I was scheduled for was an hour to an hour and a half away, I was supposed to be translating, and I was sick. Mom was praying and so were some others that I would be able to think and help communicate. Thankfully I was able to breathe the whole time, and the father wanted to practice his English, but we did speak Spanish a lot. The visit went fairly well, we found out that the parents were Christians and that they frequently take missions trips. This week, we set out on a visit that was supposed to be very close, but we could not find the place that was written down on the information card. After about 20 minutes of searching, and 2 or 3 phone calls, we finally figured out that the address on the card was the child's grandmother, and the place we had been given directions to was the child's house. When we got there, we found out that the family was another Christian family, but this time I had to do more translating. The mother understood a lot of English, but did not speak much. I'm really enjoying these opportunities to use the Spanish I know. Some day I will be fluent, at least I'm working on that.
And finally, the funny translation for the week: one of the new college students trying to learn English translated this line "una mama, un papa, y muchos hermanos" into "A mother, a potato, and many siblings." The line should have been translated into "a mother, a father and many siblings," but an accent was missed, resulting in the potato mistake. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.
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