How I got here (part 2)

Well, we survived the moving trip to Georgia, and the first person we met was the principal. I was impressed right away with his kindness when my little sister (who was about 5 at the time) introduced herself by saying, "I'm Anna Elizabeth Nething" and he replied, "Well, I'm Timotheus Lee!" Most everyone was kind, but that first year was pretty rough. 7th grade can be a trying time to begin with, but having just moved and knowing no one made it worse. I remember sitting in class the first few days thinking "I should be starting jr high with Reylan, Demarcus, Shannon, the other Sarah, the Jennifers, and the Nicoles (there were 2 of each of those in my class)." I joined the track team in 7th grade, and I think that helped a lot. When I was in 9th grade, the youth pastor announced a missions trip to Mexico. I didn't really know any Spanish, but as I had said many years before, any chance to go on a missions trip I would take. I don't remember how much money we had to come up with, but it was somewhere around $300. After all the interviews and meetings and stuff, the team was made up of 7 girls. Rachel, Leila, Kristy,Valerie, Helena, me, and Tiffany Stokes. Mrs Jones had not been planning on going, but with the team made up entirely of girls, she and Pastor Mike both came with us. We took the trip with Oremex , an organization that among other things helps churches take missions trips in to Mexico. Often, more than one church is involved in the trip, and that was the case with our trip. Another church from Georgia, about and hour and a half south of us went the same week. During the week we helped a small church with VBS. The things we could do were pretty limited because of the language barrier, but it was a good time. We also helped build offices on the roof for the pastor who had given up his office to build bathrooms for visiting teams. I learned a lot that week in Mexico, and the Lord used one of the missionaries we were working with to challenge me about some things.In tenth grade, I started Spanish class, which I mostly enjoyed. Mrs. Pittman drilled the vocab and verbs into our heads, and I was very thankful for that when I started college Spanish. Eleventh grade was my second and last year of high school Spanish.All this time, pretty much since the same time I felt the Lord wanted me to be a missionary, I also had wanted to be a doctor. More specifically I wanted to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. I can see now that the Lord probably used an uncontrollable shaking in my hands (which would be disastrous in brain surgery) to steer me in a different direction. I'm not sure where the desire came from, but I have always been (and still am) fascinated with anything medical. Part of it, I'm sure, was that my dad is a science teacher. Because of that we were always being exposed to one thing or another whether it was being woken up at 2 AM to see a comet crash into Jupiter (at least I think that's what it was-everything's foggy at at that hour), helping dad practice for his dissections in class, or tagging along on a field trip to Johnson Space Center in Houston as a prize for one of dad's students. I remember times in highschool when one of my brothers or sisters injured themselves, and there was so much blood that mom and dad made me look at it (because the blood didn't bother me) and tell them what it was so they could describe it to the doctor over the phone. I remember telling my mom that she needed stitches in her finger after she cut it on a can-she didn't really want to look at it. I also had the amazing opportunity to be present for the birth of my brother who is now in second grade. (wow, I feel old!) Needless to say, in high school I fit every possible science into my schedule, even taking Physics and Chemistry in the same year in back to back hours in my dad's classroom. However, through all this, the Lord had other plans for me.

Almost done!

It has been a while since I've given a real update on what's going on here, so I'll give it a shot now. I'm quite likely to forget some things, but I'll try to remember. My trip to Greenville in April was wonderful. I spent some time with my sister on Monday the week I went. We went to Paris Mountain and Reedy River and took a lot of pictures. I was able to go to my Spanish church several times during the week, which I really enjoyed. I was also able to visit Agnew Rd., the church where my former high school choir director is now pastor. They didn't know I was coming, so that was fun. I ran into old friends and old roommates, even some I wasn't expecting. The first couple days I was wandering around campus were interesting, because every five minutes or so, someone would see me, scream, and come running. Only a few people knew I was coming, mostly because I was so busy I neglected to tell people I was coming. I really think that made it more fun. I stayed with Amy in CVA the whole week, and we enjoyed ourselves getting some work done as well as catching up (even though I talk to her on the phone almost every week, it's been a while since we've seen each other).
The weekend after I came back, we began the soccer tournament. My girls lost their first round game 4-3, but they did so well! I was sad, mostly because they were, but they really did their best, and were just starting to put everything together that we've worked on all season. The second round was supposed to happen on Saturday, but torrential rains turned the soccer field into a mud pit, and we postponed the rest of the tournament to the next Thursday. In the second round, we played for 3rd place. All my girls showed up for the game, and they played the best soccer I have ever seen them play. The offensive players were passing, and playing together, and the defense was really on top of things. They did almost everything I asked, which was really nice. We won that game 3-1, with 2 goals scored by Sydney, who hadn't scored once all season. Valerie scored the other goal, and on the way back down the field, she turned to me and said, "I finally faced the right way!" She's an aggressive player, and probably the best on the team, but she had this problem of her shots just missing the goal because she was trying too hard for the corners. It took all season for it to sink in that if you face diagonally when you kick the ball, it's not going to go straight. Also, during half time, the girls came and said, "Teacher, we're doing your plan!" All season, I worked at convincing them that to me, defense is just as important as offense. Some of them tend to think that if they're not put in the offensive positions, they're not important. Anyway, one of the things I would say to my defenders is that their job was to keep the goalie bored-they should get the ball down the field long before the other team has a chance to score. So when half time came, they were very excited that so far, our goalie was bored. They were so excited at the end of the game, it was almost as if we had won the championship. Oh, almost forgot, we actually scored all 4 of the goals scored in the game-one of my defenders accidently kicked the ball into our goal while she was trying to get it out. Oh well. I really enjoyed getting to know the girls during the season. They all learned and grew so much. I especially enjoyed the interesting discussions they would start as we sat waiting for the games. My two favorites were, "Teacher, the Bible says love your enemies. Do I have to love Satan?", and "Teacher, is God going to come today?" The second conversation was especially interesting, since they were talking about what will happen at the rapture.
Last Sunday, my roommate was sick, so she took me to church, but I had to find a ride home. I thought I had a ride, but it didn't work out, so I was going to call Priscilla and have her come get me (which she had said she would do if she had to). The only problem was that I couldn't get ahold of her, because she was sleeping. Well, when Mrs. Santana saw me in the parking lot trying to call Priscilla, she asked if I had a ride. When she found out I didn't, I got in trouble for not telling her earlier. The Santanas took me with them to Longhorn, where we celebrated Mr. Santana's mom's birthday. When we got back to church at night, I was instructed again that if I ever need a ride, I had better tell them. I think I've learned my lesson. =)
Last Thursday, we had our teacher appreciation banquet, which I really enjoyed. We ate at one of the fanciest restaurants I've ever been to. They handed out service awards, and Longhorn certificates for those with perfect attendance. The best part of teacher appreciation was that we had Friday off! I went bowling with 12 other people, mostly teachers, and a few college students. It was only the second time I had gone bowling, but it wasn't too bad. However, it was sad to find out as we were returning our shoes that mine were the same size as Walter's, one of the seventh grade teachers. And if you're wondering, that doesn't mean his feet are small!
This week has been interesting. Several of my piano students are doing very well. I've been giving them things to do for their last lesson, so we've been looking at a lot of things. This weekend is Mother's day, as well as college graduation, so it will for sure be busy.
It's also nice to have the college students from BJ back.

Iglesia Bautista Fundamental Tabernaculo

I just found my church's website today and enjoyed looking through the pictures and the missionary list. I am so thankful that the Lord directed me to this church for my last 2 years in Greenville. I learned so much under Pastor Fernandez's preaching. The music is conservative, and the congregational singing is very enthusiastic, which is not always easy to find. The people sing with all their hearts and it is a blessing just to listen. I also made many friends, learned Spanish, and grew spiritually in the weekly youth group meetings. If you're ever in Greenville and looking for a Spanish speaking church, I highly recommend Tabernaculo. (This post really isn't as random as it may seem-I was in Greenville a week ago and was able to be at my church 5 times)

All that to say, I miss my church!

www.iglesiatabernaculo.org

How I got here (part 1)

Well, since I finally have a little bit of time, I'm going to attempt the story of how I ended up here. It's a rather long one, so I'll probably break it down into a few chunks. I guess it all started back sometime in elementary school. I was saved when I was 4 1/2, not long before my family moved to Texas. I remember as far back as first and second grade being fascinated with missionary presentations and not being able to shake the feeling that maybe God wanted me to be a missionary. I remember sometime around fourth grade a man coming to church and anouncing a missions trip and I was so upset because I was not old enough to go. I decided right then and there that if the opportunity ever arose for me to go on a missions trip, I would do it. While we lived in Texas, my parents were in charge of our church's bus ministry. That meant that on Saturdays we spent almost all day visiting the families of the kids we picked up on Sundays. Much of the time I hated going, because we were gone for a long time, and it was always so hot, especially during the summer. Looking back, I can see God's direction in my life starting even in the visitation that I didn't like. Many of our families were Hispanic, and when we visited on Saturdays, we would invariably be invited into their homes. My extremely "spiritual" (ha) memories of the visits were the times that these families would prepare food for us, usually from their native country. They were so hospitable, and the homemade flour tortillas and other things they made for us were so delicious. The Lord was using this time in my life to plant a love and burden for Spanish speaking people in my heart. I don't doubt God's sovereignty in leading my dad to an area so heavily populated with Hispanics. I did, however, doubt his wisdom when my dad informed us that we would be moving to Georgia the summer after my 6th grade year. There were many things I knew I would miss about Texas, the top of the list being my friends. I did not look forward to starting jr high with a group of kids I didn't know. I was also upset that I would not get to study Texas history. Weird, I know, but when we studied it in 4th grade, I became so fascinated that I could hardly wait to get to 8th grade when we could spend the whole year studying it. Of course, Mr Russell made almost every school subject fascinating, but history just topped it all, and I just couldn't wait. And now that I was so close to 8th grade and Texas history, my dad was saying we were going to move! I was not very happy at all about the whole idea, but I really didn't have a choice. Actually, I had the choice in how I reacted: I cried the entire trip to Dallas, which was 2-2 and 1/2 hours.

Help!!

I'm going nuts! Actually, I'm ok, it's just that this week has been and will continue to be a little crazy. I'm leaving for Greenville Saturday afternoon, and I have not had an evening at home to clean, get things done and pack since Saturday, and I won't have one between now and when I leave. All for a good cause, though. Monday night is normally visitation, but since I didn't have a scheduled visit, I went with the group that normally goes to Walmart or Kmart to pass out tracts. We have to be careful that we only give them to people who are exiting the store. I hear that in the past there has been danger or threat of arrest, so when a policeman approached one of the college guys, he was naturally a little nervous. Jose told us that the policeman was asking him questions, and he just felt prompted to basically preach to the guy. After talking for a while, the policeman trusted Christ as his Savior. It was a blessing to see Jose's excitement, and a blessing to hear how the Lord turned a potentially scary situation into a witnessing opportunity.
Last night I had a scheduled visit to the home of a second grade student. His parents are solid Christians and the kind of parents any teacher would love to deal with. Their home was in the mountains, so there was land and quite that I thoroughly enjoyed, since I live in the city and don't see much of it.
Tonight is church, sign language class, and choir practice afterwards for chapel tomorrow.
Thursday night is college choir practice, and practice with the men's quartet for Easter.
Friday is soccer game (the last before playoffs) and after the game a concert at the fine arts center. If I remember correctly, it's the Emerson string quartet. Not quite sure what they're playing, but it should be nice.
After all that fun, I'll be leaving for the airport around noon on Saturday.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I have to figure out my taxes, and figure out how to deal with Puerto Rican taxes as well as US and state taxes.

Halfway through

I can't believe this second semester is almost over! So much has happened lately that it would take more than the little bits of time I've had to write about any thing, that and the internet's been down for about 4 days. Field day was quite the adventure, I shall have to post pictures (I took 87) hopefully after this Parent Teacher Meeting stuff is over. PTM is tomorrow. Hopefully everything will go well. I have a few kids with pretty low grades in music classes, mostly because of not turning things in. Not much I can do about that. I guess the most exciting recent news (at least for me) is that I will be going to Greenville for my spring break in about 3 weeks!!!! All the details for that has kept my mind rather busy lately.

"That changes everything"

Usually when I quote my students, it's because they said something funny. This time, one of them said something that has stuck with me for several days. I can usually tell when my students haven't practiced. When they have more interest in talking, and humming, and general wandering around the room before they sit down and get their books out, Ibegin to suspect that maybe they didn't practice. On Friday, I knew for sure that Alex hadn't practiced (because he misplaced his notebook and hadn't had it for over a week), but he was still humming, putting off playing, etc. I heard him singing under his breath "Joy to the world, the teacher's dead." He's not the type of kid that actually hates his teachers, but from what I can gather, his classmates had been singing it, and he picked it up, not really thinking about what he was singing. I asked him not to sing it, not because I was personally offended because I'm a teacher (my skin's a little thicker than that), but because of obvious problems with the song. He asked me why I didn't like it, and I said, "First of all, the words go against the Bible."
"They do?"
"Yes, in Exodus it says thou shalt not kill"
Then he made the statement "That changes everything, then!"
Does it really change everything for me? or do I continue to do what I want to do conveniently ignoring the Bible's commands against whatever it is?
I'm thankful that Alex has a tender heart, and that God used him to point out that what the Bible says really should change everything we say and do.

First soccer game

We have our first game today. I'm really hoping one of my players was able to get ahold of her mom to tell her to come later to pick her up. If she doesn't, well, I guess it's my fault if Valerie has to leave early. I didn't really discuss the fact that our team played second on Friday. Oops! This will be interesting. On Tuesday, the people in charge decided that we needed to make a trade form my team to one of the weaker teams, so that the games would be more evenly balanced. I lost one of my sixth graders, and I have gained a fourth grader that I have never met before.
My high school girls basketball team won their game yesterday. I really enjoy the coaching, but it takes up more of your mind than I realized. We ended up winning by 1 point, but it shouldn't have been even that close. The other team has 2 really tall girls, and when I was giving some of the other kids a chance to play, I conveniently forgot the fact that I needed to leave Cristina in because she's the only one tall enough to come close to defending those two. Oh well, it all worked out eventually. So far our record is 2-1.
The middle school and high school students today have ben asking every person they see to sponsor them for a walkathon to earn money for a science lab. I have told every one of them to aske me later after I have a chance to think about how much I can help. A science lab is a worthy cause, I've just had to decide that I'll only sponsor kids I teach, since it could quickly snowball if I didn't do that.
As for piano lessons, every child except one now has their piano books. 2 so far have finished their books and bought new ones, 2 more are within 1-2 lessons of finishing their books, and several more are coming close.
Monday we have off of school, and I'm planning on going to a Spanish ladies conference sponsored by a Christian college in Bayamon. David Cortes and his wife (from Mexico) are doing the speaking. I'm glad for the day off school, as well as the opportunity to go to this conference.

First soccer practice

Yesterday was pretty interesting. We're playing with seven girls on the field at once, and at practice yesterday I had exactly seven. I really enjoyed the drills and stuff, and during the scrimmage, I was reminded once again how much trouble I would be in as a coach if this weren't just intramural. I could never stay in the proper prescribed place for a coach. After the first basketball game I coached, I wondered why I was so tired. During the second game, I discovered that it was becaused I walked up and down the sidelines during the whole game. This was not just a leisurely stroll, I was walking fast and hard! The first soccer game is Friday. I'm really looking forward to this coaching thing. I have a really good group of girls with sweet spirits who are willing to listen. They have made it fun for me. I'm enjoying getting to know my students outside of class.

Walmartian adventures

Walmart is always an interesting trip, but this Wednesday it was especially fun. I really didn't have that many things to get, so Avieria and I just wandered through the store looking and talking. The first part of the fun happened in the shoe aisle. I made a beeline for the clearance shelves and started looking for my size. They usually don't have the size anywhere that fits me best, so I end up settling for something that's a little too big. It's even rarer to find my size on clearance, so when I saw a box with the correct size on the top shelf underneath 5 other boxes, I was pretty exited. To make it even better, the price was $5! So, ignoring the sign that says ask for assistance with items on the top shelf, I tried to get the box down. I really was tall enough to get it, but there was an edge that stuck out that the box was behind, and with all those boxes on top of it, it was hard to get the box high enough to go over the edge. While I was attempting my disobedience to the posted walmart request, a manager (or something like that) came along and asked if we needed help. We said yes, and the woman went off to find someone. We should have learned our lesson and waited for help, but it took so long that we decided to try again. This whole time, Avieria was saying, "Watch, we get the box down, and it won't even be the size you want!" This time she helped me work at the box, and between the two of us, we were able to get it down. Finally, I had the box with the wonderful $5 shoes in it! I took off the lid, and found..........nothing! Not only was there not the right size in the box, there was absolutely nothing in it! Right about this time, the manager person came back with help to find Avieria and I laughing so hard we could hardly talk to tell her we didn't really need the help. We kept looking in the shoe section for a while, and I could hear the workers talking about the crazy people finally getting the box down that had nothing in it. Oh well, I guess I didn't really need that pair of shoes.
Our next adventure happened in the checkout line. We found some tshirts in the clothes section that were pretty amusing, and we were discussing which ones we needed to get and wear home for our mothers to see. As we were talking, I noticed this man in the next line over repeatedly looking at us, and turning around to talk to the lady with him. I said something to Avieria about the man talking about us, when he asked her "Do you speak spanish?" She said no, but pointed to me and said that I did. It turns out that when they heard us talking, they figured that we were americans (I wonder where they got that idea ). The man was saying something about this package that he had, and I understood the words, but I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to do. I was thinking, yes, the instructions are in English, yes, I read English, but I didn't know what part he needed to know about. Finally he just handed me the package and said, "explain this to me!" It was a box with a bottle of some sort of dog medicine inside, and there were no spanish instructions to be found. He wanted to know how much of the medicine to give his dog. The instructions said to give 1 teaspoon for every 10 pounds of dog. The only problem was that I could not remember the word for teaspoon, and there was no one around who could help me come up with it. So I told him, "you use one of these (and pointed to the English word) for every 10 pounds of dog." That much I could handle. It didn't get the point across though, so I said " maybe there's something inside" hoping that there was one of those little measuring cups inside that I could look at to help him. Thankfully, we opened the box up, and sure enough, there was a little measuring cup resting right on top of the bottle and I was able to point to the measurement line and tell him how much he needed to give his dog. Hopefully he understood the instructions, and the dog survived the medicine!

Playing with $50,000

Or maybe I should say 'on' $50,000. This Saturday we went to Plaza Las Americas again, and of course I was forced to wander into the piano store that has been there since Christmas. Last time I went they had about half as many pianos, and I was hesitant to ask to play one since there is no chance of me even thinking about buying one. This time I was walking around looking at the new pianos, when the people running the store asked if they could help. I told them I was just looking, that I'd never be able to afford one of the pianos in the store. I also told them I was a piano teacher in the area. They were very kind even though they knew I wasn't going to buy, and they said if I needed any help to ask. I was about to leave, when Janelle (one of the college girls) asked if we could play one of the pianos. We were told "Of course! Whichever one you want!) I walked around the store looking, and stopped for a minute at a Yamaha 7' 6" concert grand, since my church in Georgia used to have something similar to it. I was going to choose probably a Boston piano since I've never played one of those, but when I stopped at the Yamaha, they brought the bench over for me to sit on and play. Then I looked at the price. I would have to pick the most expensive piano in the store! Almost $50,000! My dad says that's about what his first house cost, and at that price it'd better be a two-bedroom piano. I sat down and decided to play the arrangement of MADRID (Mr. Coleman, see what I learned in hymnology?), the tune that we usually sing with the text "Come, Christians, Join to Sing," that was the first piece on my sr recital. It was an easy choice, since it's the only one that I can play memorized without prior practice. The piano played beautifully, especially the lower ranges. I enjoyed every minute of it, and thanked the store people profusely when I was finished. They said, "No, thank you!" I think they enjoyed the extra people walking in the store and standing outside the window. I must say that was slightly unnerving to me, though. Maybe next time, after I've practiced Malaguena, I'll go back. I would love to play that piece on one of those pianos, only a big piano can really do justice to it. That was my weekend adventure.
This week has been fairly uneventful, but nice, especially since I finally got my new schedule worked out. This means no glaring 3 hour gaps without lessons, and about 6 fewer lessons after school. It also means that I have time to coach soccer which I know hardly anything about (I know the rules, but not much about how to instruct). I met my team yesterday and we start games next week. The sports program is intramural, and I have girls from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. Only 3 or 4 of them have ever played before, so this could be interesting. I have decided, though, that I don't mind being called coach, even though I hate being called teacher.

Life in PR

Strange things happen here sometimes. This afternoon, we sat at a traffic light for the longest time I think I have ever sat at a traffic light in my life, and we were the first ones at the intersection. We were on the way from picking up supper, and we stopped at a light. At some point after we stopped, I uncovered my Mc Flurry and got started eating it. By the time we finally got a green light, I was within 4 bites of finishing it! I wasn't eating fast either-I like to make desserts last.

Also, it seems that some truckers here have this habit of naming their trucks, presumably after a loved one, or something. On the road today, I saw this huge dump truck, and right across the front grill it read "Abuela Maria". Now I'm sure she appreciated the thought, but I'm not so sure that if I was "Grandma Mary" that I'd want a dump truck named after me.

Conversations with my students

During music class Monica raised her hand and asked, "Teacher, when you were in fifth grade, did you ever tell your teacher that the dog ate your homework?" I told her, "No, Monica, I never did that....I never had a dog!"
I'm still wondering how that came up in music class.

After piano lessons, Isabel was being her usual dramatic self and flopped onto the ground in the hallway. "Teacher, I think I broke my scapula!" she said. When I asked her if she knew where/what that was, she said yes and pointed to her backside. (for those who don't know, the scapula is the shoulder blade)

During a discussion of loud sounds and soft sounds in her piano lesson, Bianca (first grade) and I started to talk about animals, and I asked her what her favorite animal was. She replied without hesitation and with a huge grin on her face, "Skunks!" When asked why, she said, "Because they are black and white, and for me they are so pretty!"

Things I'm thankful for

1. Cell phones
2. Verizon
3. Good friends with cell phones who also have verizon
4. advice and encouragement
5. chocolate
6. my students, even the ones who leave their piano books in their school desk over the entire Christmas break
7. flip flops and flip flop weather
8. coworkers that make me laugh
9. God's faithfulness even when we are unfaithful
10. computers, email and the internet

That's the current rundown. There's more, but for right now these are the ones most on my mind. God is good!

Back to work

I'm back from hibernation. Actually, I just went home for Christmas, and computer time on a computer that's not mine was not found in abundance. I generally had enough time to check email. Anyway, I got back to PR on Monday after a wonderful Christmas break. I really enjoyed myself, though I probably did spend a little too much money. I ended up buying a few things that are hard to get here, as well as some warm shoes since my flip flops and sandals didn't really do the job in the "frigid" (at least compared to where I am now) Georgia weather. Seeing my family was nice-the kids have really shot up in the last five months. Seeing the cat was alright, she seems to like me. Now that I'm back, Priscilla's cat bites me every time I come near. I'm wondering if she can smell Muffin and is jealous. Oh well. I also enjoyed going to church, for the preaching and music and the fellowship as an added bonus. I discovered while playing in orchestra, that my violin likes Puerto Rico, or probably more precisely Puerto Rico's weather. The weather at home makes it go out of tune much more often, and it's also harder to tune because the pegs slip just as soon as I have it fixed. Here in PR, the pegs never slip, and it doesn't go out of tune just sitting in the case. There's also a different sound to it here in PR. I enjoyed playing anyway, even sitting in front of Mrs. Black and getting bonked on the head by a bow. =)
Amazingly enough, while I was home I really didn't get bugged about having (or not having as is my case) a boyfriend, which is fine with me. Everyone else who's here says that it's not fair I didn't get harassed, apparently they got harrassed enough for themselves and a little more for me too. =)
Yesterday Nicole gave me my Christmas present that Amy sent down here with Carla. The gift took the scenic route. =) Carla kept forgetting to get it to me before Christmas, which I understand since things were a little crazy at home because of her mom's surgery. Anyway, I' m glad to finally have it. I was so excited when I opened the package yesterday. She sent me a new cd, and a tape. The tape was of 2 messages preached in BJU chapel by a pastor from Mexico. He preached in Spanish and his son translated. Am has ben telling me about the messages, and it was really neat to finally hear them. The cd is one I have had my eye on since I heard about it. I don't exactly remember the title, but it is a Spanish cd put out by the Wilds. Sergio Ramirez sings all the songs on the cd, and he has a great voice. I have really enjoyed the cd, since several of the songs were already favorites in English it's been neat to hear them in Spanish too. It was also just fun to get stuff from someone at home.
School started back today. It has ben a pretty decent day so far, but slightly....dare I say it?....boring. I've only had 2 lessons so far, and my next one isn't til 1. One student didn't have a book, plus his mom doesn't like the time he's having his lesson, so we're working on changing it, but there's ben some miscommunication, so he didnt' have a lesson today. Another student moved away over Christmas break, so obviously he didn't have a lesson. The two lessons I did have went really well. Solange has improved even though she really didn't practice much over the break. She's learning her notes better, and counting as well. I feel like I have an especially big responsibility with her, because of a conversation I had with her mom. I met her mom in the mall about a week before we got out of school, and her mom told me that they have pulled her out of her guitar lessons at the conservatory because she was enjoying piano so much and losing interest in guitar. She really is doing well, and I hope I can do her justice. Charlene finished her book today, and I think she was really excited. I was, anyway. She's my first student to finish her book, and I can really tell she practiced over break. Her lessons are always enjoyable to teach since she practices!
I'm glad this is only a 3 day week-I'm so tired. I think my body is having to readjust to the heat, so I'm not sleeping really well. I've always had trouble sleeping when it's hot, but I had begun getting used to it. Going home where my toes froze in the house messed with my mind a little, I guess. Hopefully soon I will get a decent night's sleep. Maybe Saturday, or Monday since we have it off for MLK day! I still think it's funny that I get that day off, and my family who lives in his hometown doesn't get it off.

Going home today!

I'm boarding a plane Lord willing in about 3 hours! That is if there's seats available. (I'm flying standby) Today's the last day of school, and I played for the 4th Christmas program in a week. Busy busy busy, but fun. My volleyball team won on Friday, and it was a heart stopper. It came down to the last serve of the last game of a three game set. The serve hit the net, paused, and then rolled over. Quite an enjoyable game!
I'm beginning to get confused-I was told yesterday that my Spanish had a Mexican accent. I've been told that I have a Puerto Rican accent, that I have no accent, and I know for a fact that when I talk to someone from Spain that I pick up their accent. Oh well, good problem to have I guess. it's going to be so weird being home and speaking English in all the stores and everywhere.

2 weeks from today!

.........I'm getting on an airplane headed for Atlanta! (not that I'm excited to see my family for the first time in 5 months) =)
I have been putting off posting for so long because so much has happened, I just can't decide what to write about because there's no way I have the time to cover everything. So, this is what the last few weeks have been like-

School, turkey run, volleyball games, youth meeting, Priscilla flying home, trying to learn stick shift, failing, finding out the clutch is messed up (how was I supposed to know what a good clutch feels like?), waiting for my cell phone, church, getting rides with people, more school, riding with the Daniels in the morning and hearing VeggieTales the whole way to school (I know waaaaay too many of the lyrics), more school, practice for special music, listening to carlos tell jokes, more school, more practice for special music, more school, dragging the 7.5 foot Christmas tree upstairs and trying to figure out how to put it together with no instructions, Thanksgiving service, 2 baptisms, Carla came home, pie fellowship after church, conversation with Carlos, not being able to explain directions to my house (if the streets happen to have names, there sure aren't any signs), calling my family Thanksgiving morning, waiting in my garage for Mr Santana, going to the Santana's with Ryan, Andy, Walter and Nicole, spending all day eating talking playing games watching movies and enjoying good friendships, listening to Carlitos tell more jokes, singing around the piano at the end of the day, singing Christmas songs, doing nothing all day friday, cleaning all day saturday, playing piano for everything sunday morning, Chinese for lunch, listening to more jokes from Carlos, playing Christmas songs with 2 violins 1 flute and 1 guitar, playing for everything Sunday night because Mrs Jacobson's flight was late, Priscilla came back, more school, explaining to my students that I am not MRS Nething, more school, hearing my students trying to figure out why I'm not married, more school, my birthday, finally getting my packages after 3 weeks, parents vs teachers volleyball game, shopping at Plaza Las Americas and Priscilla spending an hour trying to find parking, birthday supper at Longhorn, Old San Juan at night with the Christmas lights and 2 cruise ships in the harbor, Nyler's second elevator ride (she still hates them), more church, hearing Pastor Fernandez preach for the first time since May, lunch at sizzlers surrounded on 3 sides by water, listening to Carlos tell still more jokes, more church, more school, trying to explain why Americans don't celebrate 3 King's day in January, more school, visitation, and more school!

So there you are. That's life in a nutshell, albeit a very large nut shell.

Time flies when you're having fun.....

......or for all you biology people out there, time's fun when you're having flies. =) The last couple of weeks have been busy, busy, busy. Last Friday I went to the church's ladies fellowship for the first time, and really enjoyed myself. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to be, with most of the ladies much older than I am. At home that's not a problem because I've been there so long I know almost everyone pretty well, but I was a little nervous about it here. We had a progressive dinner, with a devotional at the last house. The focus of the devotional was Thanksgiving, and it really prompted me to think about how amazing it is that I am here, and the amazing things the Lord did in my life to get me to this point. Some day I will have to post the story, but not now because it will take a really long time to type! Smart, extremely intelligent (cough, cough) person that I am, I drank a cup of coffee around 10 that night when I knew good and well that I needed to get up the next morning around 4:30. Yep, you guessed it, I went to bed very late. Exactly how late you may ask? somewhere around 2, 2:15. Long night's sleep, I know. The next question you probably have is "why in the world did you have to get up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning? Well, since we had a long weekend (we had Friday off for Veteran's Day), several of us teachers decided to take a day trip to Culebra.

We live in Carolina, which is fairly close to San Juan. Culebra is the smaller of the 2 islands to the east of Puerto Rico. On Saturday morning, Priscilla and I left the house at 5:30 so I could stop at the atm before we left for the trip. Using an ATM at the mall at 5:30 in the morning is not something I want to do again anytime soon. While I was using the ATM, there was some guy standing in the shadows at the mall entrance probably about 20 feet away from the ATM. He didn't look particularly threatening, but you never know with someone who is crazy enough to be standing at the mall entrance at 5:30 AM. The whole time I was drawing out my money I was prayimg for safety, and when I got back in the car, Priscilla said she had the phone in her hand ready to call if anything happened. Thankfully everything went allright, and we continued our trip to the school. We met everyone else there at 6:00, and were ready to go, when we remembered that we had invited one of the deaf college students (Nyler) to come with us. Aurys was elected to wake her up since she knows ASL, and we had to convince Nyler that she should come. Just as we started to leave, rain started coming down in buckets! The 8 of us loaded up into 2 cars to make the 45 minute trip to Fajardo where we would board the ferry to take us to Culebra. When we got to Fajardo, they had not yet started to sell ferry tickets, so we had a chance to walk around and take some pictures. They started selling tickets sometime around 7:30. Sarah Motter says that sometimes during the tourist seasons, the ferry tickets are sold out by 7AM, and other times they don't start selling till after 7, which is why we had to leave so early. Ferry tickets cost $2.25 plus extra for any large coolers, beach chairs, etc. for a trip that takes abotu an hour and a half. Several of us slept for a good deal of the boat trip, which was a good thing considering how much sleep I got the night before. =) When we landed at the dock, we unloaded everything and got on a bus (for another $2.00) that would take us to the other side of the island where the beaches are. The beach we went to was Flamenco Beach, and it was gorgeous! The water has many different colors, is very clear, and to my surprise when I got in, it was pretty cold! We enjoyed ourselves for a while in the waves and I discovered that our noses were not built to handle sand and sea water. Some of those waves were pretty nasty, but I survived. After lunch time, we walked a little ways around the beach to an area where we could do some snorkeling. While the others were snorkeling (we only had 2 sets of equipment), I just walked around in the water and watched the fish swimming at my feet. In that area the water was very still, and it was so clear that when I was in water up to my neck, I could still see my toes! I was a little nervous about the snorkeling at first, but once I figured out how the breathing worked, I was fine. Snorkeling was an amazing experience. I've seen so many pictures of coral reefs, and exotic fish in the ocean, but seeing it in person is another thing entirely. The fish were beautiful. We didn't see any big fish, but several small ones of different colors and designs. What amazed me the most was the coral reefs. How anyone can look at the coral and all the plants that grow around it and still believe it evolved is beyond me. Mostly I was just impressed with God's creation and the beauty that he has put on this earth for us to enjoy. After we snorkeled, we got on the bus to go back to the other side of the island for the trip back to Fajardo. While we waited, I was able to get some postcards at a couple of little shops there near the port. I slept a lot of the boat trip back, but when I woke up, enjoyed the view of the sea at night. As beautiful as it is during the day time, I think I prefer the night view. Once again, I was amazed at the beauty and intricacy of universe God has created.

This week has been rather uneventful up until today. We had the turkey run this morning. Each grade has a race for boys and one for girls, and the winner takes home a turkey! Quite an experience to hear 600 students plus parents and teachers cheering for children running around the parking lot. Also, today we had another volleyball game, and my girls won for the first time! I was so proud of them. They served well, and kept their bumps under control.

AHHHHH! I just looked at the time. 6:12! We are leaving in about 20 minutes to go to Rio Grande for a youth meeting, and I'm still in my volleyball clothes!

Encouraging Words

Yesterday I was muttering something about feeling old (I'll be 23 in less than a month). One of my highschool students happened to hear me, and dear, sweet Alexandra said, "You're not old, you're middle-aged." That helped me feel so much better!
Something kinda funny happened on Monday. We came back after visitation (to a family that doesn't speak English) and Ariel started speaking to me in Spanish. That was a little strange, because he usually speaks English to me, but I understand, so I went ahead and replyed in Spanish. He apparently didn't realize I know the language, he just always thought I understood a little bit. I stood there talking to him and Andrea for a while, and he made a comment about my accent in Spanish. I said "What are you talking about?" He repeated it slower, and I told him I understood the words he was saying, but I wasn't quite sure what he was trying to say. I finally figured out that he was telling me I don't have an accent in Spanish, in other words my Spanish does not have an American accent. Now that really was encouraging! I have been slightly frustrated at times because I'm trying to learn the language, and I can't get a lot of the college students around here to speak to me in Spanish because they're all trying to learn English! I have prayed for more opportunities to learn, and the Lord has been providing that.
I can't believe it's only 2 weeks until Thanksgiving, and that it's really almost winter! It does not feel at all like winter here, but that's to be expected. They have had the stores decorated for Christmas since the beginning of October, though. I'm still trying to figure out if they're trying to counteract the fact that it doesn't feel cold here, so they have to decorate the stores so we will trick ourselves into thinking it's the Christmas season.

Holidays

I love the way this school works! We just had three days "off" (I put it in quotes because we had our Bible Conference, which was not really days off), and this Friday we are off for veteran's day, and coming soon....Thanksgiving! In fact, this year I will get MLK day off for the first time ever-this coming from someone who lived in the Atlanta area (MLK's hometown) for 10 years!

Speaking of 3 days off for conference, it was wonderful. The Lord really worked in hearts, and it was such a blessing to hear so much good preaching this week. One very interesting message: Dr Brian Green from England spoke on the fish that swallowed Jonah. I have heard many messages on Jonah, but never a message on the fish, or more specifically, how we should be like the fish-it was prepared, etc. I was also able to see a friend from my 2002 mission team who I hadn't seen since we landed in Atlanta after the trip. He's from the Dominican Republic, and when you hear him speak, you can tell that. That's why it was funny to me when he told me my Spanish was sounding Puerto Rican. When I went to Spain, I really didn't speak that much Spanish, but since taking many more Spanish classes, and going to Spanish church, I have picked up much much more. So when he asked me how my Spanish was, and I responded in Spanish, he said I was getting an accent! Like he's got room to talk....on our team not even the native speakers could understand him when he spoke. =) It was good to see him again though.