Well it has been a fairly eventful week. For starters, I went out checked out the house that I mentioned in the last post, and I liked it a lot! There is currently one girl living there named, Nina, and she seems really nice. They are trying to rent three rooms out, so there will likely be a couple other people their as well. The house is really big, and there is a fenced in yard. I was impressed enough that I emailed them and asked if I could bring my dog, Maisy with me when I come back after going home for Christmas. I was actually really surprised when they said they would, so after a lot of prayer, I’ve decided to go for it. I will be moving out the first of October, and I’m really excited about the new place! On Sunday I broke it to my host family and they took it really well, so that is an answer to prayer! I still think I’ll hang out over there sometimes and come over for family dinners and make them all some American food. So far I’ve cooked three meals, and they love American cooking, so I a feeling that tradition will continue. Maybe I’ll even have them over to my new place! Below are some pictures I took from the Craigslist ad.
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| A bedbug-less bed! |
At school, things were pretty eventful as well. I had to deal with a very upset parent, who showed up and yelled and cursed at me in front of my students because. She was angry because I had asked her son to step into the hall when he was disrupting the class. I tried to calm her down, and encouraged her to come back when I did not have class so we could talk about it further. It ultimately ended well, and she apologized for her behavior. Unfortunately, however, the school told me that I cannot send students to the hall to talk with them anymore. I am feeling frustrated because there is very little I am allowed to do to the students here; discipline is even more soft than it is in The States. We are expected to maintain control and order in our classroom, yet they take away our means of doing so, and do not back us when we are challenged. I am very concerned about how I am going to survive this school year if this a sign of things to come. Please pray that God will help me to come up with creative ideas to motivate students towards positive behavior and academic success.
One positive that that has been happening at school is that Ms. Duckworth, the volunteer teacher that has been helping in my classroom, is still with me and doing a fabulous job! It is so nice to be able to rely on her to help share the massive workload, and I think she is a God-send and definite answer to prayer.
On Friday the elementary school principal approached me and asked me if I would be willing to teach 5th grade instead. I think they are planning on offering my position to Ms. Duckworth and moving me to 5th grade. Dan, the elementary school principal was the first one from the school to contact me, and ask me how I would feel about teaching 5th grade. On Friday he told me that the reason his brother Mike, the high school principal was the one who called me for an interview was because Mike said he needed me worse, so Dan let him call me. Anyway, after they let this teacher go, Dan immediately thought of me, and wanted to see how I felt about it. I wasn’t really sure what to say, but I told him I would pray about it. As I thought about it and prayed about it over the weekend, I realized that my favorite grades of the grades that I’ve taught are always the younger ones. I think this might be a good change for me, and I sense God is in it. I went to talk to Dan about it more after school today, and he explained a little about the curriculum and the schedule and actually offered me the job. I told him I’d take it! I start next week. I’m excited about it, but a bit nervous too because I’ve never taught 5th grade before, and I’ve never taught all subjects. I would appreciate your prayers about this.
On Sunday, I went back to International Baptist Church this weekend, this time for the young-adult class and the service. I really liked it a lot, and I’m feeling more confident I want to make this my church home! I even talked to Buster, another ICS teacher who leads the youth group there, about getting involved with the youth ministry. The church has a bus that picks people up in downtown San Jose, and it’s pretty easy to catch a bus from anywhere to downtown, so that’s what I did. I was harder getting home, because I took the city bus and it let me off in a totally different spot. I had no idea where I was, which made finding the bus I needed to get home quite an adventure. I asked about 4 people where the post office was, because I knew my stop was close to it, but I found out later I was misprinting the word for post office, and no one knew what I was saying. Ultimately I found someone who knew what I was meant, and he told me how to get there. I wandered around for about a half hour in San Jose, which is not really a safe place to be by yourself, so I was really glad when I finally found my bus.
One thing you can pray about is that I would find some place where I can go to leave the country for three days. You see, in order to renew my tourist visa, I have to leave the country for 72 hours every three months until my work Visa is processed. From what I’ve heard, that takes a minimum of six months. I would really like to come home for my birthday weekend and be able to be there for Joel’s birthday as well. For those of you who don’t know, Joel is my nephew and is turning four on Halloween, three days after my birthday. From what I found so far, I can’t fly home for less than $600, and I don’t have that kind of money. It’s probably going to cost me at least $350 just to travel to one of the bordering countries and stay in a hotel for three days, and even that is a stretch. Anyway, I heard that Continental and United are about to merge, which is expected to drop ticket prices significantly. Please be praying that they will drop enough for me to be able to be there for my nephew’s birthday. That would be the best birthday present FOR ME that I could imagine!
Welp, that’s all for now. I’ll update you again next week.
5th Grade is my favorite grade!! You'll love it!
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