Lucky me

Teachers always seem to have an endless to do list. I know I would often get so wrapped up in the things I had to accomplish for the day I would forget to take the time to just listen the students in my class. This year I am realizing my to do list is much shorter. Yes, I am working with some kids who need extra practice and instruction, but more than anything most of these kids just need someone who will listen to them and give them the attention they deserve and need.

Today I was working with 2 second graders. Before we got started I heard them talking about how one of them got beat up by a big kid the previous afternoon. I let them share the rest of their story with me which led to me learning details about their families. One boy has a mother who works the night shift at a local factory. Both boys have fathers in jail. Just by spending 10 minutes, if that, listening to them, and validating the fact that it was wrong for a big kid to pick on them, I was able to gain trust and respect. For the next 30 minutes I had their complete attention. They were attentive and cooperative with our lesson. When it was time for them to go back to class, they wanted to stay.

It's sad that as a regular classroom teacher we don't normally have time to really listen to our kids. We want to and we know we need to, but how? Public school teachers have too many other things to worry about. Standarized testing, benchmarks, how to make teaching fun again, large class sizes, how to make teaching actually fun and meaningful again. The list could go on and on.

I'm glad I get to work with such small groups this year. I guess even though I'm just a volunteer and not making a salary this year, I'm actually the lucky one. I hope I don't forget that this year.

Eggplants

Last night was my turn to cook for our community meal. And the meal had to serve 14 people.
Margareta works at an Organic Farm 2 days a week and brings home veggies and eggs or whatever else is in season. We had eggplant, okra, and sting beans in the fridge so I figured I should use those things. Our goal is to try to make our community meals tasty, but CHEAP!!!
I decided to make eggplant lasagna. I actually was really ambitious and was going to use eggplants as the noodles but decided as a group we needed to step into eggplants easy! Two of our roommates had never tried eggplant before and eggplant noodles would have been a little much, even for me.

The meal actually turned out really well.
Veggie Lasagna
1 box of noodles
1 can of ricotta cheese
1 can of cottage cheese
2 cans of tomato sauce
1 large bag + 1/2 of another one of mozzarella cheese
veggies I used 2 eggplants, 2 zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, and okra

I roasted all the vegetables in olive oil before cooking which made them taste delicious.
I actually only needed the 2 can of cheeses. I mixed the cottage and ricotta cheeses and made it S T R E T C H out. There was enough for 2 lasagnas plus a little one with out veggies.
It was delicious!

As for the green beans, I boiled them for about 4 minutes, tossed them in olive oil and lemon juice, toasted a small package of almonds (my splurge) and mixed it all together, YUMMY!

It was not bad for my first big meal, as for the next time though I might need ideas for more meatless dishes.

Gummy bears vs. Reality

Living in Mission Year, vs. talking about doing Mission Year year are two very different things.

Moving in with people I haven't met, sure no problem, I love new friends.

Sharing your your car, sure I'll be fine with others "borrowing" MY car.

Creating a budget with people I just met, no problem budgeting sounds like something I need to learn.

Planning meals with my new roommates, how fun! Besides I'm SURE we will like the SAME foods, it will be EASY!

Following Rules and answering to someone other than my principal, su.....WAIT WHAT??????

Please don't think I am complaining. I'm not. I am so glad we are a part of Mission Year. But it's far more challenging than I imagined. The things I thought would be the easiest, well they aren't. The one thing I have discovered is that I am very easygoing, fun, flexible, and happy... When things are going MY way!!!! Having roommates has exposed me for the selfish person I really am!

It's hard give up my way of doing things. I've had 29 years of life and almost 3 years of marriage to create a nice routine for myself. I'm used to doings things on my time (if I do them at all!) The hardest thing so far for me has been living into a schedule. It's not even a bad schedule. But it is a schedule nevertheless!

Ex 1 6 am prayer 2 mornings a week. Prayer is good, but 6am, come on people.
It's actually not as bad as it started out. At first it was 3 mornings a week and on 2 of the day we had to walk about 1/2 mile to and from the house where the prayers were held. Now we only have to walk 1/2 a mile to and from 1 morning a week.

Ex 2 2 nights a weeks we have community meals @ 6 o'clock. I really enjoy this time. But I am used to eating dinner whenever I get around to it. Or whenever Ben tell's me he's hungry! And when I do cook, I cook the food that I picked out. It's not like that anymore. At least 2 nights a week I am eating meals that others have prepared. Thankfully I am not that picky, but still it's an adjustment. And I only thought making a list and grocery shopping were bad before. At least when I shopped before I had complete freedom in what I purchased. Now I don't. I can't tell you how hard it is to deny myself gummy worms, organic boneless, skinnless, chicken breast, real maple syrup, expensive mozzarella cheese, the cracker isle, the chip isle.... Basically all the things I love and don't need. It's not that I can't indulge myself (that's why we get monthly stipends) but shopping is different and much harder.

I'm will grow into this lifestyle, and I do want to. But I have a feeling I'll have to sneak a few gummy bears along the way.

School Days

It's different being a part of a school, but not actually being the classroom teacher. I have almost finished my second week at Unity Elementary. Unity is a Title one school and about 90% poverty and minority. Fortunately, the faculty and staff are wonderful and have been nothing but welcoming to me. My role this year is to work on reading at math skills with kids functioning well below grade level. The good news is I get to work with small groups. The bad news is all of my wonderful teaching materials are packed away in boxes in my parents basement. I making due though! I'm glad there isn't a teacher store in LaGrange I would be too tempted to run out and buy a bunch of new things!



It's definitely a change from St. Gregory. While St. Gregory will always be my favorite school, I am thankful there are other schools, Title 1 schools at that, that have a school environment that is just as positive. I've spent the past two days meeting my students and assessing their ability. Hopefully my time with them will pull them up to their correct grade level. If anything though, I hope I can be an encourager. I am so thankful I will be a small group teacher this year. I believe these students will truly benefit from small group instruction and one on one interactions. Today I was able to just sit and talk with some of the fourth graders. That's what they need; positive attention. I am blessed to have my service site at a school this year.

Visit Unity Elementary
http://ues.troup.k12.ga.us/

Hospitality. What does it mean to show hospitality to others. Is it inviting friends over for dinner? Bringing cookies to a new neighbor? Offering to babysit so friends can have a date night? These are all ways you can be hopsitable, but lately I've been understanding that hospitality also includes those not in your immediate circle. It's pretty easy to be hospitable to your friends or people who are like you, but what about strangers? While in Guatemala we were shown hospitality of a different kind, the kind you show to strangers, to foreigners. We were strangers to our host families, yet they treated us like guests of honor.

When we arrived in El Sauce it was pouring. All of our hosts and hostesses immediately began helping us unload the truck and them proceeded to carry all of our bags down the slippery, muddy hill to our lodging. All I was left with was an unbrella, that they gave me!!! It was hard to not feel guilty for allowing someone else to carry all my stuff. Dinner was also unusual. Not only were we served, we were waited on. They didn't even sit with us, instead they made sure our drinks were full and when we finished they washed all our dishes. And this wasn't just for the first meal, it was for every meal we had.

The plumbing in El Sauce isn't so good. Of course there is no hot water excpet for the water you boil. Every morning we had a hot bucket waiting for us so we could take our morning showers. We were the only ones who took showers every morning. They went our of their way to prepare our baths because they knew this was our custom and it would make us comfortable. I wonder how many times I have gone out of my way for my guests.

The homes we stayed in weren't large. In fact their were only 2 or 3 rooms, a kitchen and 1 or 2 sleeping rooms. They gave the Dustin, Jamie, and Ben and I one of their bedrooms, they rest of the family (lots of people) crowded into the other room, some of which had to sleep on the floor. On Tuesday they even offered to wash our clothes. And by wash I mean hand wash. They don't have a washing machine. I tried to wash my own shirt, but I guess I didn't do such a good job cause they took it from me!

Part of our time with Mission Year will be spent in our neighborhood with people who might not be like us. We will be intentionally showing hospitality to our neighbors. We want to create a home that welcomes strangers, well hopefully they won't be strangers for long! I hope I continue to reflect back on our time in Guatemala as we welcome strangers into our home.

El Sauce Pics

First Thoughts On Guatemala

Hey everyone. As many of you know Ben and I recently took an incredible trip to Guatemala. We are working on our next newsletter but won't have room to include all our Guatemala stories. This will also be a great way to keep everyone updated on a more regular basis of what we are doing this year. God has a heart for the poor and forgotten in our society. In today's world immigrants are often some of the most forgotten.

The word immigrant raises a variety of emotions. It's easy for us to say close the borders, save our jobs. But it's harder to actually put our self in their shoes and try to understand why they even want to be here. Here in LaGrange we have met several immigrant families from both Mexico and Guatemala. Some are lucky enough to be living here with their families, but for many they have come alone, leaving their family behind because it's too risky. But the question I like many other have asked is why? Why would you leave your family and come to America. Spending time in Guatemala has helped me to understand the why question a bit more.

We spent about two days in Guatemala City. One of the first things I noticed was the barbed wire and broken glass above the walls that surrounded peoples homes and businesses. We visited the national cemetery and saw 1000's of vultures swarming overhead. I thought I was odd, but once we made it to the back of the cemetery I saw why. Just behind the opulent monuments constructed to remember the dead were individuals who were searching through one of the cities dumps. There they along with countless mutts and vultures were scavenging for food or anything of value. Your heart and stomach were in knots because of the plight of others. We are so blessed to live in America with our supermarkets and access to so much. It was sobering reminder of how wealthy we really are.

We left Guatemala City and traveled to El Sauce a mountain community in Huehuetenango. It was about a 7 or 8 hour ride from Guatemala City. The drive itself was pretty incredible. We saw more shanty cinderblock homes literally on the side of the road than I ever knew even existed. People seem to build homes wherever they find room. We made it to El Sauce at about 6pm. Well we made it to the base of the dirt road that let to El Sauce at 6pm. We had to get our of our van and load up in the bed of small 4x4 Toyota, in the rain, with about 14 pieces of luggage (not all ours we brought things from LaGrange family members). And we were traveling on a incredibly steep, narrow, now muddy up through the mountains. It was rather terrifying to peek from under the tarp to see the edge of a cliff! After about 30 minutes we made it to our destination and were greeted by the most gracious hosts.

When I have more time I will share more from our trip. I am going to try to upload a few videos from El Sauce if I can.