1/20/11
Sorry I haven’t been posting the past couple days – the internet at the guesthouse has been off and on…and even when it is on, it’s really slow because so many people are trying to use it at once. I’ve been avoiding the frustration…haha. This week has flown by! I can’t believe tomorrow is our last day in the classroom! But let me back up a bit…..
Monday and Tuesday were filled with classes during the day, and planning for lessons and writing my last assignments for this class. I wanted to get everything done early in the week so I could spend the last few days of our time here at the Children’s Home and doing last minute outings in the evenings. I was asked to teacher two lessons this week – Science (magnetism) and Home Economics (topic was “working hard”), so preparing for them took from right after school on Monday until about 9 (with a break for dinner, obviously!). We had a 4 page paper due by today (Thursday), so lots of people were working on that as well. On Tuesday, my grade 4 students realized that I was leaving on Friday and they began giving me little goodbye notes already….one of the boys who I felt like I hadn’t really connected with as much wrote me the sweetest note – I started crying! Thankfully I read it when the students weren’t around! I had to keep reminding them that we still had a few more days and that we should just enjoy the time we have left and not worry about Friday....it’s been hard to follow my own advice though.
Wednesday was a very interesting day….the morning was pretty normal – kids a little crazy, but classes going as usually. About halfway through the morning, during library, I started feeling a little queasy, but I didn’t really think anything of it (the kids are obsessed with the Ripley’s Believe It or Not book and they had been showing me some pretty gross things in it, so I thought that was what was making me feel weird. I was supposed to teach my 2 lessons back-to-back (Science then Home Ec.) right after library. The science lesson when pretty well – I felt a little light-headed, but the students were a little less focused than normal so I figured I was just getting frustrated with them. But then during my Home Ec. lesson, I started feeling really nauseous and having abdominal pains. I tried to continue my lesson, thinking I could make it to lunch in 15 more minutes, but it got to be too much – my vision started blurring and I felt like I was going to faint! I sat down for a minute, apologizing to the teacher and students (I think I might have scared them a little…). I really just needed to make it to the C.R. (“Comfort Room” – bathroom) I was in the bathroom until class was over, but nothing happened. My teacher told me to go home and rest, so I was able to take the rest of the afternoon off. It ended up just being diarrhea, and after a 2 hour nap and Pepto Bismal I was able to make it through the rest of the evening without any abdominal pains – my body just felt really worn out and tired. BUT I woke up this morning feeling fine, so it must have just been a onetime thing – maybe something I ate. I am so thankful I wasn’t restricted for too long – although I missed time at the Children’s Home for the 3rd night in a row. I did get to spend time making cards for the kids in my class though – I’m excited to give them to them tomorrow!
This morning we didn’t go into our classrooms because we took a tour of Faith Academy – the huge Christian school up the road. Faith’s student body of about 700 (!!!!!!), K-12, is made up almost entirely of missionary kids. It is a huge campus – it reminded me of a college! – and it was completely different from what we have experienced every day at Cuatro. It is basically just like any American school, and most of the teachers are American. There are even dorms that house some of the high school students whose families live far away. We got to observe in a classroom for about an hour – I went to a 4th grade class. They were making Incan weavings to go along with their history unit, so we got to help measure yarn and untangle weavings….it was really fun and a breath of fresh air to be in a classroom that was colorful, controlled, and in English! Talked with the teacher a little bit - this is her first year out of college, so her insight and story of how she got to Faith was really great to hear. Afterwards, we got to talk with the principal and then he gave us the tour. Every part of the campus is beautiful – with a fairly pricey tuition and the blessing of a large philanthropic fund, they have been able to do so much, including a pool, 900 seat auditorium, and a 2-story elementary playground! As I walked around, I could definitely see myself teaching there….but in the back of my mind I wonder if that would just be too easy – it’s basically perfect and not outside my comfort zone at all. I still don’t know where God is leading me…..it would definitely be fun to teach somewhere like Faith, but I could also see myself in a public school, or maybe even in a different country. All in all, I’m glad we got to experience another atmosphere of teaching that has opened me even more to wherever God may choose to have me go.
Went back to Cuatro after lunch, and was greeted by a flood of grade 4 students, giving hugs and shouting “Teacher Lindsey!!! Are how are you feeling??? We missed you!!” It was so precious! In Bible class, the teacher brought in a tub of markers and purple paper. She started talking to the students in Tagalog, and there was lots of giggling and looking and me, and I heard my name a few times. After awhile, she started talking in English, telling the students that “this was a very important project” and they needed to work very hard because they would be graded on it. I kinda figured out that they were making things for me, but I pretended not to understand and “kept myself busy” by working on a little surprise of my own! At the end of the day I was presented with a stack of purple cards (my favorite color) they had decorated and written little notes inside. It was one of the best moments ever. Elisha Mae also presented me with another gift – a book of Tagalog words she had made out of cardboard and a picture of herself (“to remember me”). One more day with these wonderful children. Oh boy.
After school, with no more homework to complete, I was able to just have fun in the community. It was gorgeously sunny but really hot today! But it has been cooler and rainy for the past 3 days, so it was nice to see the sun again! Catherine and I rode a jeepney to the fruit market to walk around – I really love the little shops and stands! As always, being American (and blonde) draws a lot of attention, and we got many hellos and even a few “I love you”s…..oh boy. We bought ice cream for 20 pesos (about 50 cents), and a few pieces of fruit: a mango, dalandan –which was about the size of a Clementine but was green – and a another clementine-like fruit that I can’t remember the name. They were very good! – the dalandan had a little sour tang to it, but the other fruit was very sweet (don’t worry Mom, you had to peel them..lol). We plan to eat the mango at breakfast tomorrow. Later we two walked up the road to the school she has been working at (Valley View) since I hadn’t had a chance to see it yet. It was about a 10 minute walk though the squatter community – we made several new friends on the way up! The kids are so friendly; they just run up to you to say hi and ask what your name is. When we got back to the house, there were several other Taylor girls playing outside with some of the street children, so we hung out with them until dinner. When to the Children’s home after dinner for devotions and bedtime; read a few bedtime stories and gave lots of goodnight hugs and kisses. Some of the girls I have gotten to know were asking me if we were really leaving on Saturday and why we had to go. It is the hardest thing in the world to tell them that we do have to go. Once again I gave out positive responses of “don’t worry, we still have 2 days” that not even I can truly accept, but it didn’t make me too sad….I think it just hasn’t really sunk in that we are leaving so soon. I do know that I will be wearing waterproof mascara to school tomorrow, just in case…..oh who am I kidding? That surprise I was talking about earlier? – I had one of the teachers help me translate into Tagalog a little “speech” I wrote for the kids that I’m going to say for them at the end of the day tomorrow. I think they will really enjoy it if I read it in their language, since they’ve all been trying so hard to teach it to me for the past 3 weeks. Even though my pronunciation will probably be off, I might not be able to keep from crying….we’ll see. Prayers for me and all the rest of us on our “last day of school” will be much appreciated. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes.
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