are there any cool people here?

One comment, made long ago in one of my blogs, indicated a desire to know about specific people down here and if there was any cool ones... :) For starters, check out NCA Nejapa's webpage--from there you can go to the list of faculty. That is a good list of cool people. I have really felt like they all accepted me right away. They have continued to support and encourage me. I think they are an exceptional bunch. The guys always talk to me and want to teach me Spanish. They also want to learn English and enjoy my help with pronunciation. I've been invited by the teachers to some things outside of class, one of which I just got back from. Oscar invited me to go with his church to a beach on Lake Nicaragua. It was about an hour and a half long bus ride from Tipi Tapa (his home town, just north-east of Managua). I traveled to his place by bus. After 3 busses, I met him and he rode with me the rest of the way. I should have met him at the end of the second bus, but I got off too soon and had to get back on another bus. :) Most of the time our conversations are pretty superficial because my spanish is so limited. I'd say a large part of the time consists of us talking about language and trying to figure out new words and the correct pronunciation of them! :) Unfortunately, I need to hear the word about 10 times and use it about 5 times before I can actually remember it!

Outside of that group, I have gotten to know the NCA teachers, which is another enjoyable group of people. From this list, I am living with Mayker Bantz and Mike Deibert. Mike is starting a trade school here (click on his name). I don't know as much about it as I should, but I it's definately cool. Whenever I can, I participate in a bible study with my two house mates and a guy named Jason. On occasion I pop into the apartment of the same Jason and his wife Jess and chat it up. I've also been hanging out with Rachel. She was hoping I could say hi to her in my blog (she walked in as I was writing this). So... hi, Rachel. Rachel lives in the apartment right above Jason and Jess. They're all good people and I like them a lot.

So, I just realized that we're losing an hour tonight because of daylight savings. Not like we need it, but the US does it, so we do it to stay on track with them. It will be interesting because I believe the last time they tried this a bunch of people who didn't get a clear message stayed on the normal time and made things difficult. It's hard to implement something new in a country. Just think about what it was like when they started the 911 thing, or when recycling was just beginning. It took a lot of money to get it through the heads of all of the people. And for a country where things are less organized, I can see how it would be a challenge to implement this time change.

Tomorrow (Monday) is a day off for us. It's Nicaragua's Labor Day. I am grateful for this day off and hope to accomplish a fair amount of work. I hope to get a very good start on the planning for next week's exams. I was discouraged in first grade last week when i tried to give our first spelling test. These students haven't retained much of what we've done this year...and that on top of not having done much leaves them with very little learned. I'm really having a hard time with knowing how to teach them. Reading and writing seems to be incredibly difficult. They learn faster how to speak and listen, but it's much much harder to test those modes of learning.

I'm going to turn in and hopefully get a full night's rest. I'm finding that having a normal waking time of 5:30 means I am unable to sleep in past 7:30 or 8 on days off, and that's after waking up involuntarily for a couple of moments at 6:00 and 7:00. So an early to bed night is a good night. I'll try to get some pictures up on the site soon. Thanks for reading!

saw it and killed it

Another brief post before I head to bed. This week I saw my first two wild scorpions. The first one was running through the classroom. All of the elementary students were in the sixth grade classroom on Monday for chapel. I was in the back row and noticed that there was another teacher walking towards me looking at the ground. She was following a scorpion as it came towards me...I looked at it and then at her...and then she motioned like I should kill it. So I lifted my foot and it came down on the poor guy. He was smaller. Maybe four inches and he had a skinny little tail. I think that most scorpions just make you sick at most. Their sting is similar to a bee sting (except there is poison involved), and you're probably going to be fine unless you're allergic to them. Of course, this is only my guess because I haven't really heard it from an expert.

I saw my second scorpion just two days ago. This one was tiny--I didn't know they got made this small. It was probably 3/4 of an inch long. We were sitting on the ground outside the door and it was sitting down on the white tile just inside the door (the door was open). Someone just happened to look over and notice the miniscule scorpion. Soon after it came under the foot, as well, and we then ceased our sitting on the ground outside the door.

"the mac is bac"

Good news! I have my computer back! They surprised me this morning by calling me and telling me that I could come and pick it up, which I did as soon as possible. I was a little giddy this morning... :) Since then I've probably wasted too much time changing all the settings and preferences back the way I had them and then wasting time surfing the internet. This is something I will really need to be careful of now that I have my own computer again. It is a very big temptation for me.

After the first week back, I am feeling a little lost with the youngest kids--the 1st and 2nd graders. This week I was struck in first grade by how much attention I was not getting. I need to do something differently. I need to jump around more, or have them do more projects, change the activity more... or something. I probably should show my other teacher friends what I have to cover and ask them to help me with designing an engaging lesson plan. A few days of that kind of hand-in-hand help might be good for me. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little bit of pride there that doesn't want someone teaching me how to do better. Part of me just wants to figure it out myself--I don't want to hear from other people what I've been doing wrong. I'm sure you've tasted this tension between wanting criticism and not wanting to see the weaknesses.

As I was grading homework tonight, I realized that there really are a lot of students who understand the material we've been doing. I don't know why classes are hard for me. I was encouraged by that because I think it's a reflection of how much the parents work with their students. There have been many parents who have been speaking with me from time to time, and it's good to know how many parents are involved in their kids learning. I didn't know what to expect here, but I had heard it might not be that way. I plan to write them a letter sometime soon to thank them for that involvement and explain a few things that we've been doing, where we're headed, and how we can do better as a class.

The end of the next 6-week block is coming up. Two more weeks of classes. Since we're required to test at the end of every block, I will be trying to write a test during this coming week. The same problem faces me now as faced me last time...have they learned enough material to be tested on? I suspect I will be surprised at how much we did cover.

Thanks for reading. The prayer requests come right from above:

- That I will be teachable and humble in recieving and asking for help.
- That the letter I write to the parents will be clear, effective and encouraging to them.
- That the test will come together well.
- Please continue praying for my students, especially the ones who are really struggling and falling behind--like all of my first and second graders...just kidding... but there are more falling behind in those grades. In third grade I actually see more catching up than falling behind. I'm enjoying third grade more lately, and that's a good thing. :)

back at it

I just arrived back in Managua after a week out of the country. I meant to post before I left, but was too hard-pressed to find enough time. Last week was what they call "Semana Santa" or "Holy Week"--the week before Easter Sunday. It's a huge deal down here and many people take the entire week off. Thursday through Monday almost nothing is open except for a few restaurants and stores. Grocery stores close, the banks close...basically, you better plan ahead for the next couple of days. Everyone heads to the beach and the beaches are flooded with people. Every year during this time, the CRC holds a retreat for it's missionaries and partners in the Central American region. This year, for the second year in a row, the retreat was in La Ceiba, Honduras (on the Carribean coast). It began on Saturday and ended Wednesday morning. I had a great time. Steve and Kim Holtrop were there, with their two kids. It was a special time as Nathan (their son) was baptized--so I was very excited to be able to be there for that. The focus of the retreat was discerning God's will, and I found it to be a good topic. I was enriched both by the focus of the learning and the relationship building (I met many cool people there). After La Ceiba, I spent a day and a half in Roatan, which is an island off the coast of Honduras (not quite visible from La Ceiba). It was amazingly beautiful there. So green. So blue. The sand was white... Quite an enjoyable time there for two days.

I'd show you some pictures, but I still don't have my computer back! I called today and they told me that the part should be in in two weeks. Two weeks! It's already been four since I dropped it off with them! :) I don't understand, but I am trying to be patient. I have done a good job, but I am realizing more and more how much I would like to have it back. Everything seems to have an extra 10 steps in the process around here. I am going to be appreciating the development and efficiency of the US when I return! :)

I have been looking around for a good deal on a cell phone. They're suprisingly expensive. A friend generously gave me one before I came down, but it's not working too well. The fact that it's a Sprint phone means I can't send or recieve text messages, and on top of that the battery will only last to the end of the day if I don't use it at all. :) Before I go spend some on a new or refurbished phone, I thought I'd see if there are any decent ones out there looking for a good home. I'm looking for an unlocked gsm phone (one that has the card, like with Cingular or T-mobile). So, if you have one you'd like to give away...let me know. :)

Alright. I should get going. I have a few things to do before I run off to bed just in time to get almost enough sleep. Thank's for reading! Prayer requests are the same as last time!

test results and other stuff

I did say that I would be writing about this sooner, but as it turns out my computer is going to be in the shop for about another 3 weeks. The logic board is bad and the part will take that long to arrive. Thankfully it is covered under the warranty. That is the explanation of the delayed post.

So the end of the first block came about two and a half weeks ago with the first test. In Nicaragua, the school year is divided into six, six week blocks. The government requires tests at the end of each block. I wrote the tests for my four classes the week before and put a lot of time into them. I know it's important to have good tests--with familiar material that is presented in a familiar way, while still challenging them to think. I thought the tests would be a bit on the easy side because we had covered such a small amount of material in most classes. I also thought the the format would be very doable for the students. As it happened, many students struggled very much and there were many failing grades. Thankfully for the other parts of their grade (participation and quizzes) they were able to have slightly higher grades in the class. As you might imagine, there were also many parents with strong concerns. What they said was that their children didn't understand and were lost in class. Hearing that was hard for me. I spoke to a few of the parents personally and heard about the rest from the principal. Apparently this was not a problem in just one class, but in all of them. At first I was discouraged. As I thought about it more, I became more frustrated because a large part of the reason they weren't understanding had to do with poor behavior in class. I know there is a balance in responsibility between the students and the teacher for the behavior, attention, and learning of the students. I am exploring that balance and I don't want to carry the entire balance myself. A few changes I have implemented are weekly spelling quizzes (which have resulted in very low marks for the first two weeks) and more notes home to parents about the behavior of their children. It is a ton of work to communicate well with parents, but I really need to put more energy into that area so they can know what's happening in class. It's been a hard last two months since the first day of class, but the Lord has been faithful in providing me with strength and pulling me through. Thank you for your prayers.

Two weeks ago I went to Volcan Mombachu, which is a volcano about an hour and half away from where I live. We hiked around at the top and then afterword rode a zip-cord on the side of the volcano. Quite enoyable. We also stopped at an area known for it's pottery. I got my shot at spinning the wheel and making a bowl or vase or whatever it would have been if it hadn't broken off at the base shortly after I put my hands to it! :) Anyone who comes to visit--I need to take you here. I think it's called San Juan Oriental.

I saw something hilarious last week at school. Many times when there is a birthday, the parents will come to school and have a party with the class--there will be cake and music and games and prizes. Sometimes there is a pinata, which is exactly what happened last week--except look at this pinata! It looks like a little Dutch girl! I had to laugh when I saw this cute little Dutch hanging by a string and getting whacked with a stick by a bunch of Nicaraguan kids! Something I would never have expected. Don't feel you should take offense. I am certain they meant nothing by it. :)

This afternoon I plan to go surfing again. I haven't been since the second week I was here. I was hoping to go more frequently in order to actually get better and enjoy it more. I guess it's not the only thing I had planned to do more frequently (play soccer, play frisbee, relax, read my books, get involved in a local church, have personal devotional time...). Too many things to do, and all the time gets used up in planning for classes.

To those of you who pray for me--thank you immensely for your prayers. Honestly, this has been a very difficult time for me. It has been a time of feeling much under-equipped and wrongly suited. Yet, I know the Lord has a plan for me and I struggle to be open to that. I know he can empower me to do anything, and so I try to desire his will over my own. Here are some more prayer requests so that you might pray more pointedly.

- Pray for my students, that they will be able to learn respect in my class--and that I will teach it rightly. It is an important thing for them to learn.
- Pray that my students are patient and gracious with me as I make mistakes and repeat mistakes.
- Pray that I am open to the ways in which I ought to change. It is far easier for me to try to put them in my box and make them learn from me in the way I want them to learn. It has been a struggle for me to think like them so that I can prepare a relevant lesson. I am afraid I have done a poor job of this and then expected them to learn quickly anyway.
- Pray that I continue to recieve encouragement from other teachers and friends.