Week 3 - A Trial in Patience

Yes, honestly, it was. The good Lord has been blessing the island with rain, so Monday-Thursday we did not have any recess outside. That made for long days both for the students and the teachers. The hard part was not the amount of rain but the fact that even if it was sunny outside, the playground was too muddy for us to have the kids outside. Friday was a blessing: dry enough to send the kids out after lunch.

I received a new student this week on Wednesday. He is closer to the age for grade 3, but with Julie's class at capacity with 30 students and this new student not having the best foundation, he has been placed with me, bringing me up to 29. Our deputy principal said she would cap me there, so I shouldn't have to worry about any other students joining us partway into the year.

I forgot to mention the bird and dragonfly in my classroom last week!! Right at the end of a Christ Light lesson, a  bird flew in the door and tried to fly out the (closed) windows on the opposite side of the room. Poor thing ended up flying into the wall the first few times. Settled up by the ceiling while my terrified students watched with rapt attention. (Maybe I should wear feathers and fly around a bit...) We left the classroom to practice in church for singing on Sunday. When we returned the bird was gone, but a dragonfly had taken its place. Nothing in the world could take the children's minds off the dragonfly (and of course, this is the morning that my broom goes missing). Thankfully, the dragonfly quickly found its way out of the classroom. I immediately shut the door and suffered in the stuffiness in order to keep the short attentions of my students.

A beautiful morning at Darkwood Beach

Sisters Aida(4) and Sienna(2) Johnston, daughters of principal
Andrew Johnston and wife Cindy - Such cute girls!!!

Miss Boggs playing 'auntie' to baby Grady

Building sandcastles

Yesterday, the Johnston family took us to Darkwood Beach. Was a beautiful day. The clouds and breeze kept things cool, and the water was a pleasant temperature. Pastor and I fought to get a shade tent up for baby Grady. We collected some shells, played in the waves, and built sandcastles. We returned so Aida could go to dance class at church and so we could get some laundry and schoolwork done before I went to pan practice at 3.

This morning in the 11am service Grades 1-2 sang for church. Most of the 59 children from the 2 grades showed, though some arrived after we had already sung. :)   Later in the same service, the adult choir sang (both Julie and I participate) and the Genesis Pan group played for the offering and postlude. I felt bad that I kept leaving my kids to sing/play... next time I hope the service won't be so busy or I will need to find someone to sit the whole service with my class to keep them in line. They did a wonderful job, though; lots of smiles brightened faces as they sang "For God So Loved the World."

Grades 1-2, directed by Gr. 1 teacher, Miss Abraham.
Everyone is in their dress uniform.

Julie and I in our choir gowns. Thank goodness we only wore them
while we were singing; after 5 minutes, you feel wetter than you do
after taking a shower! Much hotter than College Choir robes...

Week 2: Top 10

10. Began class reading, starting with Eric Carle's The Mixed-Up Chameleon. Things went better than I expected and the children really seemed to enjoy the fun story. Along the way, they learned 7 new vocabulary words, what the word "fantasy" means, and how to divide words into syllables - all while reading about a chameleon. Hooray for children's literature!

9. Had recess inside for most of the week because of all the mud from Maria's rain. Used the time to play "Heads Up, 7 Up" a game I played when I was in 2nd grade. It took a whole week, but the kids finally started getting the hang of being sneaky and tricky. Had to laugh. =)  I was very glad Friday afternoon when we finally got to go outside again.

8. Joined choir. Every Wednesday, Julie and I will eat out, then walk up the hill for choir. Dues for the year are 50 EC. We will wear a choir uniform, and our first appearance is next week, 11am. Just so happens that Grades 1-2 are singing in that same service, and Genesis, the Steel Pan group I joined on Saturday is also playing in the 11am service. Go big or go home, I guess. (By the way, pan is awesome!!!)

7. Stayed up late to call home Wednesday night. Got some good advice from Mom and Dad; just wish there wasn't a 3 hour time difference. Makes getting a hold of them a little tricky and a little inconvenient.

6. Played music during work time on Friday. That was a treat! I had always imagined I would get to play music in my classroom, and on Friday my dreams were realized!

5. Friday we had our first class birthday, complete with cake at lunch and treats to send home. Friday was also the first opportunity I had to pull out a child's tooth! It was traumatic, but I think she will survive. =)

4. Babysat for the Johnstons on Thursday so Pastor and Cindy could go out to a movie. They left baby Grady behind. Too bad he got hungry and refused to be comforted. Mommy and Daddy left the movie 1/2 hour in to come home and feed the poor dear. Guess we'll try again soon.

3. Friday night we went over to the Sternhagens' for a ex-pats/pastor get together. Had barbeque chicken, potato salad, and jello. It was a wonderful evening full of stories and fellowship.

2. Saturday morning Julie and I were treated to a trip to Stingray City! It is a sandbar out near Bird Island (from our Island Safari last month) where they have trained the stingrays to come at the sound of the motorboats for feeding. You get in the water, hold and feed the stingrays, kiss them if you are brave enough. We went snorkeling, got pictures, and bought a t-shirt as a souvenir. All thanks to a generous first grade parent who works there. Just awesome!

Julie and me at Stingray City

Julie faced her fears and held the rays, even bravely giving
this one a kiss!

One of the coolest opportunities... to hold a stingray

1. God is good! All the time! He has been helping us settle in, learn from our mistakes and tough days, enjoy His beautiful world and the people He has put in it. Some days are rough, and some days your face hurts from smiling so much. God is truly good!

First Full Week

What a week! I am interested to see who learned more this past week, the students or the teacher...

Julie and I both had kind of rough weeks. Julie started Sunday morning with nausea, headache, and fever. She had it off and on throughout the week. I was lucky enough to only get it Monday afternoon as school was ending. Not fun. Thankfully, we are both recovered. We believe that Julie ended up getting Dengue fever, a virus that is making its way around the island. Poor Julie - first full week of school in a new country and she has to battle a tropical disease. She's a tough one, though!

We each had a rough day, school-wise, too. Mine was Wednesday. I took each management problem, each broken rule, each incomplete piece of work very personally. I internalized all the problems, becoming more and more frustrated. We skipped P.E., and I left school trying to hold back tears so no one could see how angry I was with myself. Julie left me a teacher devotion to read from a book she has. I read it twice with a deep conversation with God in between. All the teachers, my parents, my friends back home, and most importantly, the Lord we very encouraging. The Lord helped give me an attitude adjustment, reminding me why I'm here (to share Jesus with my students), who I'm here for (the people around me, not myself), who I can depend on (Him), who I can't depend on (me), where I'm headed (heaven - there's a room with my name on it). I put a smile on, made my attitude the brightest and most exuberant that I could muster, and greeted each child like he or she was the VIP of the day. And while the management problems didn't go away, and the day didn't go smoothly, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I did my best to share Jesus, to teach and encourage, and I left my concerns aside. Thanks, Lord, for reminding me of who you are and what you have done for us all.

Friday we got a surprise: the Prime Minister declared that all schools, public and private, be closed at 11 to prepare for Tropical Storm Maria who was expected to hit the island late Friday night. Children were picked up early, and teachers spent a couple of hours packing up classrooms, pushing furniture away from the windows, covering bulletin boards with plastic to protect everything from wind and water. That afternoon, Julie and I were invited over to the Johnstons' to wait out the storm. We partied with stir fry, a game of Settlers', and homemade popcorn. We woke up Saturday morning to hear that the storm wasn't supposed to hit until the afternoon. We played with the girls, had homemade cinnamon rolls for brunch, watched a chick flick, still no storm. The day was bright and sunny and pleasantly breezy. About 4, Pastor and the girls took us to First Choice to do some grocery shopping and drop us off at home.

It didn't start raining until 3:30am today... and that was it. We missed the actual storm and just got some of the rain that was following it. You really can't depend on what the storms will do; it is a blessing that there was no damage to the island.

In other news, last weekend I had noticed a strange rash on my hands. Talking to one of the pastors, we thought I was having an allergic reaction to mango sap (same chemical as in poison ivy). It didn't clear up, so a school parent who is a doctor took a look and prescribed a steroid to stop the swelling and a antihistamine to combat whatever allergy was occurring. I am happy to report that it is slowly clearing up. No idea what caused it. Can't remember anything different I ate or touch in the past weeks, but I guess I will just have to keep an eye on things.

Blessings on your week! Week 2 - here we come!

All Dressed Up...

Here we are in our navy blue uniform. It really makes me
feel like I'm an airline stewardess. Navy blue is worn on Thursday.

Here is the black uniform: my own black pants and white shirt.
We had the waistcoat (vest) made. It just ties in back. Nice and easy.

Here we are on the first day of school with our "teachers!"
Me, Mrs. Florence Titus, Mrs. Francine Greaux
(pronounced Greer), and Julie Boggs

First day of school! First day of school! First day of school! (Nemo voice)

Ah, yes. It is official; school is in session. Thursday, September 1, was our first day of school. We began in the office with a faculty devotion (one which got fuller toward the end), and then we went to our classrooms to greet our children. Some students get to school before the teachers do! Julie and I will be arriving to school about 7 every morning, and 4 students have been there before us! We got to see our “teachers” in their uniform before the day began. They were ready to go to class, and we were ready to begin in our own classrooms!

Monday and Tuesday, we met with our school visitor, Mr. Landwehr. He serves as a staff minister and youth leader in St. Lucia. Once a month he comes to Antigua to observe us in our classrooms, offer tips and encouragement. He really knows what he is talking about and is a wealth of information. He had suggested that Julie and I read a book titled, “The First Days of School” by education gurus Harry and Rosemary Wong. The Wongs tout the importance of establishing procedures for the class to follow. Better procedures equal better management and less discipline. Mr. Landwehr worked with the faculty to offer examples of procedures to teach and emphasized the importance of 100% compliance. Accordingly, I planned Thursday (half-day) and Friday (full-day) to focus on the procedures we will be using the whole year. Things like how to walk to the bathroom, morning and end of the day routines, how to pass papers, silent signals in the classroom, noise levels… all things that we practiced and practiced and practiced… Ever heard of “Give Me 5”? That is how I will quiet my class and get their attention. The five are

1. Eyes on the speaker

2. Quiet

3. Be still

4. Hands free

5. Listen.

We have practiced this quite a bit. It is a good way to get the class to quiet down and listen to directions. Unfortunately, we often have to give 5 a second time before we have everyone ready to listen.

The first day ended at 12, but it felt so long. There were moments I was so proud of my 27 second graders – they listened so well! Other times it felt like I was hitting my head against a wall – why do they do the opposite of what I tell them to do? In general, the noise level of the classrooms here is higher than what I grew up with in the States. That’s just how it goes. It will take a lot of consistency and firmness to teach the children what I expect and hold them to it. Day 2 went more smoothly on the whole. Still much to adjust to – the culture, the expectations, the heat… but I have definitely learned a lot and will continue to learn every day.

And we wear uniforms. The children, the teachers… everybody. The first day of school was the dress uniform: white for the students and beige for the teachers. We will not have a dress uniform, so we just wore our normal professional attire. After school we picked up our uniforms from the tailor’s. We have a blue skirt and shirt, gray pants and shirt, and a black waistcoat. The only thing we have left to purchase is our polo for PE on Wednesday. Needless to say, Wed. will probably be my favorite day because I am permitted to wear athletic pants, the polo, and tennis shoes.

Monday starts the lessons in all subjects. May the craziness continue!

(Pictures of the uniforms are on the way...)