Monday, October 1st:
The pipes that collect our shower water and dish water are drained throughout the day into the alley outside our house. The sound of water splashing underneath my window as I get up in the morning is oftentimes deceiving, and my heart will leap with the thought that it is raining outside. On most days like that, I lay in bed and pretend that it is rain and that I am back in Oregon waking up to a Fall morning. I've felt more homesick these past few days. I find myself in the middle of my normal routine and all of a sudden I am reminded of a moment back home or thinking of what I would be doing if I were home. Other times, a familiar smell catches me off guard.
Each class took a test today. The students know that I will follow through when I say they will lose points for talking, so it ended up being a quiet day. I got to sit in on Sarah's class, just to be on hand for any classroom discipline she might need. They can be a handful, but were encouraged to be better behaved after she expressed her desire to make the lesson engaging provided they would listen. I shot up my eyebrows at two of the boys, but the class as a whole did really well and enjoyed Sarah's lesson. I stayed until 2:30 pm and visited with students on the way out. Hopped in a taxi and went to Andy and Lisa's to meet up with the Director's daughter from Erbil. She is in charge of curriculum and will be teaching at the school in Suly this year. John, Mary, and Sarah came over too and all of us visited for about an hour. After she left, we had our team devotional time. It was a good trial run. The meeting is more focused since we don't have to worry about a meal, catching up, and a Skype call. Andy challenged us with three questions, which helped us share what God has been teaching us. It was helpful to know how to pray for the others.
After team time, we went to Al Azaim and ate outside. It is Zander's favorite restaurant - he calls it "A to Z restaurant" because of the giant lettering on the top of the building. I think the name might have a double significance, since they really do serve it all, from A to Z. From salads, soup and bread to our main course to the chips and french fries and finally dessert and chai, everything was really good. We were stuffed full with food. I had parzola (lamb chop) since they were all out of beef, but brought a lot of leftovers home. John, Mary and Sarah headed out early so Henry could go to bed. Andy, Lisa, Z&Z, and I visited for half an hour longer while Zander played on the playground equipment. It was good to catch up with Lisa. We took a taxi home and then I worked on grading my stack of papers.
Tuesday, October 2nd:
Our first "phase" ends on Thursday; phase grades will be finalized then as well. I've been telling my kids to turn in their work for the past two weeks, but somehow it always manages to pile up in the last few days. I had a lot of grading to do last night. I finally quit at 10pm and got up early this morning to enter the grades in Excel.
Since most of the students did not do as well as I'd hoped on their tests yesterday, I offered them an assignment worth "extra marks" if they listened quietly to the lesson and made it through the material. All of the classes did well, but it was interesting to notice that the students in my disruptive classes were more excited about the opportunity than the students in my "better" classes. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw my usually "difficult" students working diligently. Most times I end up regretting these types of "great ideas" when quiet working time turns into mass chaos.
As it turned out, my first sixth grade class (6B) had a surprise waiting for me when I walked in. The classroom was in complete silence as EVERY single student was working on their warm-up problems. I couldn't keep the smile off my face! It was nice to reward them with no homework for the day in addition to the opportunity to earn extra marks. The students in 6B are eager learners and they often have lots of questions for me during the break. Today, as I was answering their math questions, Sarah came by with a Coke to help me get through my next lesson! That really made my day! As I saw my students studying my reaction ("Wow! Thank you so much! Isn't she thoughtful?"), I realized she had just provided a tremendous example of how Christians love one another.
As I left the classroom, I had the opportunity to encourage two of my sixth grade girls to forgive each other. Similar scenario to Sunday, except this time another student chimed in. "Remember, you are supposed to forgive each other 70 times 7!" I reminded them that friends are from God and we need to cherish the ones He has given us. One of the students (who is new this year) looked skeptical, but the other promised me she would keep trying to be friendly.
I stayed after my classes to grade papers and was thankful when I got through the entire stack! Said goodbye to students on the way out, jumped in a taxi, and picked up Sarah at the bottom of our street to go to Mazi. She picked up her wire, then we did some shopping for tomorrow's team dinner. John and Mary were just arriving as we left, so we took their taxi home. We are fighting off another torrent of mosquitoes. Sarah and I have almost sealed up every hole imaginable and poured bleach down the drains that we can't seal. We've started a scoreboard - Sarah and Helen vs. Mosquitoes.
After entering grades in Excel (I'm sure there will be one more large batch to process tomorrow), I joined Sarah for popcorn and a movie. We painted our nails and swatted at mosquitoes while we watched. Ended the night talking about home. For Sarah, it was probably similar to having a conversation with Doug the dog from the movie "UP." "So when was that? [Abrupt break and a pointed finger] Mosquito!" ... "Oh, right. I had something like that happen to me too. Right above your head!" By the end of the night, our "kills" board was pretty full.
