Spent the morning at home ... trying to rest up and fight off this cold/flu/sore throat, but ended up being busier than I thought. I was able to take a nap and felt a little better afterwards.
In the evening, Andy and Lisa invited us over to watch the NCAA Championship. Andy's basketball team came over too and we introduced them to "walking tacos" (a popular concession-stand item in Iowa).
We enjoyed watching the game ... and of course analyzing Louisville and Michigan's game strategies to help Andy's team improve.
It was a late night (I didn't get home until 11pm) but it was worth it! How often can you watch basketball in Iraq?
Sunday, April 14th:
Back to school today. The kids were pretty talkative, and by the last class my throat was hurting. 6A was not very good at all and for the last 20 minutes they ended up working on their own. Our verse of the day was, "Love your neighbor as yourself." We gave examples of how we can do that practically ... there is a snack window here where the kids climb over each other to get their "meals" for the day. A lot of times I will see a group of first graders lined up and an older student will saunter up, reach over the heads of the little kids to grab the chips, soda, or candy bar that they want and then walk away. Loving ourselves means that make sure we have clothes to wear and food to eat, so one way we can love our neighbors is to take care of their physical needs too. I explained this to my fifth graders and pointed out that they could help the first graders get their snacks (some of them are too short to reach the window) instead of cutting in front of them.
A picture that Sarah took last fall
(the snack window is behind me and I am trying to organize the chaos into a line)
During the break, I walked by the window and there was one of my fifth graders pulling seniority on a couple little kids. I pulled him back from the window as another of my students walked by. He saw me scolding the first boy and commented, "Love your neighbor as yourself. Right, Miss?" Even if they aren't practicing what we're learning, at least they are remembering it!
After school I went to the market ... sometimes I leave and come back unscathed, but this time a couple rude comments were hurled in my direction, making the outing less enjoyable. I was encouraged on the way home as I remembered the devotion this morning about the burden Jesus carried - in addition to His physical pain, He bore the grief of ridicule and mockery. I wasn't feeling well and the stinging words just hurt that much more ... it was a small taste of what my Savior suffered for my account.
When I got home, I took a nap, then worked on a couple sewing projects. They are painting our apartment complex, so for a couple hours we had painters on our balcony. In keeping with cultural propriety, Hannah and I stayed in our rooms and left our front door open. Maintaining a good reputation is very important, but sometimes a burden too as we have to train ourselves to see through the eyes of the culture and second-guess everything we do.
In the evening I Skyped with my family. I had taken some medicine for my cold just before that and by the end of our Skype call, I was pretty drowsy ... it was good to talk with everyone though and I hope this means I'll sleep well (which hasn't happened for the last four nights).
