Last week went by so fast! Most of my lessons went really well. I was a bit of a nervous reck before class started, but as the class period went on I started to relax. My tennis lessons in PE are very interesting. Most of the students have never played tennis let alone own a racket. The school doesn't have any tennis rackets or good tennis balls, so I had to improvise a bit. The tennis balls that the school have are very old and don't bounce very well. I asked the students to bring rackets from home, and we are using new tennis balls from a missionary couple who are avid tennis players. I have also asked some of the teachers if I could borrow thier rackets, and luckily I brought 2 of my own rackets from home. It is hard to plan a lesson becuase I never know how many tennis rackets I'll have for each class. I have at least 5 rackets for each class plus however many rackets the students bring. One class has had enough rackets for each person in the class, but I also had another class where there were only 6 rackets and 18 students. I am learning how to be very flexible and go with the flow while teaching!
The weather has been exceptionally cool and rainy, which is so nice! It's been about 80-85 degrees each day, and at night it gets down to 65 or so. I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible before it gets ridiculously hot in March and April.
Yesterday I taught my first full class. I had spent over 10 hours preparing for the Bible 12 class, but 15 minutes before class started I felt panicky. I did not feel at all prepared, and I thought that the lesson was going to go horribly. My supervising teacher Mr. Bantz told me to calm down, but my heart was still racing as the students entered the classroom. I am teaching a unit about music and our responsibilities to the arts as Christians. The class period went by so fast, and the students were really participating in the class discussion. Before I knew it, I only had 3 minutes left in the class, and I had only gotten through half of my lesson! I'm really excited to teach the class again on Wednesday, and hopefully I will be less stressed about the period. Thank you for all of your prayers, they really worked!
Things are going really well at the school. The students are getting more and more comfortable with me, and I with them. Next week, I'll be teaching a few class periods. I'm really excited, but I'm still kind of nervous. I want to do my best, but I still have so much to learn. I am going to be teaching a tennis unit in physical education classes. Right now, I only have 3 rackets, 7 tennis balls, and 1 tennis court. I'm going to have to make some modifications. I'm going to string 2 nets on the basketball court and ask the students to bring rackets from home. Hopefully they will remember because otherwise my lessons will be very hard to teach. I am also going to teach a couple of class periods in the senior Bible class “God and Popular Culture.” I am not sure what I am going to teach in the class yet. I am praying that God will show and guide me to the material that is appropriate for my students.
Last Friday and Saturday, I had my first surfing lessons. We live only about 45 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean. There is an amazing private beach, where we can surf. I am still learning, but I did stand up once or twice. I have mastered knee surfing and side saddle surfing (sitting on the board sideways with my legs hanging off the side). I hope to actually know how to correctly surf by the time I come back to the States. This goal may be a little optimistic with my current skill level (or lack of it!).
We visited the Managua City Dump. It is nothing like I have ever seen... People literally live in the dump. There are shack houses made from scraps found at the dump and are built upon mounts of trash. The elderly, middle age, and young spend all day savaging the garbage in hopes of finding something that can be sold. For a hundred pounds of plastic bottles, a person may receive only a dollar or so. In Nicaragua, they burn all of their garbage. People burn their garbage in the backyards or along the side of the road. The dump is no exception, the air is thick with smoke and the smell of rotting garbage. It's hard to describe everything that was going on inside of me while I was there. Sadness, helplessness, anger, and confusion were some of the emotions that were racing inside of me. Many people are born in the dump, live their lives in the dump, and die in it. Not many people can rise above their poverty because the country is setup to help the rich stay in power.
One image that has really impacted me is the picture of the little boy about 5-7 years old collecting garbage. He was walking past our van, and he was struggling to carry his over-sized bag full of garbage.
This is our AMOR team and some Nicaraguans. We helped put a tin roof and finish some concrete walls in a elementary school. The man in the cowboy hat and yellow shirt is the pastor of the church on Sundays, is a brick layer during the week, and builds the school on Saturday. He has done almost all of the work by himself for the school! His story really encouraged our team because God can use anyone to further His Kingdom. He will also give us the strength and energy to perservere for the jobs He is calling us to do.
I am starting my second day of classes at NCA. I really enjoy the students, they are a lively bunch of students. The school is unique because the students, whether Nicaraguan, North American, or Korean, will talk to each other in rapid Spanish in class. So I'm only understanding half of what is going on in a classroom. If I was a full time teacher, I think this would be a bit of a problem to try to manage the classroom. The students can all speak English, since Spanish is many of their first languages it is easier to talk in Spanish to one another. I have found the students to be quite warm and open. One of my 9th and 10th grade boys PE class is really great. One of the students Richardo is a bit slower than the others, but he always gives 100%. The other boys in the class are extremely patient by helping him in class, and they make sure to include him in all the activities. Today, I watched Chan help Richardo learn how to properly hit a softball during one of the drills, and it was so encouraging seeing them working together. Scenes like that help confirm my desire to be a teacher and help me get through hard days.
Hello Everyone,
Wow! So much has happened since I stepped off the plane on December 27. My first 10 days in Nicaragua were spent on AMOR (A Mission OutReach) which was a great transition into the Nicaraguan culture. After staying at Rancho Ebenezer, we stayed at Nicaraguan Christian Academy Spanish also known as Nejapa. NCA is a branch of the Nehemiah Center. The Nehemiah Center is an amazing organization that helps bring together many different Christian organizations that are working in Nicaragua. It was amazing to see the work that God has done and is doing in Nicaragua. The center helps organizations work together with a vision for change in Nicaragua, which helps prevent organizations from being counter productive to each other. The organizations range from education like NCA and Worldwide Christian Schools, agriculture like Farmer to Farmer, and many other areas like business and medicine. On AMOR we spent a week at NCA Nejapa, we laid a brick walk way and painted the new library and repainted the classroom buildings. NCA Nejapa is a Spanish speaking school that is targeted at educated in the middle class in Nicaragua. There is not a large middle class in Nicaragua, and many organizations target either the very poor or the wealthy.
I am going to be working at NCA English. The students are taught in English, but some of the teachers are Nicaraguan with limited English skills so they teach in Spanish. One of my supervising teachers speaks very limited English, but can understand some English. It's going to be a challenge, but there is support at the school from the administrators to help me. The school has about 230 students from preschool to high school. Each class has about 15 students in it. We start school on Wednesday, and I am excited to meet the students and start teaching. I am going to be mainly working in the PE department, but I will also be working in Bible department.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. Even though, I have been in Nicaragua for about 2 weeks, I am trying to get adjusted to life at NCA and find my place. I am also excited but also nervous about teaching. I just want to do the best job that I can with the limited resources at the school and my inexperience.
This is our AMOR team and some Nicaraguans. We helped put a tin roof and finish some concrete walls in a elementary school. The man in the cowboy hat and yellow shirt is the pastor of the church on Sundays, is a brick layer during the week, and builds the school on Saturday. He has done almost all of the work by himself for the school! His story really encouraged our team because God can use anyone to further His Kingdom. He will also give us the strength and energy to perservere for the jobs He is calling us to do.
