What did I say last time about inspiration and writing?... I should have kept that comment unsaid…it has given me a visa to not write as much . Anyway, a lot has happened in the last two months. I will not be able to tell everything but hopefully you will get the gist of what I have been up to. It has been crazy busy, and there was a stretch of about 5 weeks where I didn’t get farther from the center than I could walk. I left the building everyday to go on visitation, or to buy food from the roadside stalls, but other than that I really didn’t go anywhere, or do anything that wasn’t related to work. Since we don’t have school on Friday’s and Sundays I have been having tutoring sessions on those days. On the weekends I have between 5-20 kids coming in groups ranging from 1 to 15 (the 15 only came a few times… It is not normal for me to have such a large group. The normal is one or two at a time).
Someone was complaining to me recently that I only talk about the good things on my blog and that my kids must be angels…so I will tell you about a few of my kids.
A month and a half ago Abdul was my worst boy in one class. He never paid attention in class, and was always causing trouble with the girls. He would also be in the middle of fights during break times, and there was always a mischievous look in his eyes. If I understood more Arabic I would probably be complaining about his bad talk. He never listened to what I said and was doing terribly in my class. A week before a test I told him to come for a tutoring session to work on getting ready for the test. I had two or three sessions with him, and then left him to fend for himself. I don’t remember how he did on that test, but I don’t think it was that wonderful. After the test though it was like he had turned over a leaf and discovered that staying on top of things was worth it. For the last month, he has continued to surprise me with his grades and behavior.
We have been spending a lot of time with Abdul's family for the last month - not because of him, but because of health issues the mother has, and have gotten to know the family fairly well. It has been wonderful to witness the changes GOD can make in a person. Going back to what I said about Abdul, where before I had so much trouble with him in class, now I hardly ever have to ask him twice to stop doing something. Before he would always try to cheat and keep his quizzes and tests longer than the allotted time, and a lot of the time would not answer most of the questions. Now, before time is up he proudly gives me the completed work with answers (mostly right) to all the questions. Every month the main staff elect a student from each class room to be the student of the month which is an honor given for the student we think should be rewarded for their good behavior and grades. For this month, Abdul got the student of the month award! Even his mother was surprised!
Now two weeks after he got the award he is not doing quite as well as he was (the award went to his head a bit), but he is still doing a lot better than before. As I look back on the road all my children have come down, I see amazing things. Kids who knew nothing at all are now proudly showing us how much they have learned. One boy was at the bottom of his class (getting below 50% on all the tests). I went to his house and discovered that they don't have electricity in the evenings and by the time he got back home from school it was getting dark and he couldn't see to do his homework or study. After talking with his mom I arranged tutoring classes with him, and now he is getting more than 90% on almost every test in my class. Another boy is the noise maker of the class. It isn't that he fights that much or causes serious trouble, just getting him to be quiet while you try to teach has been a large problem. Since he was usually talking throughout the class he didn't learn quite as much as he could have and wasn't getting the best grades. Over the last month he also has changed a lot. The last two tests he took in my class, he has gotten excellent grades. I have been so proud of him! Now when I ask him to be quiet, he might only make a few comments during my class (a lot better than previously). The last test I didn't hear one word form him, not one during the whole class period, I was so proud of him I could have been his mother!
No my kids are not angels, but in my mind I see them as on a journey. Like all the rest of us, they are walking down the road of life learning lessons that will determine their future. I am so happy to be here, able to go a little way down their road with them, laughing and crying with them, learning and falling with them, too. They may not have everything quite right (none of us do), but they are doing the best they can, learning from their mistakes and from others...and hopefully the lessons will stick and they will not have to be re-learned too many times.
The end of February was marked with the presence of a group from Weimar who helped out with classes and did health stuff here at the center. This was something looked forward to for a long time and the children's excitement rose as their coming got closer and closer. It wasn’t only exciting for the kids, but it was also exciting for us as staff since during that week our work load would be decreased . The day finally came when they arrived and there was excitement through the whole school. We were afraid that the kids would go wild like last time there was excitement, but thankfully things went well. Below are some pictures with the kids and the visitors from Weimar both in class and on some trips that some of the kids were selected to go on. Someone was complaining to me recently that I only talk about the good things on my blog and that my kids must be angels…so I will tell you about a few of my kids.
A month and a half ago Abdul was my worst boy in one class. He never paid attention in class, and was always causing trouble with the girls. He would also be in the middle of fights during break times, and there was always a mischievous look in his eyes. If I understood more Arabic I would probably be complaining about his bad talk. He never listened to what I said and was doing terribly in my class. A week before a test I told him to come for a tutoring session to work on getting ready for the test. I had two or three sessions with him, and then left him to fend for himself. I don’t remember how he did on that test, but I don’t think it was that wonderful. After the test though it was like he had turned over a leaf and discovered that staying on top of things was worth it. For the last month, he has continued to surprise me with his grades and behavior.
We have been spending a lot of time with Abdul's family for the last month - not because of him, but because of health issues the mother has, and have gotten to know the family fairly well. It has been wonderful to witness the changes GOD can make in a person. Going back to what I said about Abdul, where before I had so much trouble with him in class, now I hardly ever have to ask him twice to stop doing something. Before he would always try to cheat and keep his quizzes and tests longer than the allotted time, and a lot of the time would not answer most of the questions. Now, before time is up he proudly gives me the completed work with answers (mostly right) to all the questions. Every month the main staff elect a student from each class room to be the student of the month which is an honor given for the student we think should be rewarded for their good behavior and grades. For this month, Abdul got the student of the month award! Even his mother was surprised!
Now two weeks after he got the award he is not doing quite as well as he was (the award went to his head a bit), but he is still doing a lot better than before. As I look back on the road all my children have come down, I see amazing things. Kids who knew nothing at all are now proudly showing us how much they have learned. One boy was at the bottom of his class (getting below 50% on all the tests). I went to his house and discovered that they don't have electricity in the evenings and by the time he got back home from school it was getting dark and he couldn't see to do his homework or study. After talking with his mom I arranged tutoring classes with him, and now he is getting more than 90% on almost every test in my class. Another boy is the noise maker of the class. It isn't that he fights that much or causes serious trouble, just getting him to be quiet while you try to teach has been a large problem. Since he was usually talking throughout the class he didn't learn quite as much as he could have and wasn't getting the best grades. Over the last month he also has changed a lot. The last two tests he took in my class, he has gotten excellent grades. I have been so proud of him! Now when I ask him to be quiet, he might only make a few comments during my class (a lot better than previously). The last test I didn't hear one word form him, not one during the whole class period, I was so proud of him I could have been his mother!
No my kids are not angels, but in my mind I see them as on a journey. Like all the rest of us, they are walking down the road of life learning lessons that will determine their future. I am so happy to be here, able to go a little way down their road with them, laughing and crying with them, learning and falling with them, too. They may not have everything quite right (none of us do), but they are doing the best they can, learning from their mistakes and from others...and hopefully the lessons will stick and they will not have to be re-learned too many times.
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| Two of my kids learning how to knit during a tutoring session (we don't always only study :)). |
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| One of the classroom Assistants invited us to her house for a yummy lunch she and her mom cooked. |
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| Singing during line up at the beginning of the school day. |
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| Valentines day! we had a short day of school and everyone exchanged cards and some gifts. I got a whole stack of cards and a gift :). |
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| During a tutoring session we started looking at pictures and talking about Africa and they saw a picture of me backing a baby and wanted to know what it was like :). |
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| Weimar! The first day the Weimar group came to school... during line up time they taught us new songs and told us stories :) great fun. |
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| Telling the story of Jonah...I tried to upload a video of it (it was very cleverly done!), but it didn't like the file :(. |
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| Weimar went on an outing and some of us went along. Some of the kids went and were subjected to a tutoring session in the car (What kind of an evil teacher am I anyway? :)) |
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| In the bus on our way to...I don't remember the name of the place :). |
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| On our way we stopped to look at plaques carved into the walls of a valley of many of the great men in history (including Nebuchadrezer, Napoleon....and many others). We climbed a hill next to it which was lots of fun for the kids. Two of our boys went with us and are pictured with the sea behind them on top of the hill. |
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| Another one of our girls enjoying the fresh air and freedom. |
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| Baatara gorge waterfall where we spent a few hours and had a picnic. |
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| Beautiful place! |
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| More scenery around the gorge |
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| After the gorge we went to the beach and stayed until sundown...it was wonderful! :) |
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| Sundown! Happy Sabbath! |
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| On Sabbath we took two kids with us up to the university where we had fun together. Above is Mohammad with a portrait the renowned artist Tami Giebel drew of him. :) |
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| And the equally renowned artist Mohammad drew a portrait of me :). |
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| Mohammad's older sister, enjoying nature. |
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| It was a beautiful, relaxing Sabbath! |
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| Monday and back to school with Weimar. Purple class learning how to make a rabbit. |
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| Weimar had a health fair at the school. One of the boys is demonstrating how well he would be able to see if he was drunk (he is trying to follow the red line on the floor). The lady in the red and white striped shirt on the right started helping out at the school maybe a month and a half ago. She knows hardly no english at all. When we had the health fair our translators didn't show up so we had one of the kids from green class try to translate. After some time this lady came in and started translating better than the girl from the green room (our highest level)! It was an answer to prayer. She translated for like an hour and a half until the other translators finally showed up. |
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| A smoking demonstration. |
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| Playing games with the kids. |
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| Sabbath we again took kids up to the University where we had a potluck. The kids were so happy to get out of the city into nature. |
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| Grass! |
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| Who doesn't like playing with dirt? |
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| Habibi found some flowers! |
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| Habibi (A nickname I gave her) the young sister of two of my students. |
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| On Sunday Weimar went on another outing and again took some of us and some kids. We went to the Cedars of Lebanon :). |
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| Me and Mrs. Giedre (Science and Social Studies teacher) by the Cedars. |
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| When last did I have the luxury of climbing a tree? |
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| All of us in a Cedar. |
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| The Cedar behind me is the tree that was used for the outline of the tree in the Lebanese flag. |
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| For lunch we stopped by the road at a little bakery where they made the best bread with zataar, mint, tomatoes, and olives. |
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| After the Cedars we went to Beittedine Castle |
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| One of the rooms with stained glass windows in Beittedine. |
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| Farewell to the Weimar group! :( |
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| Thought you might like to see what little 'Blue Eyes' looks like now...since her eyes are no longer blue her named has changed to Cub. I'm still trying to find a home for her. |
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