Multiple-hat Day

You know those emails that go around reminding people of how teachers (and mothers) have to wear so many different hats? Beyond the day-to-day planning, teaching, managing and assessing, there is the addition of counseling, disciplining, and of course, trying to be a consistent positive role-model!

Today I feel like I exhausted all of those hats, not to mention the emotions that come with them. It was a roller-coaster type with many ups and downs.

Morning

We start the day with math everyday (because one of my students is pulled out for a different math class at that time). This should be a happy thing since I love teaching math, but I often find it frustrating as many of my students have yet to develop the ability to reason. Our math curriculum assumes this skill is well-developed by this time in the year, but it just isn't so. One of today's questions: There are 12 ice-cream sandwiches to be shared equally among 8 students. How many ice-cream sandwiches will each student receive? Now, you may think, like I did, that my students would struggle with coming up with the right operation, or which number divides which? Oh no… they were confused because they didn't know what an ice cream sandwich was! I wanted to laugh and cry. And of course, after I explained the delicious treat, they no longer wanted to do math, but talk about ice cream sandwiches.

After math we have time for devotions and prayer. This is always a good part of the morning that ends with singing. Today we read from 2 Timothy and sang "I will call upon the Lord". I love this time of day. I also love hearing my kids pray. They have very tender hearts and pray often for each other, their families, and the situations going on in the world (North Africa and Japan), and they truly get excited when they see their prayers answered.

Mid-Morning

This is the time of day I have Geometry. This class has grown on me throughout the year as I have developed relationships with the students. They still get on my nerves from time to time (and I'm sure I get on theirs!), but they are doing well and learning most days. Today was a really hard day though. There was a quiz, and as I was grading I became suspicious that one student cheated. I investigated and this student ended up admitting to me that he cheated. My heart just sank, because this is the second time he has been caught cheating in my class. KICS has a very strict cheating policy, which I wholeheartedly agree with, but this now means that this student fails my class and will re-take it next year. Yeah… such an unfortunate decision with huge consequences. Please pray with me for this young man that he can learn from this situation and become responsible in his education.

Afternoon

After lunch one of my sixth-grade boys came to class sobbing. Apparently he's been teased a lot because of a nickname his mom calls him (because another boy who went to play at his house overheard her). Now some high-schoolers had caught on and joined in the teasing. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? It took this boy over 5 minutes just to calm his breathing down enough to tell me what happened. I felt terrible, but it did lead to a great conversation about where his true worth comes from, from God, from within, and not from others! He was able to return to class and get through the rest of the day, but believe you me, there was a high schooler who got an earful from me after school today. Picking on a kid three years younger… as if…

By the end of the school day I was feeling a bit weary and honestly had no idea what I was going to do with my kids for the last 20 minutes of the day. Then I remembered that our Bible lesson used the analogy of a soldier this week to compare to our Christian lives. I asked Trevor, my boss, if he wouldn't mind coming in at the end of the day to share some of his military experiences with us. He was a hit! Not only did he sneak attack our classroom and scare the daylights out our whole class, he had the kids on the edge of their seats for a full 20 minutes with great stories and messages about the benefits of obedience, knowing how to use our 'weapons' and keeping our eyes on the goal. We also learned how to use a bayonet: twist! twist! twist! ;D

Well, I'm home now, have had the afternoon to rest, and a chance to eat some dinner. Time to go to our school's Talent Show tonight. I hear some of the teachers are bringin' back the 80's! Can't wait to see this!

Praying for you my friends - hoping you find joy and peace no matter what hat you're wearing at the moment.

For Amy

My friend Amy informed me today that it's been a month since my last post. Time is just flying by too fast here.

The last month has been full of a little bit of everything: school, friends, and travels.

School

Today ended our third quarter. It is hard to accept that tomorrow begins the last term I will be at KICS. The kids celebrated today that summer vacation is within reach, and I nearly burst into tears. I told them they're not allowed to be excited about summer. ;) Overall school has continued to be a positive experience day by day as we teach the students and meet as a staff to develop plans for future growth. My daily highlight continues to be my students voices. We sing hymns each morning and I know this is their favorite time of day. They beg and plead, "can we please sing 'Blessed Assurance,' 'How Great Thou Art,' 'Amazing Grace,' and 'Behold What Manner of Love'!!" And then we sing from our hearts as loud as we can (we interrupted the fifth graders' lesson yesterday, but instead of asking us to take it down a notch, they just joined it!). Yep, I love my job.

Friends

I don't know what I would do without my friends here in Kigali. While I must admit that I'm a bit of a homebody, I do enjoy the occasional trip to town, night out to eat, or stroll to the coffee shop. My friend Micah and I try to get out once a week to do something like this, but lately we've been so busy (or sick) - it's been hard! Last weekend was just silly… my roommates and I are used to lazy Saturdays, but lazy is not a word to describe last Saturday. Micah and I planned to get donuts Saturday morning, but Friday night I had to change our plans… our friends Doug and Kerry were getting engaged and my roommates and I were asked to be part of that occasion! Well, obviously we were totally on board, but didn't realize how hard it would be to decline all the wonderful invitations to 'go to lunch' 'go shopping' 'have a game night', when friends called that morning. We weren't allowed to tell so we were like, "um… sorry, no. we're busy." "Why?! What else could you possibly be doing?" "um… well, were going out, so no." It was much more fun that evening to have everyone over to our house to celebrate Doug and Kerry's engagement!! (they're getting married in July)

Travels

I've been out of Kigali twice since my last blog. I was able to visit my friend Sharday in Nairobi, Kenya in February. We spent the weekend together, and I was able to see where she lives and studies at NEGST, as well as see a little bit of the city. My first thought when I flew into Nairobi was "this is Africa!". Not that Rwanda isn't, but Nairobi has more of the 'look' and 'feel' of what one might think when they think of Africa. There were lots of wide open spaces, and 'africa' trees, and even a warthog running through the street! I enjoyed going on the Safari Walk and visiting western shopping centers. The highlight of the trip though was the Giraffe Center! If you haven't seen it yet, check out my fb pictures of the trip - you'll get to see me meet a lovely giraffe named Arura, up close and personal!

We had a long weekend in early March so some girlfriends and I headed out to Kibuye on Lake Kivu. It was a nice relaxing weekend, full of rest and picturesque views. We stayed at a guest house called St. Jean's. I was pleasantly surprised at the comfort of such a simple place! The wait for food was the typical african hour-hour and half, but the portions were huge for the price we paid.

Back at home here I am constantly thinking about the future while trying to enjoy the present. As I said, time is just flying by fast! I am excited for my mom's arrival in less than 3 weeks! We are planning an adventure up to Uganda to Queen Elizabeth Park, as well as seeing the sights here in Kigali. My guess it my next post will come after that! :)

I hope you are well and blessed ~ thank you for reading!

Definitely going on the "Top Ten" highlights of my life!