Last week I said I thought the weeks would fly by, and I was right! I will admit it…Monday was a little hard for me. It was my mom’s birthday, which was tough to miss. I’m so thankful for technology, though, because I was finally able to FaceTime with my whole family! Maya even got in on the fun. I miss my family so much, but apps that allow me to communicate with them while I’m on wifi make it so much easier to be 3,000 miles from home for 3 months. Even though Monday was tough, it was also a pretty big day for me—I finally got to teach! Last week I started teaching grammar. I started on Monday with subject/verb agreement. Things got a little hectic in the morning, and I ended up losing half of my instruction time. I had to do some quick thinking, but I made it work! On Wednesday I taught the simple present and present continuous verb tenses. The students practiced using the verbs correctly by writing sentences about some pictures I brought in. The students loved looking at pictures of my friends and family. I even got some decent street cred with the boys when they saw pictures of me fishing and golfing! Last week the Montessori Centre celebrated International Week. “Special” weeks mean everything gets all out of whack. The students were bouncing off the walls all day, every day, so by Friday I was totally wiped! Luckily, I have a cooperating teacher that is always looking out for me. Almost every day she makes me tea; however, after an exceptionally crazy morning she surprised me with coffee! It was the first time I had coffee since I flew out of Chicago, so it tasted like Heaven! |
This weekend was exceptionally relaxing. Brittney and I were both exhausted and didn’t feel like doing much. On Friday we walked to the street party with my host mom and sister. I got some delicious barbecue chicken, and I made a total mess of myself! In my time here I have embraced the messy eating. As you can see by the picture on the left, I had sauce all over myself! After watching me eat, my host mom laughed pretty hard and said “You’re like a true Lucian, now!” Brittney and I often talk about how we don’t like being perceived as tourists; we are living here for 3 months and truly immersing ourselves in the culture. It was such a simple comment, but it was pretty endearing to hear! |
On Saturday, we ended up running errands with my host mom and her uncle. It might sound strange, but going grocery shopping made us feel pretty homesick. We saw a lot of foods that reminded us of home. Some were pretty obvious—like the huge block of cheese!—while others were simple foods we just missed—like spaghetti or granola bars. |
“Therefore I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.”
—2 Samuel 22:50--
I will sing the praises of your name.”
—2 Samuel 22:50--