The Missionaries

The missionaries from an Episcopal church in Dallas were here last week, almost 40 of them. They came in three different teams: medical, construction, and educational. Each morning from 9-11, they taught in the classrooms. The theme is covenants, or promises. Monday we talked about Noah and the ark, and Tuesday we talked about Abraham, we also talked about David, Jesus, and Moses. The man in our classroom was named Ed, and the kids called him Abuelo Eduardo (Grandpa Ed). They loved him. He's great, and he brought me glitter, tape (masking tape (!), poster tape, and scotch tape), three staplers, about 300 crayons, and glue. Thank goodness. I've been needing masking tape for about as long as I can remember! The seventh graders with some of the little ones are putting on a Noah's Ark play on Friday. One of the people that came with the missions team wrote it. The play was so cute. The seventh graders did a great job, and the little kids were the animals and wore animal masks. Hilarious. It was hot as all get out in the auditorium (just remodeled this year and no money for the AC they plan to put in eventually), but we survived, as we always do. Afterwards, we gave out best student awards. Then, there was a church service and BBQ goodbye dinner for the missions teams and I ate the best BBQ porkchop I've ever had in my life.

The medical team came and checked out all the kiddies in the school, giving them medicine, a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, soap, and vitamins among other things. How wonderful! It's hard to believe the generosity of these people. They are all very happy to be here; it's great. There is also an Episcopal clinic that our church has in Barrio Suyapa, which is a pretty poor area. They are giving lots of free medical care there to the children and their families. Sometimes I wish I had someone else here in the school doing the same thing I am so that I could share all of these experiences with that I personally have, but this will have to do.

The construction team worked on the brand new upstairs, where 7th grade is currently, and all of high school will go as they add on grades each year. They tore down a wall, built two new walls, painted, and finished the bathrooms up there. How nice.

The week was crazy and not a whole lot got done. This week was equally as crazy, really, with Valentine's Day and Miss Fermina coming back, which is a whole other ranting post in itself. Valentine's Day, on the other hand, was a bunch of fun. There was an assembly where each group did something. Most of the grades danced not very correographed dances, and I think a couple of kids sang. My first graders, though, did a wonderful VALENTINES DAY poem that was written by yours truly. Each one said a line, they all remembered everything and they spoke into the microphone and everyone clapped and it was wonderful. The poem is as follows. I have it memorized by now, since I repeated it so many times to them:

This is our first grade Valentine to all of you.

V is for very pretty.
A is for awesome.
L is for lovely.
E is for excellent.
N is for nice.
T is for talented.
I is for interesting.
N is for neat.
E is for extraordinary.
S is for sweet.
D is for daring.
A is for amazing.
Y is for you!

Happy Valentine's Day!


Big words for first graders, huh? I wish I would have recorded it or something. I did get a picture outside with all of them and their letters, but it didn't come out great. And I can't put any pictures up, because yahoo photos is being dumb.
Speaking of 1st graders, I'm up to 14. I got two new students this week. And guess what? They don't know their letters either. Not so easy teaching 7 kids who don't know their letters, 2 who can read well, and 5 who are on their way to reading shortly. But I'm super woman and can do anything.

About the gym ... I got weighed and stuff today. I lost 5 pounds in the past two and a half weeks. And about 1.5% body fat, according to their little hand held device. Not too shabby considering that this week I ate about 3 pieces of cake and had pizza 2 times. And last week, I only made it to the gym once. I've jumped back on the wagon some this week, gym wise though. Tomorrow will be my fourth trip. I worked my butt off today.