"Hello Teacher Jennica"

6/11/2012

Wow. What an experience today was. This morning was wonderful...had a slow morning and did some reading. Then Jamie and I got a kitchen lesson from Lauren. We have now been enrolled in ‘Lauren’s cooking school’ for the next three weeks. We made homemade french bread; beef stroganoff; a salad and a banana pudding dessert. It was amazing how much food we made in the little kitchen this morning! 

Port-au-Prince is much different than Pettionville. Being in the city means much busier streets, more homes built like shacks and worst of all...HEAT. The temperature is no where NEAR what it was in Pettionville. Here, in Port-au-Prince it is HOT. All the time. I am continually drenched in sweat and everything is sticky. It is neat to see a different part of Haiti and to have a different experience than what I did for the last 3 weeks with my babies, but man...it was MUCH different!  

Today around noon I got my binder of lesson plans. I got a first look of what I was supposed to be teaching in 3 hours. I read through the lesson a couple times and prayed a few times and a short few hours later I found myself at the front of my classroom with 12 eager sets of eyes looking at me. I introduced myself and asked if anyone had questions. The first question came right away, “are you single? or married?” haha I was warned about this but I replied and everyone laughed. My class has 2 girls in it...thank goodness for these ladies! :) 

After spending some time introducing ourselves, we got into our lesson. I was teaching today on weather. That doesn’t sound too difficult right? Well, how would you describe windchill or blizzard to a country that hasn’t seen or experienced this before? It is a lot more difficult than what it seems! After getting those ‘deer in the headlights look’ I stumbled my way through and we survived the first day! 

We made it. Beyond the language burier and the strong accents, we somehow managed to communicate...at least a little bit. And, today was the first day so it could only get better right? That’s my hope at least! :) 

This is such a different experience than my daily time with my little ones, but I am grateful that I am experiencing this as well. I can talk with my students and with time I am confident that it will get even better. I am praying it will! 

Tonight we are going over to have dessert with Bruce and Cindy...then will hang out and go to sleep. I love that my Haitian lifestyle is so much more relaxed and much more enjoyable with it not being so fast-paced American. Evenings of just rest and friends are so refreshing! 

Please PRAY that I can learn better what it means to teach. PRAY that I am patient with my students. PRAY that I can be creative in describing words and concepts they have never experienced before. PRAY for good rest and preparation time each day and PRAY that the students catch onto my speaking and teaching style. 

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13