And Then School Started...

Finding time for myself has been near to impossible. I decided this morning that quiet time is a MUST, and so, this very morning was my first time to wake up about 45 minutes earlier than normal. And, I can't even find words to describe how I have felt today. I have had more energy, motivation, patience, and just an all around brighter day. Don't get me wrong, my time in Ghana has always been bright, but today, I just had a different kind of brightness that is hard to explain. I spend all day talking, teaching, listening to children, working on lesson plans, grading papers that sometimes it's difficult to find time for myself and really sit and listen to what God has to say, or to simply be still and know he is God. Today, I did just that and it completely altered my day. I think God was trying to tell me something...what do you think?? This is going to be a part of my daily routine now, and I ask for your help and accountability.

Well, I know most of you are eager to know about my class and teaching experiences. It has been quite a week and today was the first day of the second week of school. I had 5 new students come today which made my total up to 29 seven year olds in one class. Pray for me! HAHA.  I am still waiting on 3 students to arrive. It's been challenging playing catch up with the 5 who missed last week and yet still be able to carry on with our normal routine and schedule. I'm getting to know my students more and more every day and finding a love for them that I honestly didn't even know I had. They bring smiles to my face all the time. Every day before they leave school, I have them do what I call the 3 H's. I told them that before they leave the classroom, I will give them a Handshake, Hug or High five, in which they can choose what H they want to have. Most of them tell me that they want all 3! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this, it is my favorite part about my day, and the reason that I love being a teacher. The most important thing that I want my students to know is not all the times tables or the life cycles of animals and insects, I want them to know that I LOVE them, I BELIEVE in them, I CARE about them, and I am INVESTED in them. That is what is important.

I have been busy, busy, busy, busy....can I say busy again... I'm doing all of my teacherly duties, and then I just recently found out about new duties that I have. Since the teacher apartments are apart of the boarding house, we has boarding house duties as well. I wont bore you all with the list of my duties, but there sure are a lot of them. I was even approached by an administrator who asked me if I wanted to start a school newspaper for ICS. Oh dear...does he know who he is taking to? Me? A school newspaper?? Well...anyways, I said sure! Wish me luck on that one! 

Jordan and I are learning our way around Kumasi more and more. We have been traveling from place to place by ourselves!!! It's good for us to be able to do that, but I know that if we had any problems that there would be friends to call who would help us right away. 

Did I mention that the KING of the Ashanti Region's granddaughter is in my class. No big deal...no pressure or anything right?? Google him...I'm sure you can find out all kinds of information. He is the King of the Ashanti people and the Kumasi is the capital of the Ashanti Region.

And, one last story. It was just this past Friday, we had just finished our first week of school and let me tell you, I was exhausted...actually, more than exhausted. I felt like collapsing in my bed and sleeping until it was time to wake up for church on Sunday. I will even admit, I wasn't in the best of moods. We went to dinner and I was standing in line and I saw people ahead of me getting french fries! So...that lifted my spirits a little bit. I was going through the line, I got a little rice and then I got french fries and then a women was about to scoop some kind of red sauce onto my fries and rice. Before she did that I asked her what it was and she said tomato sauce, so I said ok and she put it all over. I got back to my seat and the only thing I could taste was FISH. And, for those of you who know me....I DO NOT like fish at all. So, as kindly as I could, I ate around it, didn't say much, but in all honesty I was frustrated that I couldn't enjoy my french fries! I know, you are probably thinking stupid American who is living in Africa...be happy with what you get. I'm thinking that too! But, it was all relative. So, anyways, I just put on a happy face and finished my dinner. On Friday evenings after dinner they have a time for praise, prayers and a short sermon, they call it SU. Once everyone finished dinner, we all went down to the auditorium for SU

Blessings and Love to you all