Monday, February 28, 2011

job

It is hard for me to explain my heart in regard to my current job.

In so many ways it has been a gift from God. The children, the languages, the smells, the issues, the vastly different paras represented...all of these things are so good for my soul, so life-giving, so fun.

I love sitting around at lunch with people from burma, morocco, russia, nepal, and talking about weddings and love and things like that.

I love hearing the lilting elongated vowels of the Nepali kids when they speak their own language.

I love when little Bidhan looks at a figurine of a farmer holding a pig and shouts "PIG MAN".

I love when our sub comes to tell me about Set and how she found him squatting on top of the toilet, and I, having seen it a million times over, require no further explanation.

I love smiling at scared moms and dads and kids as they walk into our school after being in the states for only days.

I love the smells that I can't really place, but assume must be some sort of spice used in Burmese food, as I smell it at the Ways and it permeates through the hall where my class is located.

I love friends who think a baby shower means literally showering a pregnant mom..who is shocked by this odd tradition.

I love when sweet little Hai Ny's say "I love your bracelet" while holding my necklace.

I love sitting at the snack table and quietly saying "i'm spiderman" knowing that an almost instantaneous roar of "i'm spiderman", "i'm batman", "I'm ironman", "ironman 2" will follow....first words for a young nepali boy to learn. =)

But.

I don't like politics. I don't like being given a perfect evaluation by my teachers. and a crappy one by someone who has no idea the expectations of my job or how I carry them out.

I don't like the idea of cramming whole classrooms of students into what was once a closet, so we can say we "served 1000" (yet none of them score well on the csap)

I don't like when people are given jobs because they have worked with the person calling the shots for many many years. that's okay if you are good at what you do. not okay if you are awful at what you do, and have no love in your heart for children (see child catcher post).

I don't like to be treated like I don't know how to do my job, because I stood up for myself against a teacher that has tenure. (and who also happens to be awful.) And how even though that was...6 months ago I'm still paying for it now.

So bitterly and so love-filled I arrive...day after day. So bitterly and so love-filled I leave...day after day.
One of my students brought some condems to school today.
He's 4.
When asked if he knew what it was he said, "a glove".
I put a book over my face to hide my reaction.
Which was a little bit of laughter, but also a lot bit of sadness.
Oh, children, losing all their innocence at younger and younger ages.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

I absolutely adore the Way family. They have taught me so much, and are seriously my favorite people in the whole world.

I can't wait for baby Way to come into this world.
I can't wait for double dates with mom and dad.
I can't wait for swimming, swimming, swimming this summer with the girls.
I can't wait to call yeye and ask her to babysit for me.
I can't wait til graduations, boyfriends, marriages, babies....I can't wait!

These 4 (soon to be 5) are my utter joy. Love, love, love.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

mornings

Confession- most mornings I have a difficult time getting out of bed. I miss those days of old when my mom would wake me up and I'd bound out of bed with laughter and smiles. Long looong gone days of old. My only saving grace these days is that my husband and I have the same morning schedule. With his help, I am able to get up in the morning with enough time to attempt to maintain my somewhat professional appearance (a new goal this year, minus my hair, as it will always and forever be straggly and stringy).

This last week I had an extraordinarily difficult time getting up in the morning as Mark was sick and I was on my own. On one particular morning I went upstairs to discover my housemates eating breakfast and reading together at the kitchen table. At 6:30. In the morning. On a cold winter day. Believe it or not, my first thought was, "what in the world!? Weird-o's!".
But as I was reflecting on this different start to my day as I drove to school I was very inspired by them. By their commitment to invest in each other in such a purposeful way, their commitment to growing their minds, their desire to pursue Christ and actively choose to do so.

So thanks friends for the inspiration. Keep it up!

Saturday, February 5, 2011