Hit the ground running

Wow I’m lousy at keeping this updated!!  There is so much to catch you all up on!  In short I have been in the country for 5 weeks.   I arrived, unpacked, repacked and went camping for a week along the Mediterranean sea.    It was a local gathering of believers.  Not 20 years ago there were no known B, 10 years ago a handful in this region and yet I stood next to probably 200 people singing Praises to our King.  That was awesome. 

We came home, I shook the sand out of clothes, did my laundry and repacked again so I could go live at the neighbors house……this time cause my house was the center for a conference and a bunch of men would be living here (What would the neighbors think)  I cooked, cleaned and supervised the kids during the conference. 

For some reason in the planning of this school schedule we decided to start the Monday after the conference…I came home, unpacked again, stripped the beds from all my guests and the next day started teaching.  The first two weeks of school have been great, hectic, but fun.  I didn't realize how fast things had gone till yesterday afternoon (Sunday) I realized I was just now putting away the sheets from two weeks before.  (does not say a great deal about my housekeeping skills)  For that matter I only recently had time to find the grocery store!

The Locals can’t grasp the concept of homeschooling, in fact they all seem to think the girls have dropped out of school all together.  We have been contemplating naming our little school.  That way when the neighbors and former classmates question the girls and parents about why they are not enrolled in the local school system, they can reply “Oh I am going to Hope Academy, the new American school in our neighborhood.”

My ideal day is to get up at 5 am and work out….I have successfully done that twice.  A typical day for me is I get up about 6:30, shower, eat breakfast, have a quiet time and start teaching at 8 am.  Our first class is American History, followed my math (the girls are using video teachers for that subject ) After Math we come back together for English, then Geography and world History  (I had to explain the term Dictator 7 times last week, and the girls were shocked to discover Iraq and Iran both touch Turkey…..I probably should not of put the D word and the I word together in the same sentence….big brother may be watching :))  We break for Lunch, sometimes they go home because their teacher is craving peace and quiet, other times they stay here, and I have them watch an educational film -can you say Drive Thru History!  Eventually we will add a cooking class to our day once a week or every other week which is my preference.  After lunch, we have our Bible class, followed by Science.  Which basically looks like me going from one room to another reviewing their reading assignments with them.  Re-explaining it to them in words they are more familiar with (Remember their education thus far  has been in another language)Telling them about cool experiments we could do to illustrate this point, if only we had the materials….and then saying don't you recall I explained this word yesterday…only to remember it was the other one I had explained it too.    Wow that is a Run on sentence!!!  I taught on that today…but obviously failed to apply it.  Lastly we finish with computer class.  Then they go home.

I sit down grade papers, read science textbooks and prepare for the next grammar lesson.  Usually I also do whatever writing assignment I had given them so they have an example of good writing (wow that sounded arrogant!!!)  then I cook dinner, eat it and ideally study Foreign language (it would be awful to spend a year here and not learn the language!)   On Saturdays I  read the history texts and write discussion questions in the margins, underline points I want them to get because I plan to include it on the test I will write.  I get online and snag images to build PowerPoint's to use during teaching.  While on Sundays I print everything I will need for the upcoming week (I don't have a printer here) We start allover again Monday.  Oh yeah, on Mondays and Thursdays I teach English, right now I have one student, a Muslim lady whose name starts with Y….can’t pronounce it yet.  It is good because it forces me to use the local language as well.  I am supposed to be adding a second student, hoping she can come at the same time as the first lady…but more likely it will end up being another day and another time.  Fun fun….In future episodes, I want to take pictures of my house and show it off.  Tell you about the puppies I have adopted, the cute, little girl who comes and jabbers at me, despite the fact I don’t understand her.  Lastly share some fun stories from school…Hopefully that will happen in the next few days.

good night all this is me signing off and going to wash the dishes….I'm sure the kitchen is a disaster the power had gone off while I was cooking so I went ahead and cooked my meal by my single candle light….learning to cut veggies and peel carrots much as a blind person may have to do….it was a scary sight when the lights came on, I had veggie tops all over the counter.

Goodbye Samson, Don't Forget me.

The last few weeks flew by.  So much to do, so many people to see, and so little time.  Mom and John came to visit, that was fun, we took a scenic drive over the Beartooth mountains, went to billings so I could get  shoes, got boxes in Cody and they helped me pack.  Spent time with other relatives in the area.  It was a lot of fun.

The last few days, I kept going to see friends and such and say goodbye, but it didn't feel real.  When Mom and John left after church I waved goody, feeling guilty that I had no tears, it was as if I was saying seeing you in a few days.  The same thing happened when Sarah and the kids drove me to the airport.

However saying goodbye to my German shepherd was another matter all together.  I kept him till pretty late Monday night (I flew out early Tuesday morning.)  I fought the urge to cry as I drove to Mike’s (the guy who found a home for my puppy while I'm gone)  At Mikes I went through the motions of showing them his tricks, telling them about what I expect of him and the best way to walk him and such.  Samson meanwhile is bounding around the yard, smelling and marking everything. 

Mike commended me on how obedient and good natured he was, then he warned me that when I come home it may be very hard to get him back, cause the older gentleman who he will be living with will want to keep him.  (this is a fact I have always known, and deep down I feel that if when I come home, if Samson is better off with this guy, then going with me to Alaska or wherever I may end up, then so be it) however at that moment in time it was the last thing I needed, my hard fought off tears began to flow.    Samson is still oblivious to the fact and running joyfully from me to Mike, to Mike’s kid, to the many things in the yard that smell like deer.

I cried all the way home and for the next three hours afterward.  I came to the conclusion that I did not want to leave the country, that it was not worth loosing my dog.  I think I only got an hour and half asleep all night long.