Falling in Love - Tuesday, November 9, 2010

I am falling in love with this place! The kinder students cheered when I walked into the classroom this morning. I got to teach the bible story lesson and the writing lesson today. I also was able to help scaffold some lessons for the group that I'm working with. The biggest challenge today was keeping the kids out of my lap and in their seats while they were working!

My favorite time of the day is the school "break time" from 10:00 - 10:30. It's equivalent to our recess and snack time. As I sit on one of the 100+ steps, I get various "visitors" to my lap and under my arm.

Break Time!

The children have all kinds of questions about my family, living in America, how long I'm staying, and whether or not I have bubble gum! I'm offered snack by a dozen little dusty hands. The big girls share their goodies with the younger ones. The little boys try to out do the other boys in relay and chase games. As I look out over the mountaintops in the backdrop, I offer a silent prayer for the future of these children.

Playing Jacks during break

When kindergarten lets out, I head back down to one of the children's homes and ask the house mom if there is something that I can help with.  I spend the next hour ironing school uniforms for the woman who works in the laundry room.  When the older children are finished, I help Akiem with his social studies homework and then go down to the construction site to check out what the men are doing.

Ms. Baugh, our resident cook, is in the kitchen when I get back upstairs, so I wash up and help her prep for dinner. She reminds me of my mother-in-law, just a sweet & kind hearted soul. She and her husband both work for the City - he runs the construction crews. My second favorite time of the day is meal time! Good home cooked Jamaican food - yum!!

Posing with Ms. Baugh

I finally got to Skype my family tonight.  YAY! I am really missing them in the evenings. It was good to see their faces and hear their voices.  Trying to fill them in on everything that's been happening over the past few days is hard. It's especially hard to describe the feeling of being here, of interacting with the children, of getting to know the staff, of feeling somehow now permanently tied to this little city atop the mountain.  Tomorrow breakfast is at 6 am, so off to bed I go.

The City atop the mountains