Greetings to all! Today we had a big storm! It was awesome! We usually get a big storm about every couple weeks. I love the rain when it comes, its so refreshing and the cool air is very nice, it reminds me of the way God refreshes us when we need it.
Well I had a good birthday! It was definitely different and i still don´t really feel 18 yet. Saturday morning At 8:30 in the morning i went with the baseball team to play our first game. We went to a town about 30 minutes outside of San Juan, it was just into the mountains and there was a man-made lake there with a dam. We played on a field in a valley inbetween the mountains, at times there were cows and horses and pigs running onto the field. You know what that means, there were lots of cow-pows and such on the field, let me tell you, those were not fun running into. I only had 1 hit and we lost, but it was fun. I´m playing in some kind of league for kids, i still don´t really understand it but we didn´t have enough kids in our age group to play so we had to take a few kids from the younger age group to play with us. I think that was part of why we lost.
Saturday evening we went to the youth group, i was going to sing with the worship team, they wantd my help with a song in English (open the eyse of my heart Lord) but i had a sore throat so I opted out. DON´T WORRY! i´m sure i´ll have another opportunity to sing with them. Of course Tony being the youth leader called me up and wished me a happy birthday. Then the worship team sang happy birthday to me. It was fun and everyone was great. Tony and Larys bout me biscotcho (cake) but by the time we got home we were all so tired that we decided to wait until sunday to eat the cake. It was delicious!
The culture has really been a struggle for me lately. There are some things that you can adjust to or get used to, but then there are some that i just don´t think i wil ever be able to get used. For instance, the relationships between guys and girls just as friends is very different, they are very touchy kind of hang all over each other kind of different. This as you can probably imagine is dificult for me and sometimes awkward. With the people who say they are Christians but don´t always act like it its even worse, kissing and things like that. So you could definitely pray that God would give me a better understanding of the culture and why the people sometimes do the things they do.
The language is getting better every day. I´m understanding more and just trying to absorb information to be able to speak better. The professors at the school are becoming great friends, Raquel is my friend who i talk with every day in the library, i help her with English and she helps me with Spanish. Neysi, the teacher of the 4th grade class, she makes me laugh every day and always laughs at the things i say in Spanish. It turns out i have found out the hard way a couple of phrases not to say, both times i was talking to Neysi when i discovered this. They are phrases that when translated literally they are perfectly fine, but they have a different meaning in this culture i guess. Oh well there isn´t really any other way i could have found out. Elio is the teacher of informatica (computer class) he is really funny and we like to talk about the students and which ones are good and which ones are bad. He´s really cool.
Thursday i had a really rough class with the 6th graders. They have been the routiest class by far. They weren´t listening to me at all. The boys were all running around and fighting and the girls were just mostly talking. I had to have a good long talk with them about how its impossible for me to teach them when they are like that. It was tough and disheartening, and when the teacher of their class came back in she talked with them as well. They apologized and said they would do better next time, I really hope so, those classes are no fun at all.
I´m pretty sure i am getting the better of this little bit of a cold i have caught. But it has not been bad and i think its receding. Lauren I think its just everyday life that i probably caught this cold but then again you never know for sure. Also for my hair cut it cost me 100 pesos, a little less than 3 bucks. Thanks to all my prayer warriors out there, you´re prayers very are important. Please continue to pray for good health, the cultural differences, learning the language and my classes. Dios les bendiga!
En Cristo,
Danito
P.S. i can´t wait until Frank and Juanita get here! :)
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sorry Its Been So Long!
Sorry i haven´t updated for a few weeks! Apparently there are some people wondering if i´m still alive or if I got swept away by one of the hurricanes. well I´M ALIVE and doing well.
Teaching is going well, and i am definitely enjoying interacting with the kids! Its always fun to see how the DF (Dominican Factor, coined by mi profesora muy linda) plays into things. For example if there is a large storm and the power goes out, its dark and the kids can´t see the blackboard. This has happened a couple of times, you just have to do an all out interactive class without writing things on the board, which is easier said than done. Today i was going to teach the 6th grade class, i walked in to find out that the 6th and 7th grade classes were swapping rooms, so there was no class for 6th grade today. Sorry kids! :) You just have to love it. My real joy is talking and interacting with the kids. Most of the girls are infatuated with me and always want to talk with me, and i don´t turn them down because i always want to practice my Spanish. I´ve found that the kids are some of the best teachers, they want to help you learn and they are patient, and if i still can´t understand what they are saying thy finally just laugh. But it is a good feeling to know that most of the kids love English class and the English teacher.
The teachers have been great! they are all so much fun and always there to help me when i need it. Its great because most of the teachers have been trying to learn English, so i try to teach them some English and they all have taught me a ton of Spanish! God has definitely blessed me with them as great friends. Raquel has been a great friend, she is one of the teachers and she works in the library in the afternoon. I help her or just hang out in there with her to talk and practice speaking and listening just about every day. Tuesdays and Thursdays i have been going to an English class that is specifically for the teachers at the school. It has really been fun to help them out, although the first class i did find it a struggle talking in English to them. Everything about it just seemed wrong.
Trying to learn a thousand names in my time here has proved to be one of the most difficult things. I´m trying to learn the names of all my students, all the teachers, the people in the church, everyone i´m playing baseball with and everyone else in between. Its very difficult and the pronunciations can be very tricky as well. That is definitely something i would ask you guys to pray for. It doesn´t feel good to forget peoples names when they ask you :(. Its funny though, in my classes i know the names of all the trouble makers by heart!
Today i went to get my hair cut. That was an interesting experience, i pretty much waited for 2 hours to get my hair cut, but hey it was worth it, i feel a lot better with shorter hair. Tomorrow I am going in the morning to play baseball with the team. I´m excited about that, it should definitely be fun! In practice last week i hit 2 home runs! Yes the field is smaller, but i mean still... We´ll see what happens for my birthday tomorrow, we have youth group tomorrow night and i´m sure everybody will do something for me. I might even be singing with the worship team tomorrow, they wanted help with a song in English. We´ll see if i sing with them more or not, i don´t think they need it, but who knows.
Thanks to Danielle who posted the only comment for my last post. Was it that boring guys? And does anyone know what happened to my parents? They haven´t answered there e-mail and didn´t post any comments, didn´t know if they fell off the face of the earth or got swept away in a hurricane or something like that. Thanks you for all your prayers, please keep them coming! Keep praying for good health as well, i think i´m starting to feel la gripe coming on and i would rather not be sick down here, so please pray for good health. Thanks to all!
In Christ,
Dan
Teaching is going well, and i am definitely enjoying interacting with the kids! Its always fun to see how the DF (Dominican Factor, coined by mi profesora muy linda) plays into things. For example if there is a large storm and the power goes out, its dark and the kids can´t see the blackboard. This has happened a couple of times, you just have to do an all out interactive class without writing things on the board, which is easier said than done. Today i was going to teach the 6th grade class, i walked in to find out that the 6th and 7th grade classes were swapping rooms, so there was no class for 6th grade today. Sorry kids! :) You just have to love it. My real joy is talking and interacting with the kids. Most of the girls are infatuated with me and always want to talk with me, and i don´t turn them down because i always want to practice my Spanish. I´ve found that the kids are some of the best teachers, they want to help you learn and they are patient, and if i still can´t understand what they are saying thy finally just laugh. But it is a good feeling to know that most of the kids love English class and the English teacher.
The teachers have been great! they are all so much fun and always there to help me when i need it. Its great because most of the teachers have been trying to learn English, so i try to teach them some English and they all have taught me a ton of Spanish! God has definitely blessed me with them as great friends. Raquel has been a great friend, she is one of the teachers and she works in the library in the afternoon. I help her or just hang out in there with her to talk and practice speaking and listening just about every day. Tuesdays and Thursdays i have been going to an English class that is specifically for the teachers at the school. It has really been fun to help them out, although the first class i did find it a struggle talking in English to them. Everything about it just seemed wrong.
Trying to learn a thousand names in my time here has proved to be one of the most difficult things. I´m trying to learn the names of all my students, all the teachers, the people in the church, everyone i´m playing baseball with and everyone else in between. Its very difficult and the pronunciations can be very tricky as well. That is definitely something i would ask you guys to pray for. It doesn´t feel good to forget peoples names when they ask you :(. Its funny though, in my classes i know the names of all the trouble makers by heart!
Today i went to get my hair cut. That was an interesting experience, i pretty much waited for 2 hours to get my hair cut, but hey it was worth it, i feel a lot better with shorter hair. Tomorrow I am going in the morning to play baseball with the team. I´m excited about that, it should definitely be fun! In practice last week i hit 2 home runs! Yes the field is smaller, but i mean still... We´ll see what happens for my birthday tomorrow, we have youth group tomorrow night and i´m sure everybody will do something for me. I might even be singing with the worship team tomorrow, they wanted help with a song in English. We´ll see if i sing with them more or not, i don´t think they need it, but who knows.
Thanks to Danielle who posted the only comment for my last post. Was it that boring guys? And does anyone know what happened to my parents? They haven´t answered there e-mail and didn´t post any comments, didn´t know if they fell off the face of the earth or got swept away in a hurricane or something like that. Thanks you for all your prayers, please keep them coming! Keep praying for good health as well, i think i´m starting to feel la gripe coming on and i would rather not be sick down here, so please pray for good health. Thanks to all!
In Christ,
Dan
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Getting Tnto The Flow...
Greetings to all. Thanks for all the comments, its nice to hear from you guys! Keep them coming :).
Well I think I am getting into this teaching thing pretty well. The 3rd graders are the toughest, they kinda just run around and it takes them forever to remember stuff. I´m trying to pound them with the alphabet but it still isn´t catching on yet. Usually they all yell Profe (short for profesor or teacher) and ask me totally irrelevant questions from what i am trying to teach them. Its frustrating and yet hilariously cute. I have a lot of respect for their profesora who is with them everyday 5 days a week. The 7th graders are my favorite class to teach, they understand and like to learn what i am teaching them, they some of the closest friends that i have ;). but they keep me on my toes because i have o prepare a lot for them each class, they are definitely keeping me on my toes. There is definitely a lot of joy in teaching, all the kids love me and love to talk to me, so that makes it fun. And the kids want to learn, that helps a lot!
This week i have also been helping out in the biblioteca, (library) it hasn´t been much really, all i have to do is help kids get books and make sure they don´t take them out of the library. They all love to talk about me while i sit at my desk, usually reading or trying to figure out what they are saying about me. Las profesoras have been very helpful and welcoming.
Some days i´ll find are just better or worse than others. Some days i´ll feel a bit discouraged about the language or other things, other days will be great and i´ll remember all the reasons i wanted to stay here for 4 months. I have been praying that God would show me to some more friends. But the last few days i think i have realized that the lack of friends is my own fault more than anyone else´s. When your overwhelmed and worrying about teaching or things you tend to not be able to be yourself and its no wonder nobody talked to me. But now i have my classes and students who i have been able to talk to more, the youth group is starting to open up to me, more because i have opened up to them. But the most encouraging thing happened to me tonight while i was walking back from the school. Two guys on motor cycles stopped me and asked me if i spoke English, they wanted someone to practice with! It turns out they were students of Ramon, the English teacher who teaches high school and older and who also helped me. So they are gonna call me so e can meet some time to practice their English and i can practice my Spanish. You never quite know how God will answer prayers, be he always does! Please keep praying for me! That's all for now...
En Cristo,
Dan
Well I think I am getting into this teaching thing pretty well. The 3rd graders are the toughest, they kinda just run around and it takes them forever to remember stuff. I´m trying to pound them with the alphabet but it still isn´t catching on yet. Usually they all yell Profe (short for profesor or teacher) and ask me totally irrelevant questions from what i am trying to teach them. Its frustrating and yet hilariously cute. I have a lot of respect for their profesora who is with them everyday 5 days a week. The 7th graders are my favorite class to teach, they understand and like to learn what i am teaching them, they some of the closest friends that i have ;). but they keep me on my toes because i have o prepare a lot for them each class, they are definitely keeping me on my toes. There is definitely a lot of joy in teaching, all the kids love me and love to talk to me, so that makes it fun. And the kids want to learn, that helps a lot!
This week i have also been helping out in the biblioteca, (library) it hasn´t been much really, all i have to do is help kids get books and make sure they don´t take them out of the library. They all love to talk about me while i sit at my desk, usually reading or trying to figure out what they are saying about me. Las profesoras have been very helpful and welcoming.
Some days i´ll find are just better or worse than others. Some days i´ll feel a bit discouraged about the language or other things, other days will be great and i´ll remember all the reasons i wanted to stay here for 4 months. I have been praying that God would show me to some more friends. But the last few days i think i have realized that the lack of friends is my own fault more than anyone else´s. When your overwhelmed and worrying about teaching or things you tend to not be able to be yourself and its no wonder nobody talked to me. But now i have my classes and students who i have been able to talk to more, the youth group is starting to open up to me, more because i have opened up to them. But the most encouraging thing happened to me tonight while i was walking back from the school. Two guys on motor cycles stopped me and asked me if i spoke English, they wanted someone to practice with! It turns out they were students of Ramon, the English teacher who teaches high school and older and who also helped me. So they are gonna call me so e can meet some time to practice their English and i can practice my Spanish. You never quite know how God will answer prayers, be he always does! Please keep praying for me! That's all for now...
En Cristo,
Dan
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