aside from that: began this morning with a prayer walk, praying for the base as most of our male leadership is out this weekend and we will have a ton of new volunteers coming in this weekend and the beginning of next week (like 6 or 7 between now and april). spent my time praying in the arena for the church and worship services that occur there, but also for the community that is represented there, and the voodoo culture that is laden in society. (i smell french fries and i just got really exited for dinner tonight! sorry). it was a really challenging but unique experience; i've never been charged with a task of praying for an inanimate object or structure. but i really actually enjoyed the specifics of it.
the morning started of GREAT in circle time. i put my arms around daryl and asked if he remembered to bring his new attitude with him today. he told me no, so i told him to run home and get it! when we came into the classroom, they mainly sat down at their desks, which has been unheard of since i got here! (they wanted stickers, duh.) but after prayer and into the bible time, they were a terrible mess. completely not paying attention and being rude, etc. so i had to give them a little speech about respect; how in not listening and being rude during miss jenna teaching the bible, they were not only being disrespectful to her, but to God. this was their chance to learn about Him and their inattention was saying "God, i don't want to listen to you." i'm not even sure they understood, but they seemed to work out a little better through calendar time at least. jenna and i spent a lot of time preparing two sets of memory cards, one shape-to-shape, one numeral-to-pictorial representation of numbers. it was a disaster, at least for my group. they don't get directions, and waiting their turn. so halfway through the second game, we had to end. at the end of that, we had to sit for 5 minutes with our heads on the desk. they actually sat pretty quietly and learned to line up quietly, one-by-one, for snack/recess.
after that, we had music time. we handed out seed pods from the trees here as shakers out to make music, it was a losing battle. especially with the large tuna tins to make their personal cubbies with. they were banging them all over the desks and each other and completely losing control (or we were of them). you live you learn (what to never do again!) but once we showed them the parachute and ball that we were going to have a PE session with outside before the end of the day, they did a wonderful job with their sound cards and words of the week. seriously, like the class i would love to have. quiet, respectful, waiting turns, raising hands! it was a miracle, seriously! praise God! all that went out the window with the parachute, and we had to quickly put that away because they all would throw it up once and just run under it, so no one was left holding it (even after I explained in english and french, and Irving explained in Creole). they do seem to like story time at the end of the day though, and so that's been a great way to finish it off. but daryl was such a handful today, and just mean and spiteful. would not listen to a thing jenna or i said. i'm really trying to break through with kindness and showing him i've taken a liking to him, but that just seems to make him more mad!
anyway, school day ended, lunch was had, volunteered for lunch duty (4th time on clean up since i've been here... 5 days.), and then i made the decision to check out the pool for the first time! grungy by our standards, but such a refreshing treat! SO relaxing, and so hot! but the water was cool, and i was FINALLY able to at least get some physical activity, no matter how small the movement! went down there by myself, but after a little while Joshua came down for a swim and we got to talk a lot which was nice. then the snows/nettles' kids all came to hang and talk and show off their chickens (tied feet, so wrong). it was a really nice afternoon.
i'm eager to get into the classroom tomorrow and start planning centers and rearranging and cleaning things. theres also talk of going to the fort on sunday, that is perched on a hill overlooking the sea and built by the spanish armada around the turn of the 18th century. i've also been asked to hike one of the local mountains, but its a 7 mile hike. each way. in 95 degree heat. and i don't have a camelbak. tomorrow should be a day we go to the market, which really excites me because i would love love love fresh veggies and fruits! the teachers have been so wonderful letting me use their fridge for now, and i had a wonderful time at ladies group last night in my soon-to-be apartment (small by any standards).
excited for this weekends new explorations, curricular adventures, and productivity fuzed with relaxation. this is haiti.
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