today was a long day. I am glad that tomorrow is Friday.
Tonight Adrianna's dad is coming for dinner. We are having Soncocho...which is like a soup/stew. It wasn't my favorite when I first had it but every time we have it, it grows on me. Not sure if I have mentioned it in another post or not but everything here has a similar taste, most of the time. The taste of cilantro (I don't think that is exactly what it is down here but basically). It takes over any other taste. Mommy you would hate it. But the longer I am here the more tolerable it is and the less I notice it. So far I have had pretty good experience with the food but it isn't like what you grow up eating. Of course I am sure that any Dominican that came to live with me for four months would think that my food is weird too. The way they cook here is always with a lot of spices and flavors and sometimes I just want something simple. Like grilled chicken and some rice. Negative, we have lots of chicken and lots of rice but always with lots of additions.
But nevertheless it is food and always satisfying when my little belly is hungry! There have only been a few things that I have turned down which usually include a lot of vinegar. I don't know how they stomach it. But the good thing is that the family always gets a good laugh at my thats disgusting face :)
Daddy tell Papu he would be proud of me, I ate a soup the other day that the main ingredient was cow intestine. That wasn't my favorite either. :\...I sneaked some crackers in my room after!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
here and now
Today I feel much better! Thank to those that have been praying for me.
Today I have been thinking a lot about taking advantage of the ability to learn Spanish while I am here. I want to try my Spanish as much as I can. I always said that I hated learning a language in a classroom because i didn't think that it was teaching what you would need to actually live in another country. Well now I am in another country and have my opportunity to learn the way that I think is best. I live with Dominicans who are more than willing to fight through the barrier and if anything we all get a good laugh at it. It definitely teaches you that it is ok to make a fool of yourself, people won't not like you afterward. if anything they like you more.
I think that when i first got here I was scared of the culture. Scared of not getting my alone time. How selfish! Life is meant to be lived with other people. Don't get me wrong God did not wire me as an extrovert and I embrace that but He also didn't wire me to be a hermit. (Although that is how I am described by most) There must be a balance. Balance is key to everything. And so instead of soaking up every alone time opportunity I see and can get my hands on because of the fear that it might be taken away, I will go home today knowing that what I walk home to is what God intended. And even more beautiful than that God knew that is what I would be walking home to. It is my choice how I receive what He gives. May I embrace the times of precious solitude and silence but may I also embrace the times of friendship and relationship. That in both I will learn to just be. Not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, or this morning or this evening. But being present here and now.
Some how that was stirring in my spirit while I was writing curriculum today.
God is pretty cool.
**Portion of my college journal
I am feeling much better than yesterday! It feels good to be able to look at a curriculum and not feel immediately defeated. I will continue to take it easy the rest of the week to ensure that I do not relapse. I have not been that sick since the summer of 2009 and had forgotten what it feels like to be drained of everything.
Today I worked through the PE units for Kindergarten and got all the rest of them done except for the Biblical Integration section. It is my goal for tomorrow to go through that and hopefully have a rough draft of the entire kindergarten curriculum by Friday. It is hard to keep the creative juices flowing when I writing curriculum but I feel like what I have done so far is ok. I look forward to writing for the higher grades.
Today I have been thinking a lot about taking advantage of the ability to learn Spanish while I am here. I want to try my Spanish as much as I can. I always said that I hated learning a language in a classroom because i didn't think that it was teaching what you would need to actually live in another country. Well now I am in another country and have my opportunity to learn the way that I think is best. I live with Dominicans who are more than willing to fight through the barrier and if anything we all get a good laugh at it. It definitely teaches you that it is ok to make a fool of yourself, people won't not like you afterward. if anything they like you more.
I think that when i first got here I was scared of the culture. Scared of not getting my alone time. How selfish! Life is meant to be lived with other people. Don't get me wrong God did not wire me as an extrovert and I embrace that but He also didn't wire me to be a hermit. (Although that is how I am described by most) There must be a balance. Balance is key to everything. And so instead of soaking up every alone time opportunity I see and can get my hands on because of the fear that it might be taken away, I will go home today knowing that what I walk home to is what God intended. And even more beautiful than that God knew that is what I would be walking home to. It is my choice how I receive what He gives. May I embrace the times of precious solitude and silence but may I also embrace the times of friendship and relationship. That in both I will learn to just be. Not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, or this morning or this evening. But being present here and now.
Some how that was stirring in my spirit while I was writing curriculum today.
God is pretty cool.
**Portion of my college journal
I am feeling much better than yesterday! It feels good to be able to look at a curriculum and not feel immediately defeated. I will continue to take it easy the rest of the week to ensure that I do not relapse. I have not been that sick since the summer of 2009 and had forgotten what it feels like to be drained of everything.
Today I worked through the PE units for Kindergarten and got all the rest of them done except for the Biblical Integration section. It is my goal for tomorrow to go through that and hopefully have a rough draft of the entire kindergarten curriculum by Friday. It is hard to keep the creative juices flowing when I writing curriculum but I feel like what I have done so far is ok. I look forward to writing for the higher grades.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
sick
I have been sick the past couple days. Friday I woke up with a horrible sore throat and by sunday night I was awaken by a horrible ear infection. I took yesterday off and the antibiotics a fighting in my system as I type...If only I felt as better as they are working. The symptoms of congestion, pressure, headache, cough, and that gross feeling you get when you are sick are hanging on strong but I am confident that they will lessen day by day.
Please pray for my health and ability to stay afloat with my work load. My responsibility this semester is large and will be difficult to accomplish it all if I don't continue at a steady pace. Most of all please pray for sleep (the Dominican is Loud!)
This is also the time that I have felt the most homesick thus far in my time here. It is very difficult to be sick away from home and away from America. I wanted nothing more than to be five years old again and be taken care of by my mommy.
Praise Jesus for the community I am apart of this semester. They have been nothing but willing to comfort and help me in my time on sickness (Rachel lent me her apartment yesterday during work so that I would have a quiet place to rest...however quiet is all relative here in the Dominican. I could not be more thankful for her and her generosity.
feel free to skim below
***entry from my college journal
Today was a harder day because I am still not feeling well. I debated staying home again this morning. But yesterday, I (Brock) assigned the students in my class a small research “project” on a disease. In order for the students to use the computer lab after school there must be a teacher present. So I came knowing that I have to be here this afternoon, but now I am wishing that I had spent the morning at home and only came in for a half a day. But what is done is done.
I spent the morning grading the quiz that was administered yesterday in class as well as the question they had to write about after the quiz. “If you could cure any disease what would it be and why?” I also graded the homework assignment that they turned in from last week. It is so surprising how much students simply do not follow directions. Their grades would be much better if they took the time to listen and do things as they are asked. I see this in the states but in general it is even worse here due to the culture.
I created a curriculum guide for the Presidential Fitness unit in Kindergarten but I was struggling a lot with it. I am not sure if it is the PE aspect or the sickness aspect. Today I kept trying to tell myself that anything I do today is more than I would have gotten done if I had stayed home. I tried to be optimistic since my tendency is productivity driven.
I will try again tomorrow.
Please pray for my health and ability to stay afloat with my work load. My responsibility this semester is large and will be difficult to accomplish it all if I don't continue at a steady pace. Most of all please pray for sleep (the Dominican is Loud!)
This is also the time that I have felt the most homesick thus far in my time here. It is very difficult to be sick away from home and away from America. I wanted nothing more than to be five years old again and be taken care of by my mommy.
Praise Jesus for the community I am apart of this semester. They have been nothing but willing to comfort and help me in my time on sickness (Rachel lent me her apartment yesterday during work so that I would have a quiet place to rest...however quiet is all relative here in the Dominican. I could not be more thankful for her and her generosity.
feel free to skim below
***entry from my college journal
Today was a harder day because I am still not feeling well. I debated staying home again this morning. But yesterday, I (Brock) assigned the students in my class a small research “project” on a disease. In order for the students to use the computer lab after school there must be a teacher present. So I came knowing that I have to be here this afternoon, but now I am wishing that I had spent the morning at home and only came in for a half a day. But what is done is done.
I spent the morning grading the quiz that was administered yesterday in class as well as the question they had to write about after the quiz. “If you could cure any disease what would it be and why?” I also graded the homework assignment that they turned in from last week. It is so surprising how much students simply do not follow directions. Their grades would be much better if they took the time to listen and do things as they are asked. I see this in the states but in general it is even worse here due to the culture.
I created a curriculum guide for the Presidential Fitness unit in Kindergarten but I was struggling a lot with it. I am not sure if it is the PE aspect or the sickness aspect. Today I kept trying to tell myself that anything I do today is more than I would have gotten done if I had stayed home. I tried to be optimistic since my tendency is productivity driven.
I will try again tomorrow.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Its Friday
Today was a slow and hard day. I spent the morning in a meeting with the rest of the high school teachers. It didn’t apply to me tons but some of it did so I needed to be there. I do enjoy that the teachers take time to share about the students whether it is something be praised or cautioned. I also enjoy that we pray for them in that too. It is so easy for me to forget that I was in high school once. And as much as it can be frustrating on the teacher side of it all a lot of times there is something deeper going on. Sometimes it is more tangible like problems at home and other times it might be something less tangible like insecurities. It reminds me to continue making an effort to be patient with the students.
I woke up with a terribly sore throat. It started to hurt last night around six in the evening. So that is what has made the day so hard. In general I don’t feel well and my thinking has been cloudy all day. So it has been hard to think and write my plan for Monday which should have only taken me the morning part before lunch but it has taken me all the way through after lunch. I am trying to give myself grace and know that one unproductive day is not going to kill me.
I woke up with a terribly sore throat. It started to hurt last night around six in the evening. So that is what has made the day so hard. In general I don’t feel well and my thinking has been cloudy all day. So it has been hard to think and write my plan for Monday which should have only taken me the morning part before lunch but it has taken me all the way through after lunch. I am trying to give myself grace and know that one unproductive day is not going to kill me.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
learning
Today the morning was a little overwhelming. I started out the morning beginning with curriculum in the 1st grade. It wasn’t long before Sara came in to meet with me. I was very thankful that I could check in with here before I completed more guides. I showed her what I had so far and she said that as a whole I am on the right track! There were a couple of formatting details that I needed to change. Afterwards, Brock came in and talked to me for a while about his lesson plans as well as the possible schedule for high school. This was overwhelming because I had compartmentalized high school curriculum to be out of my thought processing until I work through elementary and middle. So it brought up concerns about not being able to finish the curriculum in time and writing more in depth curriculum for the high school level will be harder than what I am doing now. Brock did not mean to overwhelm me but I had to take a moment after we were done talking to re-channel my thoughts. It was about time to take my break so I went ahead and took it to clear my thoughts and pray a bit before I got back started.
After my break, I started back with curriculum and continued doing these for the rest of the day. I surprised myself again and got through all of the health units for first grade. I am trying to remind myself that this is a blessing and not the new expectation for my work days. Through my time here, it has been clear that my tendency is to judge my worth and value by how productive I am during the day. I am trying to break myself of this thought process and re-train my mind to be freer and more opener. In my orientation, Shelly told me that if you get one thing done during the day that it is a good day, especially in Dominican culture. There are so many things that are out of our control during the work day (water not working, copier breaking and jamming, internet going in and out etc.). It is teaching me to let go and do what I can while I can.
Another thing that I learned today is that I work best at a table setting. In the teacher’s lounge (where I do most of my work) there is a table with benches and then two futons. I have found that I am much more focused and awake when I sit at the table than when I sit at the futons. Also I benefit from having my papers organized in front of me and not spread out beside me. For some reason that makes me feel more scattered and disorganized which is not good for my though processing.
P.S. Thanks Dr. Funke for requiring us to write these journals. I am realizing that I am learning more about myself personally and professionally by processing through my day each afternoon than I would if I didn’t write it out. Which I know was the goal…its working!
After my break, I started back with curriculum and continued doing these for the rest of the day. I surprised myself again and got through all of the health units for first grade. I am trying to remind myself that this is a blessing and not the new expectation for my work days. Through my time here, it has been clear that my tendency is to judge my worth and value by how productive I am during the day. I am trying to break myself of this thought process and re-train my mind to be freer and more opener. In my orientation, Shelly told me that if you get one thing done during the day that it is a good day, especially in Dominican culture. There are so many things that are out of our control during the work day (water not working, copier breaking and jamming, internet going in and out etc.). It is teaching me to let go and do what I can while I can.
Another thing that I learned today is that I work best at a table setting. In the teacher’s lounge (where I do most of my work) there is a table with benches and then two futons. I have found that I am much more focused and awake when I sit at the table than when I sit at the futons. Also I benefit from having my papers organized in front of me and not spread out beside me. For some reason that makes me feel more scattered and disorganized which is not good for my though processing.
P.S. Thanks Dr. Funke for requiring us to write these journals. I am realizing that I am learning more about myself personally and professionally by processing through my day each afternoon than I would if I didn’t write it out. Which I know was the goal…its working!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
***
Be sure to scroll down two or so posts to read about the Women's retreat I went this weekend.
I started writing it Sunday and didn't finish until today. When I posted, it was inserted into the date I started it on.
that's confusing...just scroll down :)
I started writing it Sunday and didn't finish until today. When I posted, it was inserted into the date I started it on.
that's confusing...just scroll down :)
just the beginning
Today I wrote five curriculum guides. However, the guides are not as big of units as usual so it didn’t take as long to write them as it would for the bigger units that I will start tomorrow. I had them looked over by another teacher that is a good person to ask. She said that I was on the right track and to keep moving forward to keep making progress. I am hoping that I can sit down with Sara soon so show here where I am now. I want to make sure that I am not doing the same wrong thing over and over. Hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to have her review what I have accomplished. My goal was to get three curriculum guides done today and I ended up getting all five of the health units done. At this rate there might be a possibility that I could get a rough draft of the entire kindergarten curriculum written by the end of the week. This would be a great encouragement to me. I am a little concerned about how much work needs to be done and how long I am here. Granted I am a worrier so I should just stop right here and know that it will all get done.
I have had a lot of communication with Brock in the past two days which has been good for the both of us to stay on the same page. I have also been thankful and encouraged at how willing other teachers are to answer my questions or to give me advice. This helps the most with the class that I am teaching on Monday’s.
I am mentally tired and know that this is just the beginning.
I have had a lot of communication with Brock in the past two days which has been good for the both of us to stay on the same page. I have also been thankful and encouraged at how willing other teachers are to answer my questions or to give me advice. This helps the most with the class that I am teaching on Monday’s.
I am mentally tired and know that this is just the beginning.
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