School Update
The first exam for school will be coming up soon. I recently gave out one of the progress tests that my teacher’s book provides to see how the students were doing. And well, as I mentioned in the last update about how students here tend to learn differently, a lot of the types of questions from the progress test were just too difficult for the students to understand. Thankfully, not all was lost, I was able to catch a few areas to help my students improve on. I’m really thankful that, for the most part, my students are still coming to class because quite often this would be the point when students stop showing up for class. We were also able to go on a beach trip with a lot of the students which was a great time for getting closer to my students.
At the school/library, we have turned one of our rooms into a coffee room where students and library members can come to drink coffee and talk with the teachers. The environment is pretty laid back, but so far, we have had so many chances to share with those that come. I guess coffee just helps people open up!
Life Update
So, we recently just finished up with Thanksgiving and it honestly was a great time here. Even though we consist of several different nationalities, everyone contributed with food or games to make Thanksgiving special for the Americans on the team. We were able to have all the essential food such as mash potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and several different pies including pumpkin. The only thing that was missing was the turkey. But, in the evening, the Americans were invited to another Thanksgiving party that some embassy friends were putting on and they had turkey there so all the essentials were covered that day. Although, after two sizeable Thanksgiving meals in one day I was extremely stuffed.
Other than Thanksgiving, my local relationships here have been going well. I’ve been able to invite one over quite a bit and have even been teaching him what little I know about the guitar, but he seems extremely happy to be learning regardless. Also, as December approaches, we have a chunk of members from our group leaving the field so our team will be going through a big transition phase as we say goodbye to them and receive several new members into our team as well. Because they are leaving so soon, these next few weeks are going to be very busy for everyone.
Prayers
One of the things that you can pray for me for is the exam coming up. That I will be able to help them review the material well so that they have the best chance of passing. Another thing to pray for is for our team in these next few weeks that everything will go well with people leaving and people coming. That everyone will travel safely and that the new members coming will feel welcomed and transition well into this new lifestyle.