Life is Becoming Normal

Life is becoming normal here is Macedonia. I'm starting to orient myself in the city--streets are now recognizable, certain cafes are becoming favorites, grocery ladies are becoming my friends, and I am beginning to recognize people in the streets.

Today is the 3rd day of teaching in the elementary schools. I love being with the kids and getting to know them for an hour. I love watching their faces as I'm teaching them something new and seeing them soak up the information. And, I love how excited they get when I ask a question and they know the answer to it.

I give some serious props to the seasoned teachers out there. After three hours of teaching each day, my throat hurts and I'm exhausted. My endurance is seriously lacking. In these last three days of teaching, I have learned so much about what it means to be a teacher and what it all entails. I have never paid more attention to how slowly and clearly I speak. Using simple English is much harder than you would think.

I challenge you to spend part of the day speaking and describing things as simple as possible--don't use any big words--use adjectives like big or small instead of gigantic or tiny. Even filler words such as um, uh, or well are words that you should eliminate from your speech.

There is so much to learn as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. Oh goodness gracious.

Fortunately, my fellow classmates are good at relieving some of this stress and overwhelming feelings. Today after class, it started raining. Part of our group hopped on a bus to avoid the falling water drops, but the rest of us took on the rain. Huddled under two umbrellas, we laughed our way to an icecream cafe before making our destination. For a couple of hours, we all crammed into the living room of some of our classmates to plan for our next phase of teaching. I'm looking forward to what this next stage will bring...but more details on that later.

The girls all came over to my apartment later this evening. We had started an all girls movie night a couple nights ago but was cut short on account of the late hour. Therefore, we were inclined to finish it--and the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies was just a plus in our wonderful evening. Ten of us shushed ourselves next to each other as we feasted cookies, decaf coffee, and the second half of Stardust. Chick flicks in foreign countries are just plain good for the soul. I may or may not have eaten one too many cookies, but if you had had a hand full of warm, gooey, chocolatey goodness I bet you would have been right along side of me stuffing face.

As Monday closes and Tuesday begins, I ask that you would pray for me and my group. We will be traveling to a city called Ohrid. It's known for being a vacation hotspot for Macdonians. Please pray for safe travels as well as creativity, organization, and patience as we continue to plan lessons. This next segment will be focused more on adult learners which is a bit intimidating since I've only ever taught people younger than me. Being on the go all the time really is exhausting--prayer for that would also be much appreciated.

I'm nearing that 2 week mark that I've grown so accustomed to. After Wednesday, I will be wading in waters I've never experience before. I guess whether or not I like it, I'll get to see if I can do this whole long term overseas thing...oh boy.