Sweet Savior, help my unbelief...
so, here i am - 1:33pm on 8/2/09. michelle and i are with the sisters today at the convent because we have some laundry we needed to do...the other teachers were doing community building stuff at the seminary, and since we are missing one of our missioners, here we are enjoying ourselves on the computers! mwahahahaha...anddd we're putting on a prayer workshop tonight, so we're excited about that. woohoo! oh campus ministers at their finest.
when we got here this morning, after some excellent girl talk, it was pouring like crazy. it was a straight up storm, lightning, thunder, and the convent was all dark because they turned off the lights and we were all huddled in the living room. me, mich, sister grace, and sister mary lou were all super tired and we ended up all taking a nap...a half hour nap, then lunchtime...chicken soup with stars, spaghetti, vegetables, delicious bread, pink lemonade, ice cream, cookies, and chocolates. YUP. :)
the past few days have been full of more and more training - 9am-6pm to be exact, give or take a couple of extra hours - how to manage your classroom, how to put on classroom procedures, how to put together a lesson plan, and how to be a positive, effective teacher...merely a facilitator of learning, and learning how to help cultivate the learning environment for our students. our inner-city students.
yes, they may have uniforms, but we don't know what their homes are like. well, we actually probably do...i'm learning more and more about the dominican republic culture because most of my students will be dominican republic and african american. i'm teaching in washington heights, which means, my eyes will be opened in such a new way, and my heart is ready than ever to embrace it all and see what this looks like.
it is such a blessing to be around 25 other excited and passionate recent grads who want to make change in the world...who want to see a change in the educational system and want to make a difference in the students' lives. it's funny, as i have never really been fond of the classroom, or the classroom setting, or education...and here i am in the midst of discovering that yes, i get to have a first hand influence in helping shape the education of young people i have yet to meet. i can't believe i have been given that responsibility, and it is an absolutely wonderful one.
my mom asked me yesterday if i missed work. i said nope. and that, that, is how i know this is where i'm supposed to be. it is a good feeling to know that i am trusted to handle a classroom of 30 young girls...teaching them health. HAHAHA. i love it. absolutely.
it has been also very enriching to tell my fellow volunteers here, about my past two years in the corporate world. it brought up conversations on passion, and listening to your heart, and setting priorities. the fact that i get to be in a classroom and serve this purpose is such an enriching one, a great one. some people can sell coupons and advertising with no difficulty and that is where they're called to be, but doesn't look like that's what was in my Plan. i see change, and hope, and who knows where this will lead me.
all i know is what i'm doing this year, but after, it really is up to God. there is a whole world out here waiting to be fed, and i want to be my absolute best i can, to find where i can serve and give of myself. to be able to surrender to that though, is where the challenge comes. challenging, but rewarding. i can't bring money with me to heaven...nor would i want to.
i remember my friend telling me, as i was having difficulty packing, he said, " enjoy not having to look good. " hmm...
the past few nights a bunch of us have been going to explore the philadelphia city life. beer and all. we all know i hate beer...welllll looks like there will have to be a change in that opinion...i may start to acquire that taste and i don't like it, but i guess i'm getting there.
i'm meeting wonderful people, and it is so encouraging to see us all growing at different paces, but also finding that our intentions are really very similar - nowhere can you really be, where after the first full day, our whole group swears we are all besties. it's the craziest thing, but such a beautiful thing too. it has been hard without the internet - we're all pretty much going crazy over here, but we get our ish done - thanks to some people's iPhones and what not. of course, the LA kids. shoot.
so there we go my friends. thanks for coming along on this journey with me...every time i am in class, i have a moment and i'm like, ah i want to blog about that idea...and sure enough, it escapes me. oh well. :)
don't let anyone ever tell you...you are anything less than beautiful. <3
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