Christmas Service

Nativity

Mary's song

Choir

Dance

Elementary sings

Making the announcement

wee dancers

Joseph and child

more choir.

It's That Time of Year Again.

Angels

Christmas programs mean lots of practices and mixed up schedules.  So here are a couple photos from the last couple days as we all prepare for the Christmas Carol Service.

Choir members

Joseph sings a lullaby

Angels discuss the scene

Elementary

Nepali Praise!

Village Visit

A couple weeks ago, a number of staff and students worked with Habitat for Humanity to help build a house. The village was about an hour and a half out of town and a couple of the teachers wanted to check out the progress of the house. I was invited along, I think to take photos mostly, but I had a good time. I think the villagers were surprised to see us, as we had not been able to call ahead and let them know we were coming.  We delivered some notebooks and crackers for the kids of the village. They were prized possessions!
We visited the house... it needs a roof and some windows, but the progress has been slow as only the family is working on it, when they are not doing their real job.
I think the family was glad that we came out all that way to see them.  I am glad that I was able to go and be a part of the experience.
On the way home, we stopped and had lunch at a mountain restuarant. It was a pleasant day and good to get out of the valley.

Oh Really?!

The other day in the paper there was an article about the completion of a 30 day clean up  program of the Bagmati River. The paper quite proudly talked about how the Bagmati River was clean and flowing with FRESH rainwater again and that the smell was gone.  So wanting to see this amazing transformation, I wandered down to the Bagmati that day and took a couple photos....still holding my nose....

Which part of the river were they talking about?

Watching Planes Land

the cooks make our meal

view of the city

conversation on the roof

looking North

I really love to watch planes land and take off. Must be something my dad gifted me with, because as a kid, I remember going to the airport and watching planes.  So the other day, one of the Nepali staff invited a bunch of us over to his home for a christmas meal. We sat on the roof, it was much warmer up there in the sun, and ate and laughed as the planes came in overhead.  I just sat there for hours watching them. It was a good day.

dinner is served

Busy December

 I know, I know, I have not put up a blog post of late..but I really have some good reasons.  The main one being how busy the end of term is with all the last minute programs and grades and.. well you know.  So that is the main issue.

The second one is that now that we are in a higher load shedding time of winter, I do not have power as often and by the time I get home in the evenings, I just want to fix my hot water bottles and jump into my down sleeping bag and go to sleep in warmth. Sometime I think when I pay my rent, that it would be cheap just to buy a storage unit and sleep there, cause that seems like all I am really paying for - a storage unit.

 It is nice to be home on the weekends...oh wait, that hasn't been true for about a month of weekends. How am I so busy when I know so few people here?  Headed out to a village in the next valley this morning to deliver some presents.

Well guess that is all for today. I havemore news on my adventures this weekend that I will relay to you later.  Ciao!

My Coffee Turkey

The other day, I meet a friend for coffee. Since it was close to Thanksgiving, I asked if they could design a turkey in my foam... usually people do hearts or something... I am not sure...anyways... I asked for a turkey. The waiter just looked at me as if I was insane. (Let's not go there) A bit later, I got this cup.
I looked at the design for a while and finally saw a turkey. Can you?  You have to sneak up on it...

I thanked the waiter profusely and again she looked at me as if I was insane...But I was pleased and decided to snap a photo before it disappeared!

Day 4 MSA

We are back into the routine of things and the team was huddled in their 'office' putting the finishing touches on their report all morning. Then at 3:15, the whole school community gathered together to hear the reaading of the report. We passed.. all 12 standards.

Now that that is over, we can get down to the business at hand and move forward again.  

Day 3 MSA

So we have come to the end of another day! The team is busy now writing up the report and finalizing the details. The staff seems to be back to normal, as does the school and we can move on with the day to day again!   Thursday is the reading of the report to the school community and then it's official!  So keep praying for the school and all that is happening.

Day 2 MSA

Good day. Lots of meetings for me, but I think they went smoothly. This is a good process to go through because it causes us as a school to think and reflect about what we do and how we do it. It has been good to have to explain things and also get some feedback.

The staff and students are relaxing a bit more and see that the team is not the enemy. That is a positive! You wish that folks would understand it from the start, but being observed is often quite unnerving, so it is understandable. We move into Day 3 and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Toot Toot!

Day 1 MSA

I walked into school this morning and found our maintence team out sweeping the roads...the public lane that leads to the school. That was too much!

It was a good start with the high school assembly (see Lip Sync Message blog).

Then I had a library class first period and the team was getting their school tours. The students would see them come in and straighten up, but only until the tour moved on. However it is a good class and today, we practiced notetaking with an article about the Pacific NW Tree Octopus.(Look it up if you don't believe me).  
Later in the morning I had a couple meetings with the team as a part of the leadership team and the planning committee.

After that I had my US History class and one of the team members came in to observe for about 10 minutes.

A lot is happening today that never has happened the rest of the year.  It is quite amazing and the staff is talking about it.  

Very interesting! On to day two!

Lip Sync Lesson

Today in assembly each class had a group of students who performed a lip sync song. It was quite good and the kids all did a fanastic job.
When all the hooting and voting was done the Seniors rocked it. However there was a message in all this... many times we try to be someone we are not. We act like others, dress like others, talk like others, and just try to be like everyone, but ourselves.  That is not who God called us to be. He wants us to be who HE created us to be!  We need to realize that and walk in His image.  I thought it was a great message for our students and staff to hear and I wanted to share it with you all.
May you live and move in who God has called you to be!

PT Conference - the Secondary Way

So last week, it was Parent Teacher Conferences for the high school. I actually had three parents sign up to meet with me for their allotted five minutes. I started off with a quiz. Most of the parents got the Lincoln question right, but no one could get the Jefferson Davis guy and what he was infamous for. I said, "Ask your kid."
It was an interesting couple of hours and I, not having much to do between conferences, snapped a couple photos of our great staff and parents working together.

CountDown

So the countdown is almost down. On Saturday the team begins to arrive and we all start smiling....more. I will keep you posted. 

Four Day Weekend

So on Friday, it was announced at the end of school that there would be no school on Monday. We already were off for the elections of Tuesday. It wa deemed a security risk to come in on Monday. So I am at home working on grades and getting ready for our visit next week.  The streets have been fairly quite. There is a two day 'silent' period before the big election vote on Tuesday. So all the campaigning is done and no more rallies can take place.  We will see what all this brings about.
Was thinking of having an Election Party on Tuesday and watch the returns, but not sure how it is done here, so figured I would head into work and get some stuff done there. We will see.

Just continue to pray for this country!

Last Celebration of the Week

Decided to meet and celebrate November with a group of friends.  Here are some photos. We played some crazy games and ate M&Ms, all while listening to Christmas music. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable gathering. 

A s'mores party

roaring fire

action games

making funny faces.

US HISTORY: Native Americans

Home on the Range where the buffalo roam
in the millions.

 So this past week in US HISTORY class, we were studying about Native American issues. I had the students role play a scenario that gave a bit of meat to the subject.



 Here are some of the photos from the re-enactment.

Setting up camp in the prime location

Figuring out the next clue

Trying to build a TeePee

Here come the settlers looking for
land.

Don't shoot my buffalo.

Land Dispute Confrontation 

Winter Fair

                                                                                                                                                               We had a winter fair this past week. It was a huge success! I would say the best one ever!  Of course I have only been to two, but with all the stalls and a food tent on the new site...The PTA  ran a great fair and I think a lot of people went away happy!
There was a fishing game for the kids, clothes and books for all. Some played music, and  the food stalls were amazing.                                                      

I enjoyed the atomsphere and tried a number of dishes from the food vendors!
I also took some photos to document it all. Here is just a sampling. It was a good day!  Nice job. PTA!