And Counting...

Each week our load shedding hours are increased. We just got the new schedule today  and we are up to 9 hours a day with no power.  Glad that I have my little Ikea solar power lamp and lots of sun! I need to invest in some more candles. I hear that next week we are going to 70 hours a week of no power.

Training Them Up!

Over the course of the last three weeks, I have been teaching about Reconciliation.  I am never sure how much the students are actually getting out of it, but I pray as I am teaching that they will hear the Word and it will not return void.  Friday, I got on the subject of how God seeks us out and provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. I had the students draw some graphs of this in one of their notebooks. They were all very attentive and quickly got the work done, so that they could ask more questions. I was feeling very overwhelmed with having to answer them all.  When the bell rang for recess, we all looked at each other and  said," Already?!"  I told them to pack up and as they were walking out the door, I heard one student say, "We spend the whole morning talking about Jesus. It was cool!" " Yeah," replied another student, " We should do that every day!"  Made me smile and reminded me why I love teaching.

Then, at lunch recess, I had finished eating, when two of my students come up to me quite distressed. There was a problem, they explained. because one of the students was not reconciling with the other two. They actually used the big word. Apparently they had fought and the one came over to apology to the other.  So, like a good investigator  I went over to see  the third party and find out what the rest of the story was.  The third party explained her viewpoint of the whole incident, when one of the complaining party piped in, "When someone is seeking to reconcile with you, you must either say 'yes' or 'no'. You can not just ignore them and walk away! That is like saying 'no'! " I was a bit taken back by that outburst and started to say something when the third party replied, "Oh, is that how it works? Then okay... I accept your apology!". They all shook hands and off they went to play! Blew me away!

Where Is This Month Going?

It is the 7th of December already!? Where is this month going?! We have school until the 21st and so much to get done. Wow!  I think I am noticing how quickly it is going for two reasons. One is that I am managing two advent calendars; one at home and one at school.  The picture is a sample of the advent "bags" I am keeping track of and putting goodies in at school.  The other one at home has been a bit more interesting in keeping filled.  But both have been fun and a reminder that the days are passing by quickly.
The second reason I am noticing the fast pace of the calendar is that I am teaching and have so much I want to cover, yet feel that with all the extra school events of the season that I am losing ground.  But we will keep plugging away and hoping that by the last day, we have all our projects done. We are writing a book to be published, making flavored cooking oil for gifts for parents, making Christmas cards for the whole staff, and building a model of our dream school, plus all the regular stuff that one is supposed to be learning.  Oh well... it will not be a dull two weeks! Bring it on!

Soccer... I mean Football Day

I am on the Makalu House Team and I am proud to announce that with the results of the Elementary Football Tournament, my house team came third! That was quite an accomplishment for us, especially my division of the team as all of the players on my team could care-a-less about soccer.  I think we got two goals... one in each of our games. I was real proud of the team. They did show a lot of team spirit and cheered on the other half of the house, when they were playing.  So it was a good day and no one was hurt!
Huge praise there!

We Wise Kids

About three days ago, a group of the school's TAs were all talking about their classes' new bulletin boards for the Christmas season. I happened to overhear all the excitement and remember thinking, "Oh know, I am going to hear about this one from my TA."  The next day, another TA visited our room and mentioned that I needed to come and see the bulletin board she was creating for her class. So I realized I needed to get rid of my 'bah humbug' attitude and do a board. I have a brainstorm moment and said to my TA, " Do not worry, have no fear...a Christmas bulletin board will appear!" She seemed relieved.

So here it is.... I had the students help me color in the night. My TA though it was hilarious. And when the kids saw it.. they were quite amazed to be riding camels.

After school one of the  staff saw it and said, " Today in music, I taught your kids the song, We Three Kings. I didn't know you had it as your board theme?"  I replied, " I didn't. I put this up while they were in music. But it does explain why they were so amazed when they got back from music to see a board that they had just sung about but instead of three... there were nine."  I love God's humor.
Plus now, my TA can once again hold her head high.

When It Rains It Pours?

I have not written for a couple days because I really did not have much to say and I was waiting for something more exciting than " class went well today."  (Which it did, by the way).  I am enjoying teaching and yesterday was especially good because I went down a bunny trail and after the lesson, three kids said to each other, " That was the best class ever!" Made my day. But that is not my news either.

At the moment we have a full house. From time to time we have people who are travelling through that need a place to stay and since we have the room, we open our house and offer a home. I have meet some interesting folks and learned some amazing things through this experience.  So at the moment we have a full house and yesterday the well ran dry.  There are a couple reasons for this, but usually the building complex gets a tanker to come in and fill up the well, which happen ( well, a third of the well actually) Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, until it was realized that the pump was broken. It has been sounding like it is over worked of late, so I am not surprised. This means that we could not pump the water up to the tank on the roof. So the apartments could not getting water. For just such occasions we do have  small storage bins in the bathrooms and the kitchen... but for some reason our didi decided to use up all the water to do the laundry instead of leaving us some drinking and flushing water.

So when the first of our household got home last night, there was no water in the house...none!  Five people, no water! One of the guest went down to the hand pump and hauled about six buckets up, before I got home, which was a God-sent. Then there was a meeting for the building tenets that other of the guest attended, because both my roommate and I had had other meetings to go to. So when I arrived home, we had to get the low down of  all that had happen. It was all quite exciting.

I know that we are in the dry season...it has not rained for four months..but to have the well dry at this stage is pretty bad. Rainy season isn't until June.

So we could use some miracle rain.

A Nice Day to Relax.

It has been a wonderful day to just relax and enjoy life. Today I meet up with some folks for coffee and then set off to wander the back streets of Patan and see what the next step would bring. Ended up at the Patan South Dhoka. or Gate. I always enjoy walking under that arch and thinking about the history of the city. Then I stopped at a local department store to browse the aisles for oddities. As I started off for home, a meet a friend on the street and she invited back to their house for lunch with the family. I stopped in at school to look over the classroom and lesson plans. Then headed home for a quiet evening. It was such a relaxing day. I think everyone needs one of those occasionally.