Will you please pray that God would rid me of some things and help me to stay focused. I'm kind of having some trouble, and I feel like my problems would just go away if I was better focused on Him.
And pray for my kids here. I love them. I don't know how to even tell you how much I love them. They're so funny. I now respond to "bint e John," "John," "bint e Gohn," "Juney" (an attempt to say "Johnny"), "ya bint el marhome"... and the list goes on. But they're obsessed with my dad. There are some that I just love, and I'm working so hard to teach them grammar because they should definitely be held back because they're not at the level they should be, but I want them to be caught up so bad. I have not put much effort into helping them outside of class. I always act overwhelmed, and then just waste my time tweezing my eyebrows or wandering around the room looking for chocolate, but I need to be more organized and focused. Krista helps them at study hall every single night. I admire her so much. I really love her. I got to teach her geometry class today, and it felt so good. And I helped kids with their math homework because I was on study hall supervision tonight, and I loved it.
It's so interesting how one letter can make such a difference in a word. I don't know what is inappropriate to write on here, but we can't help but laugh about their innocent mistakes. Crab becomes crap. Public becomes pubic. Test become teste. These poor things don't even know.
Some days when I'm feeling defiant, I feel like pretending to have fallen into a laying position on the grass. I can't lay on my stomach and read my Bible because girls can't lay down in front of guys. To be honest, sometimes I wear shirts that I know the Egyptians girls would consider too low. The Sudanese girls might not, and nothing is showing, so it's kind of a jab of defiance.
For some reason, when I am explaining new vocab words, a lot of the examples that I give have to do with relationships, and I think that I am unconsciously feeding their curiosity. But now that I realize it, it's not so unconscious. I explained that people kind of "linger" when they say goodbye to the person they like. "Would you want to marry a person who is 'uncertain' that he loves you?" etc. - - When I explain words, I act them out as best as possible so that they can better remember them. It's fun. I was acting out "panic," and I started shrieking and pointed and yelled "haraamy" (thief). I Also shrieked and backed into the board and pointed at an invisible mouse on the floor. Alec just stuck his head in the door and then left. - They're so cute, and they like each other because they're normal. They play this game on Thursday nights where they stand in a circle and hold hands, and then two people go around and hit two people's hands. They have to run opposite directions and race back to the original spot. Why do they play it? So that they can hold their boyfriend or girlfriend's hand. So cute.
After a little while, the water that we get from the Deckers' starts to smell like a skunk. It has gone through a reverse osmosis filter, so it's really good water, but it just reeks. I'm not quite sure why. The tap water has a disgusting amount of iron it. Trei (Pastor Tom and Gladys' son) took a picture of their filter after a month. Oh boy...
I said something yesterday and caught myself after I said it. "One nice thing about living in Egypt is that you can punch your students." Wow, that makes me sound like a crazy person. I don't really punch them, but the joking around here is more aggressive. I sat in the staff room and watched Om Fady (the cafeteria lady) chase Benjamin (our serious, mild-mannered SA President) around the staff room hitting him and laughing. He would run away and pull a chair in her path. It was hilarious. In one of my classes yesterday afternoon, one of the guys shook my hand and it had a thumb tack in it. He laughed, and I punched him in the arm and told him sternly that that was really rude and he shouldn't do that. He giggled and ran away. Jerk (for lack of a better word). It hard to find a line between teacher and friend. I am a teacher in class, and I like to make class fun, but I also want to get things done. But if out of class I am a good friend that they can talk about their problems to and just hang out with, it is hard to completely separate the two. I was realizing that as a teacher, there is always a barrier that you have to keep up. If you take it down, you make yourselves equals. (At least at my age)If I show that I am vulnerable just like they are, then I am more their equal than a teacher, which makes it hard. But sometimes I feel like I need to be seen as their equal (which I am) to really be effective. I don't know. It's a fine line. In the class, I try to make sure that they don't cross any lines with me. I have to go.
I have had a big log of a splinter stuck in my foot since last Saturday night, but it's too big and too deep for me to get out by myself, and I'm too foffy (wimpy) to have Mrs. Peggy cut open my foot. So I'm just waiting until my wonderfully made body pushes the foreign object to the surface of my skin. Then I'll get it.
God bless you.
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