next, i´ll tell you a little bit about what i do. so i came here prepaired to teach english to anyone from kindergarten to college age (which i learned is actually high school age because they call high school colegio haha). when i got here i was told my friend and i will be looking after 10 little girls. this was a little disappointing but very exciting all at once. this job is exhausting but i love it too. during the week, i wake at 4 45 and get ready. at 5 15 we wake the girls, they make their beds, shower, brush their teeth, and dress for school. a few of them have morning chores such as cleaning up the sink, the room and taking the bathroom trash and laundry to their correct places. next we do everyones hair and try to finish before the bell rings for devotion at 6. of course, devotion follows and after devotion we go to breakfast at around 6 20. getting the girls to finish their food on time is quite an experience in itself =)
afterward, the messy eaters change into their uniform shirts, and if they were late in getting ready they finish after they eat and head to school at 7.
Now it´s break time! if i do not take a nap, i usually wash some clothes by hand from the previous day, unless i´ve slacked and aquired too much for my liking, then i just put them in the washer at the end of the week. washing by hand is so much more fun, and a good workout too, just so ya know (=
a few days out of the week we will go to the elementry school at 9 to help the first grade teacher. she has a very... energetic class and can use the help. this is so much fun because when the kids see us, they all run out of the classroom to hug us. i´m sure their teacher loves that! oops!!! heh...
4 of our girls return from grade k so we go back at 10 30 or 11 and start homework with them. our break ends at 11. they take about 20 minutes to change their clothes and get their homework and start, because they just want to play haha...
we do homework, play and by lunch time the rest of our girls return and eat with us. mel and i have our designated tables in which 5 girls sit and eat with us. these are great times! when we finish eating it´s chore time. after chores we do homework with the eldest of our girls, and a little boy who just loves doing his homework with me. girls and boys swim seporately because the boys are too rough so if the pool is not green we go swimming.i´ve been teaching mel to swim and she actually jumped off into the deep end of the pool and swam across it multiple times! YAY MEL!!! at 4 30 we have another break where we spend time with the older kids or play with the younger ones. dinner is at 6 and after dinner we get the girls ready for bed. this includes getting them showered, teeth brushed, pj´s on and ready for devotion. after devotion, at 8 30 we put them in bed. this is probably my favorite time of day because they love to be loved!!! and they each call my name wanting me to kiss them and hug them and tickle them goodnight. no matter what has happened during the day, with an exception of a few times, they always want hugs and kisses. it takes me about 15 minutes to say goodnight hahaha they are very strong, and do this thing where they lock my head in their arms and try as best as they can not to let go. they all do it! oh and two of our girls live in a different room with their sisters, so we wake and put to bed only 7 out of our 9. we had 10 but one girl left. she went back with her fam which i found out is not the best thing. so please pray for our Nicole. she is a darling little 7 year old, big eyed, curly haird, bundle of love and joy. i really miss her.
i have been journaling on my iphone almost every day. i think i´ve missed 3 days all together, but i will try to get some of those thoughts on this blog to make up for the 44 day i haven´t been on my blog.
thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts. i miss all of you and hope you are doing well.
i´m thinking of staying here longer... HEHE! but we shall see how i feel about that once this year comes to an end. i just love these kids so much already and i can´t imagine leaving them... but no need to bring that up now.
love you all!
6 of our 9 girls
Photo by Andrew Pedersen
God bless and stay tunned...
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ReplyDeleteI once knew a girl who wanted to stay longer. She decided that within her first month of being there too!
ReplyDeleteShe couldn't imagine leaving them either... She still can't imagine leaving them...