Reminders

To be honest, I would love to write a blog where I complain about all of the current stressors in my life. Teachers have it tough. Teachers in less-developed countries have a whole different kind of tough (not better or worse, just different).  It would be so easy for me to sit and vent to the void of the internet about how difficult these past few weeks have been because of my job and this culture. I would also love to spend this time thinking about the future and contemplating the many career options I dream about daily. However, in an effort to increase my positivity about my current situation, I would like to share some things that I really appreciate about my job. I need a reminder of why I am here.

I like...

• Helping students learn to love reading. I cannot even express to you how much it warms my heart when I help a student find a book to read that is meaningful to them. A few weeks ago a student told me, "I never understood why anyone said they liked reading...until I read this book. This is the first book I have ever really liked! I want to read more books like that!" I probably overwhelmed him with my enthusiasm at that statement. Reading helped me so much as a child and a teenager, and I love to share that world with my students. Thanks to many of you, I was able to purchase books for my high school library in my classroom. The students have been checking out books left and right! 

• Seeing my struggling students succeed in big ways. Sometimes I have a student who just isn't getting it. I have high school students who still can't write a paragraph that contains only complete sentences. I have students who write things like "she feel happy" instead of "she feels happy." Sometimes that is a little discouraging...but sometimes, they totally surprise you and it just clicks! They turn in a paper that you know they have been working really hard on, and their sentences are so clear. I get so excited in moments like those!

• Dreaming about my students' futures with them.  The cool thing about working with high school students is that you get to help them on their journey of thinking about college and what they want to do with their lives. Occasionally, I have a student who wants to be a nurse, and then I find out that they hate science class....and I have to break it to them gently that there will be a lot of science classes in their future. However, sometimes I have a student who doesn't know their own strengths and I get the privilege of helping them see what gifts they have to offer people around them. It's really fulfilling to see students excited about the difference they can make in the world!

• Laughing with my students. This probably isn't the most professional thing in the entire world, but sometimes I just can't help but laugh at my students. Yes, they can get off topic like no one's business, but sometimes I just want to get off-topic with them. I love those small moments in class where their personalities just burst through and cause me to end up laughing with them, despite my desire to remain focused on what I am teaching. It's times like these where I am just happy to know my students and all of their funny quirks.

• Counseling students through difficult times. While I do wish I had/made more time for this in my schedule, it means the world to me when students trust me enough to let me into the valleys of their lives. Helping people through personal struggles is something I find so fulfilling. While there have only been a few times throughout my short time teaching that students have opened up to me and asked me to help them grow from where they are, those moments are extremely meaningful for me. No matter what career I end up having in the future, I know that helping people will be part of it. For now, I want to develop those relationships I do have, even if it means that I have to spend a little less time perfecting my lessons for the next week. In the end, it's the students lives that really matter.

I am realizing that while there is a place for venting and working through the downfalls of my job, if I focus on the negative I am going to be blind to the things that made me want to teach here to begin with.

I make no promises, but in my next blog, I hope to highlight some things about the culture of the DR that I appreciate. 

Thanks for reading!

Think on today, child

Today I took one of those Buzzfeed quizzes that are all the rage right now. One of the questions it asked was about which Dr. Seuss book was my favorite. Out of the options, I very quickly chose Oh, the Places You'll Go!.  While you could say I chose it for it's overwhelming popularity as a graduation present or because it has a bunch of pretty colors on the front, you would be wrong.

It's no secret to those who know me well that I love thinking about the future even more than I like Dr. Seuss books (which is really saying something).  I look back on my childhood and see a kid who was looking forward constantly. I wanted to be older so that I could have more freedom. Then, I got to middle school and wished I was in high school so my awkwardness would subside. News flash: it didn't. Then, I entered 9th grade and was already researching colleges I might attend. I took my first  college visit my sophomore year of high school. Most of my high school friends were a year older than me and liked to tease that I was thinking about college way more than they were.

Even though I am done with college, married, and have a job, I find myself still looking forward. I am that person who gets out their planner for fun. I sift through the pages and write down every possibly interesting or exciting thing I know is going to happen in the next six to seven months. While being someone who likes to plan does have its perks, it also can keep you from enjoying the moment.

It's a little discouraging when I look forward to something so intensely just to realize that when it comes, I am too busy daydreaming about the next big event to actually enjoy it. I fear that I'll look back on my life and see that I spent all of it in a state of waiting.

I feel blessed right now by something that normally drives me crazy: cluelessness about my future.  Nick and I are committed to teach at Doulos for two more years after this school year. While I can pretty easily predict what our next two years will be like, our more "permanent" future lies completely undecided. When we are done here, we have no idea where we will move or what our jobs will even be. We both have so many interests that haven't been defined to one specific area. I think this is God's way of telling me "Think on today, child."

I am here for a reason. I know that. Whether it is for my own personal growth, the education I am helping provide for students here, or (more than likely) both, I have a purpose here. If I start dreaming of possibly living in this state or that one three years down the road, I am doing myself and those around me an injustice.

So here is a reminder, to you and to myself, to think on today. Take in the beautiful (and some not so beautiful) moments all around you.

(Now if I can only get into this mindset as I desperately wait for spring break next week....)

worn thin

It is easy to feel worn thin. We live in a world of constant movement, communication, and opportunity. Everyone seems to be busy. Even though I am living in a much more slow-paced culture than that of the U.S., I still feel that same rush in my life. There are so many responsibilities I have, not only as a teacher, but as a daughter, friend, granddaughter, niece, and wife. Sometimes it feels as if I am doing a juggling act to try to please all of the people I love. This is not to say they are all expecting as much as I think they are, but I place a pressure on myself to be everything to everyone, and it is exhausting. Sometimes, I just want to slow down and rest.

These feelings were elevated with our recent trip to the States. Don't get me wrong, we had an amazing time with family and friends. I am so thankful for the break and chances to see people. However, I did leave still feeling guilty about not spending time with this person, or not spending enough time with that person. Even after being in five states, seeing family, seeing college friends,seeing high school friends, and even a friend from camp, I felt like I hadn't done enough.

What really hit me today was that in all that time of running around trying to see everyone this holiday season in the short time I had, I did not spend any real time my Father. I did not take one moment in the celebratory time of his birth to sit down and spend time with God. I brought my Bible with me and didn't crack it open. I brought my prayer journal and didn't write down one prayer. I thought about it, but I never followed through. It says something about the state of my heart when I can arrange endless get-togethers with family and friends but can't take the time to sit down for 15 minutes and pray. I got caught up in the rush of the season without remembering the one whom it is all about.

This morning I listened to this song while working on some lesson plans. This song, called "The Anthem" is a song I sang with my gospel choir at Cedarville. I am not the type to listen to Christian music very much, but sometimes I just need it to remind me how good God is. There was something about this funny kid in his ugly Christmas sweater just singing this song to God that made me stop my lesson planning, go into my room, and read my Bible. I suddenly was hit with the inexplicable need for time with my Father. I wanted to be in his presence. I wanted to be filled up with Him. I didn't feel so worn thin afterwards. I needed that time with God more than I knew.

Maybe you are like me. Maybe you have been feeling worn thin as well. Have you spent time with your Father? I know I thought about doing it many times over break, but it always sounded, I don't know, boring to me. It only takes one time of quiet reflection and reading the word for me to realize how wrong I was. I hope you can find the same desire, the same long-lost love kind of feeling I had this morning as I came quietly back to God, ready to learn.

I was originally going to use this post some pictures from my trip and give a shout out to all of the wonderful people I was able to see during my trip, but this was too heavy on my heart not to share. I hope you are encouraged to pick up and try again as I was. Let's persevere as we wait on the Lord.

"As you can see, we're friends, we're friends indeed!"

For those of you who know me, I have moved quite a few times in my life. Granted, most of those moves were within the same state, but when you are young it feels like you moved worlds away from your friends. I remember struggling with moving. On one occasion, when starting 3rd grade, I locked myself in the bathroom and told my mom I would not go to a new school...it was just too hard to make new friends. In high school, we moved once (and then we moved back...long story) and I cried more than I am proud to admit. 

In college, I managed to make friends really easily. I think all of those struggles growing up prepared me for that kind of move. My freshman year was a great time of meeting people, hanging out with different friend groups, and generally having a great time. 

Fast forward to moving to the DR. The first time I came here I was student teaching…and honestly was not coming here to make friends. I didn’t really reach out to people, but then again, they didn’t really reach out much to me either.  Everyone had their flow and their friends, and I was only supposed to be there for a short time, so it makes sense. I had a great time getting to know and love my host family, a relationship I still keep up with now that I am back. 

Now, however, we are here for at least three years. And while three years may not seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things, it is a long time when you are staring down the road at the beginning of the journey.  If we are going to be here for three years, we need to make friends. It is healthy, and it is hard to have true community with others if you aren’t really friends with them.

I found myself this week just feeling really down about friends. I know some great people here. However, I am an introvert at heart. I need one or two friends who really know me and that I can talk to and trust. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen overnight. Not to mention that the Doulos community tends to be better for extroverts who just want to be with a lot of people often.  

Here are my introvert problems:
-Being a teacher is so draining for me. I love my job, but I have to be on and full of energy all day. When I am done, it is so hard to want to put effort forth to socialize. 

-Same with weekends. Sometimes I just need to recharge instead of go to a party with a bunch of people.

-If you turn someone down when they invite you to do something, they just never ask again. (Just because I didn't want to do something that night I was extremely exhausted doesn't mean I never want to do something.)

-People never want to hang out one on one to begin with. You always seem to have to start with big group hangouts. It's hard for me to do those unless I really know and feel comfortable with the people.


Lies have started to form inside of my head...that I just don't have good friends yet because I am not fun enough, or because I am not interesting enough, or if I am myself, people won't really want to spend time with me. I know that is nonsense, but today I just had to pray and remember that God is in control. If he can provide me with the great friends I have from college and high school, he can provide friends for me here. If he can provide the money we need to be living and teaching in the DR without any kind of official salary, then he can provide friends for us here. 

All I ask, is that you pray for us as we wait out this time of getting to know people slowly but surely. Pray that I can have patience in waiting for my friendships to develop. 

Back home again...

   Ok, so I wasn't really home, but we were in the United States, so I'm not complaining. Last week we were able to go to Rochester, NY to see Nick's family and go to Jackie & Dino's wedding. We had a great time with everyone! One of the coolest things we did was wear traditional Indian wedding clothes for the rehearsal dinner, followed by delicious Indian food! Dino's mom gave me a sari to wear...I loved it. I never thought I'd get a chance to wear a sari, so it was pretty fun and definitely different than any other wedding experience I have had. I am also excited about it because I will get to use it next semester in my high school English class when we read a book about a Bengali family. Here is what we looked like:

Yep, Nick was wearing a turquoise shirt. I might have been a little jealous of his color choices, but my sari was pretty cool too!

Here are some reasons we loved visiting the States:

-It was so great to spend some time with Jackie, Bree, and Nick's parents and grandparents. 

-As much as we love teaching, it was refreshing to take a week away from Doulos and rest.

-We were able to get a few things we have really been wanting for our house. (the garlic press and the swiffer are our new best friends)

-Delicious food cooked by Nick's parents and grandparents.

-Showers with hot water. Must I say more? 

   And what I love is that I was not counting down the days before we got to go to the States, and I wasn't devastated when the time was over and we had to come back to the Dominican Republic. Basically, I have realized that I am content here. (Which is good, because I still have nearly three years to go). While there are times I miss seeing my family regularly, owning a car, not having to sweep every day of my life if I don't want the bottoms of my feet to turn black...I am happy where I am. I find purpose in what I do everyday, and the days fly by because I love my students and I see that what I do makes a difference in their learning, attitudes, and lives. The lack of huge convenience stores (which I really do miss at times), AC, and hot water are small prices to pay for the great life I am living.

I am so thankful. 

A peek into the magical world of Kindergarten...

I love my Kindergarten class. Don't get me wrong. They aren't perfect by any means. Sometimes they drive me crazy despite their cute little faces. However, I have a lot of fun teaching them too. One thing that I appreciate in them is their love of learning. They just get so excited when they learn something new of figure something out. I don't have to motivate them by telling them something is worth a big part of their grade to get them to work hard...they are so excited to learn how to read. That is their motivation for doing things in class.

We are working on letter sounds and reading words. Every day, we do an activity where the "word lady" on our white board gets hungry for a different letter. I write the letter in her mouth, and then the kids have to shout out all the things that she can eat that day. On the day we did the letter 'm' one of the boys told me that the word lady was going to go to the United States and eat my mom! (Watch out, Mom!). We always get a good laugh out of it!

The other day, we did the letter 'n.' Not only was the word lady going to eat noodles and Nick, but she was also going to eat New York City! The kids said "that is a LOT for her to eat!"

As you might have noticed in the above picture, I took our 'n' day as an opportunity to teach my class what a narwhal is. They couldn't believe there were whales that had unicorn horns! They laughed so hard :)

(And, yes. Perhaps I do enjoy drawing on the board a little too much...)

We are also learning to read short words. It is a process, but they are getting so good at it! I love the look on their faces after they have sounded out the letters of a word and realize that it creates a word that they know. Their eyes light up and they usually end up yelling it out loud before high-fiving me as hard as their little hands can (but, really, sometimes it hurts!). It is cool to see the progress they have made from not even knowing the sounds of letters, to finally being able to read words.

They can get pretty distracted, which at times is entertaining and at other times is just frustrating because I am trying so hard to get them to remember something. I'll leave you with one of my regular moments with these distracted kids. I was working one on one with a little girl in my class so that she could learn her sounds.

me: "Ok, what sound does this letter make?"

her: "Oh! Look at my finger! There is a glitter on it! I didn't know there was a glittler on me...It is so pretty!"

me: "Ok, but what sound does this letter make?"

her: "Oh...umm, 'mmmm'."

(At least she still got the letter right :)

PS: Pictures of my class to come in following blogs I hope!

Crazies!

Teaching always comes with its surprises and funny moments. So does living in the DR. This week alone I (Katie, again) have had some pretty interesting experiences.

It all started when I was in my classroom and started hearing music. Now, hearing music in the DR is pretty normal. Generally, however, it is Bachata or some other very Latino-sounding music. This time, it sounded like someone some sort of Irish melody being played on a flute or some other woodwind instrument. Strangely enough, I looked out my window and saw a man walking down the street playing a flute-like instrument. I don't think I have ever seen a Dominican playing an instrument on the street, let alone playing an Irish song on a flute. Let's just say it was a pretty good way to start of my week.

Later the same day, I was in the 5th grade English class providing ESL (English as a Second Language) support for students who need it. There I was, going innocently about my day when...BAM! I am asked the one question no teacher (other than maybe a health teacher) wants to be asked:

"Mrs. Katie...what is 'sex'?"
"Umm....Well (awkwardly pauses...trying to think of what to say...) maybe you will learn more about that in 6th grade.."

Don't judge me, Lizzie. Don't you dare judge me! (Ok, sorry, I had to quote Pride & Prejudice for a second while defending myself). Turns out, she found the word 'sex' in their reading today because it was talking about "race, sex, religion." So apparently I was the one with my mind in the gutter, and the students were asking an innocent question about a synonym for the word 'gender.' Sheesh. Dodged a bullet there, though.

Also, I began teaching four Kindergarten students this week. They all speak English as their first language, and they are basically adorable. And so smart! They told me that 'Flamingo' starts with the letter 'f' and that flamingos are pink and tall and can walk on water!! (That last bit was new information for me, too haha!). I realized, however, how easily Kindergarteners get distracted. Oh dear...I tell you something. It is crazy. Show them a video about the alphabet, though, and they will be in a trance. I am looking forward to some fun moments and lots of good quotes from this group though.

To sum it up...I love my job! While things are far from perfect, I still am so glad I get to work at an awesome school like Doulos. I look forward to all I will learn this year as a first year teacher. It promises to be exciting!