Part 1: Long Time Coming

It is already midnight and I am only half-way through yesterday. I am very tired and so will send what I have done so far. Tomorrow I will try and finish up from yesterday, today, and tomorrow and get up the posts of the kids pictures and the pictures from the past several days.. sorry that I am so far behind.
(Sorry this is going to be pretty long as I am catching up for 3 days)
Let’s see, last time I wrote was Sunday afternoon when I was starting to feel a little better… we hadn’t really talked about making plans but we all had kind of assumed that Luke and Kaylene would be coming over for dinner (as it was their last Sunday here and we had the tradition of having dinner together on Sunday), but for some reason they did not come, Brooke had been awesome and had dinner all prepared (nothing much just fruit, dumplings, and rice) and when it was about 40 minutes after Amy and Natalie’s ward should have gotten over she called me into the kitchen, she wanted to wait for them but the food was already getting cold and we were both hungry. It was kind of a good thing that we did not wait for Natalie and Amy as they did not arrive home until nearly an hour and a half after their ward got out, I guess though Amy was having some after-baptism discussions or something like that and while Amy had those Natalie had decided to join the choir for awhile. When they finally got home for dinner Brooke and I left the kitchen for awhile so that they could eat.. when we did join them in the kitchen later for ice cream we got to talk for awhile but then Amy had to leave as she had a tutoring class. Natalie asked Brooke if she could borrow her laptop to work on her evaluations and since that left Brooke without a computer we decided to play a couple of card games, it was fun—I really like Brooke and have had fun having her as a new friend and a tour guide.
When I went to bed Monday morning came far too quickly. In my first class of the day we were talking about shapes, it was kind of fun I just started by drawing a shape on the board and then asking them what the shape was. We then searched all over the classroom for what we could find that was also that shape, the kids would get so excited trying to find something of that shape and want to share with me, I don’t think that I will ever grow tired of hearing “teacher, teacher-look.” It was also interesting to see how what each class would find would change, in the 4 year olds they only found 1 triangle, but then in the 5 year olds they noticed that the curtains were hanging in a triangle and that if you looked at the corners of bookshelves and other things they were also triangles.
In the middle class we were talking about strangers, I first started by reading the book “Little Red Riding Hood,” we then talked about should she have talked to the wolf (a stranger) and what happened because she had talked to him. We then talked about the different things to do in different situations (if they tired offering you something you a very forceful “NO,” if they try talking to you do not answer them and go to your parent or adult, and if they try taking you start screaming “Help,”). We then played a game where we pretended that I was stranger and the kids were just running around the room playing and I went up to them either trying to talk to them, offer them something, asking them to come with me, or just grabbing them and the kids practiced what they should do in the situations. I know that not all strangers are bad but I believe that it is better that they be cautious rather than trust everyone. It was also rather funny, I guess that about a month or so ago Brooke taught the same lesson about strangers and the kids kept on trying to tell me that Brooke had told them that you should bite and hit the person (I was very thankful that they did not decide to bite me when I was the stranger-though I did get hit a couple of times) and that if they were playing and someone comes and grabs a kid that the rest of them should run after the kidnapper; when I went upstairs and asked Brooke about that she said that she had not told them that, that she had told them the EXACT opposite, exactly as I had been telling them . We also talked about it and we decided that most of the 3 and 4 year olds would be ok but the 5 year olds and a couple of the 4 year olds would be in a lot of trouble if someone offered them candy (which is kind of worrisome, but you can’t protect everyone).
At the beginning of my first afternoon class I had walked into the classroom and asked them if they had, had a good nap. They told me that they had, I explained that I had not and that I was pretty tired, so I was just going to lay down and take a nap really quickly. I did just that, they thought that I was pretty funny for lying down on the floor to take a nap. In my last class I explained to them that the other class had been willing to teach my class so that I could take a nap, and that I was wondering if they would be willing to do the same thing, teach so that I could take a nap- they said that they would be willing to and so I laid back down on the floor, but they didn’t do anything they all just sat there and stared at me. I got back up and told them that that would be silly if I was to take a nap and they were to teach the class. I was lucky that I had gotten up when I had, because a few minutes later Yuling came through and was giving some parents a tour of the school.
This week in the afternoon class we are talking about FOOD (what other great subject is there?) and on Sunday Natalie and I had worked together and made some great topics and then divided them up. Monday I was talking about grains, kind of a hard subject. I made a PowerPoint presentation with pictures of several different kinds of grains (rice, beans, corn, noodles, etc.) and then I taught them a song (This Is The Way We Make The Bread), I thought that it was an great song and was fun to sing, after we had sung it several times and learned the actions pretty well I realized that we had some extra time so I decided that we would use the song to play musical chairs, the rules were that everyone had to sing the song as they went around the chairs or we would stop. In my first class during the last game of musical chairs they were singing, so when I dismissed them I told them that weren’t singing so they had to sing the song all the way to class- it was kind of fun to hear that they knew the song without me and listen to them singing it all the way to the next class.
During lunch while I was eating Natalie and Teacher Stephanie called me over to where they were eating and asked me if I would be interested in going to Carpe Lake again and seeing the Water Festival (where I went last Saturday) and whether I thought that Brooke would be interested in going. I was really impressed with it the first time and so of course I would love to go again, and I told them that Brooke had been really disappointed in not being able to go and that she really wanted to, I told them that we had, had plans for that night but they would be easily changed. I went upstairs and asked her if she would be interested in going, of course her response was yes. Brooke and Natalie had tutoring so we decided that we would leave soon after they were done. Since I did not have anything that I really needed to be doing I went downstairs a little bit early and was playing with the few kids that were still there, they are so cute sometimes you just can’t walk away. At about 7ish Teacher Stephanie’s husband and daughter pulled up in their car, we all piled in and headed off towards the Lake. On the way we stopped by to get some food (Teacher Stephanie had been at the school until we left and Brooke had been tutoring up right until we left), Teacher Stephanie got some fried chicken from a booth on the side of the road, now that is fried chicken- it was soooo good, I have never tasted anything like it, the only bad part is that it is the whole chicken and so you can get pieces that come with bones in them. Even though I had grabbed something to eat right before we left the chicken was so good and I ate a couple of pieces. When we got to the lake we were about 20 minutes early until the beginning, Natalie decided that she wanted ice cream again and offered to get everyone ice cream, it was again good except when we were all about part way through our ice creams Brooke’s whole top just tipped over onto her shirt (poor girl first there was that ice cream and then the night before when we had been eating ice cream hers just basically crumbled). She wasn’t too disappointed about losing the ice cream, just that it decided to be lost on her shirt.
We found some seats on a dirt hill, not the most comfortable but pretty good seats. The show was again good, but I do not think that it was as good as Saturday’s show..for some reason during the middle of the week they do not have fireworks during the 1st show, so we watched the first show and then we moved to find better seats for the 2nd show which they do have fireworks for. Again I really liked the show, but I think that the show Saturday was better (except that I liked the people that I was with better this time). For the 2nd show we found some really good seats, right in the middle- the only problem was that there was a cement wall/stage right beside where I was sitting so I missed a little bit of the show, but everyone else had really great seats. It was also rather entertaining to me as there was another row of seats behind me, I think that for the 45 minutes leading up to the next show that I moved to let like 5 different people sit behind me, but soon as they all had sat down they realized that they were not very good seats because of the stage and would move.
After the show we decided to stroll the streets for a little bit and to see what kind of stores they had. While we walked Stephanie’s husband Bob was really nice and went the other direction to get the car and to meet us at the other end. We were looking at a little booth that had some jewelry when I asked Teacher Stephanie where would be a good place to buy jewelry and at a good price, she answered immediately “the aborigines night market- I will take you there tomorrow,” I felt kind of bad because I had just been asking a question, I hadn’t been meaning to ask her to take us to a place. Anyway we kept on strolling down the streets, I had about finished up my water bottle and so when there was a place to buy some lemonade I thought that I would try some, it was pretty good except it was really sweet- I think that they add a lot of sugar. We came to the end of the little booths when some people caught up to us, I guess that they were from the branch, they knew a little bit of English and asked us if we liked the show, how many times we had seen it, etc. We talked for a little bit but then they had to catch their bus back into town. A kind of funny story, yesterday afternoon one of the little girls Wendy’s father came into to pick her up, he said that he had seen me the night before at Carpe Lake, he had seen Brooke and I but not Teacher Stephanie or Natalie, I am not sure why he didn’t see Natalie but we figured that Brooke and I stick out a little more than Stephanie would (:D), he also asked if we had liked the show and how many times we had seen the show, I like being downstairs playing with the kids but sometimes it is hard because their parents want to ask questions about the kids and how they are doing in the class and they can only understand so much after they ask the original question.
When we got back from Carpe Lake Brooke and I wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat, for some stupid reason we turned the tv on and got sucked into a show, hence why there was no blog on Monday night, when we finished the show I don’t even think that I showered- I just went straight to bed.
Yesterday morning I was a little early and had gone downstairs and was just sitting and waiting when Sam (one of the 3 year olds) wandered into the office and sat down on the couch beside me. We were just sitting watching TV when the bell rang, I asked Sam if he was going to class and he said yes, I then asked him if I should go to class, and for some reason he said yes that I should go to class too! So when the 3 year olds came to class I told Teacher Stephanie that it was all because of Sam that I was in class (and told her the story), she thought that it was funny but we were also “proud” of Sam for choosing to go to class and telling his teacher that she should too ;D!
Tuesday morning I began my classes with learning about spinning. I started my class by just spinning and asking them if they knew what it was called, they thought it was turning around (which fits also), but I explained that it is also something called spinning. I then asked the kids to look around the room and to see if they could find something else that was spinning, it didn’t take them very long to find the fan spinning above their heads. I also had some tops that we looked at and how they spun, then when we had used the tops for a little bit I asked the kids to go through the toys and to see what they could find that would also spin. We looked at the toys and then we sang the song “Do as I am doing (primary).” Most of the classes did pretty well and enjoyed it, but the 5 years kept on insisting that they could do it faster and they didn’t understand why I was getting so dizzy. Finally on one of the last ones I decided not to spin but to watch the person who was saying that they weren’t dizzy, this is what I found… instead of spinning quickly she was taking a step and then kind of hoping or something like that..no wonder she wasn’t dizzy- SHE WAS CHEATING!! I thought that she was rather funny, sly but funny.
My middle class we talked about xylophones. I think that yesterday in my 4 year olds and 5 year olds it would be the worst day that I have ever had with them. They all came in very rowdy and were having difficulty following directions, I can understand a little bit of wiggles and talking as they are kids for goodness sakes but yesterday was really bad. I had given each kid a mallet and they were each playing on a different kind of surface, several times the mallets got taken away from individual kids. The 5 year olds were so bad that they did not get to play the real xylophones at the end of their class, instead they had to sit in silent for a little bit and then help set up the chairs for lunch. Like I said I can understand some extra energy (heck I have been the queen of extra energy for a long time), but I will not tolerate complete rudeness and not listening. I kind of question if I was too hard on the 5 year olds, but I know that I if I don’t call them on it now they will just continue to ride over me and test me to see how far I will let them go, I have to let them see now who is the teacher and who is in charge.
In the afternoon class we were talking about fruits.. we first went through a slideshow of different kinds of fruits, talking about what kinds they have here and what kinds they don’t have in the US (which kinds were new to me, etc.—I kept on telling them how lucky they were to have these many different kinds of fruits that I don’t have at home). I don’t know if everyone remembers how much I really liked the wiggles for a really long time (I still like them but they are not my main “obsession” :D), but they have a song called “Fruit Salad,” I had found a copy of it and youtube and played it for the kids several times, we learned some of the words and the dance moves and then played it again.. After we had watched the movie clip I said “what good is singing a song about fruit salad without fruit salad” and I had some for them. I was so lucky to have Yuling to help me prepare the fruit salad (I would not have known how to cut several of the fruits).. I had actually gone downstairs a half an hour early before class started to cut up the fruits (I thought that, that would have been ample enough time), but between the baby and Yuling trying to help Natalie get ready I was not ready in time. Natalie had just started helping me cut up some fruit when Yuling suggested that Natalie hold the bottle while Yuling helped me cut the fruit instead, that would have worked except that like 2 minutes after we had started the bell rang for class to start, Yuling told me to go to class and that she would finish the fruit for me as I didn’t need it until the end of my class. I ran to class but as I was going I realized that Natalie was still back there feeding the baby and she couldn’t go to her class either so I found Teacher Stephanie and asked if she would be willing to go and relieve Natalie. Yuling and I had been talking the other day about how the kids know how to say “I Like, I want, etc.” but not in a complete sentence so yesterday when we were talking about fruits and the kinds we liked I used the opportunity to have the kids work on their sentences. I went through each child at one time and asked them what kind of fruit they liked and had them respond with “I Like…apples, watermelons,etc.” I think that it really helped as today a couple of them used the sentence when they were telling me something that they liked, I don’t know how long they will remember but every little bit helps. It was also very funny yesterday, I had just asked the kids what kind of fruit was in a picture, they all responded perfectly with the right kind of fruit when right after that Ray (a 5 year old) screamed out “Bug” and pointed at the corner wall, it was so random it was just funny and I couldn’t help but laugh.
I know that you guys do not yet know who Eric is (a post still yet to come, about the different kids) but I yesterday was such an amazing day for him that I just wanted to write about it. Eric is a 4 year old who is generally very shy and does not want to participate unless it is by his own doing, often times Teacher Jane will grab his arm and “help” him do things that we are doing. But yesterday during all of our classes he was doing amazing, particularly during the middle class when we were talking about xylophones. At the very end of the class I brought out the real xylophones and allowed the kids to take turns playing a little bit on them, but I had to keep on reminding them to play gently and not beat really hard.. when it came time for Eric to play he held his mallet very gently and played the xylophone very gently, softly and beautifully. It was such an amazing difference to see him playing that xylophone compared to other times, he was almost like a different person. Not only did that happen but throughout the rest of the day he did amazing at listening, following directions and participating in class. I found it interesting that the one day that Eric has a wonderful day is the day the rest of the kids had a horrible day.