What do I Say?

Its been almost two weeks what do I say? 

Well I don’t have internet so you now have to be patient with me. I have it now because I am in Pietermaritzburg for a Spiritual Retreat with the other SALTers and other MCC staff!

My week at the farm alone was alright. I was happy to have all the teachers back.  Though with having to clean the store room I felt productive and it felt really good to actually see a difference in the room! I spent a lot of that time listening to music and to Vinyl Cafe.  

Also it has been chilly here. Now you have to understand they do not have central heating here so when I say I am cold it has been getting to a low of 14 maybe 10, but I can’t go into my room and warm up unless I am sitting right next to the little heater I have in my room.  The other night I slept with socks, sweat pants, and a hoodie (or bunny hug), two blankets and kept my heater on as long as I could.

School with the kids has been fun! We made glasses with pipe cleaner! It was so cute walking out of my class that day and watching all the other teachers just smiling because they were wearing their glasses so proudly!  I have been able to find things that are more fun for the kids to do, like playing with play dough. I have been asking them to make different letters with the play dough, and even spelling some basic words. Telling them to listen the the sounds of the letters. And they are making me proud!

This past week we have also had a new student join us. She was in the Grade 1 class but should have been in Grade R but there was only boys in the class so she did not want to be in there.  It has been both good for the students to have her there because she speaks English all the time. But it is a challenge for me because she knows me from outside of school so it makes her think she has some extra privileges. Which we have been working on.

I was able to go on Sunday for a walk around the farm.  Alex and I went on Sunday morning and wondered around. He had gone for a walk with some girls a few weeks before hand and they showed him some great views so, he asked if I wanted to go and see them. It was mostly up hill but once we got to the top of the hill it was worth it! It was gorgeous! As you can see from the pictures!  And the morning was so nice and warm I hope it gets warm like that again soon!

Until next time, make a fun craft (even if you don't have any kids to do it with!)

Giving Thanks

There are so many things to be thankful for!  Sunshine. A comfortable bed. New friends. Old friends. Letters from home. A heater for a cold day. Internet. Pets. Food. Smiles. Seeing and talking to family. These are just a few of the things I am thankful for today on this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

Last night I got the opportunity to Skype with my whole family, except the Court’s.  Thank you Nikki for the idea!  I had to figure out timing of when they where getting together their time and then after that I needed to make sure I was going to have internet. My host family turns the internet off at night and the time that was going to work the best was about 11pm my time.  So they kindly left the internet on just so I could talk with my family and be a part of their Thanksgiving weekend.  I don’t know if they really understand how much they blessed me by allowing me to do that.

I am a family person and when I am home I usually spend most or all of my time with family.  I was trying to remember if this was one of the first times I have missed a family Thanksgiving meal. There might have been one year during my Bethany time that I went else where, but I can’t remember.

Other than the connection not being great, it was so nice to talk to them all, or make funny faces at them. I got the chance to say hi to all of them and then chat with a few of them.  At one point I was just talking with Mikaela, she was sitting on the stairs and had Katie and Jakob with her.  She had asked me if I was sad I was not there.  And I said, “Yeah it’s hard sometimes but I know, that if I was there I would probably just be sitting there listening to all the conversation anyway.”  And she said, “Yeah, you and I would probably just be sitting on the stairs talking like this anyway too!”  And she was right, we probably would have been. 

I miss them all a lot. But I am also thankful for this experience. I knew coming here would be hard but I know it’s also a good thing.  But I have to take it one day at a time.  When I sit and think about missing them it’s harder, but when I am distracted and have things to do or people around I am usually fine.  There are going to be days when it is harder than others, but I know I have a family that is 100% behind me to support me.  I love you guys!

Until next time, take time to be thankful for the little things, like internet working! (Sorry this is so cliche, especially for this time of year, but here is just one more reminder just incase you did not get it from anyone else) :)

Break From the Regular Noises of the Farm

Term three just ended, and now the kids and teachers are on holidays for this next week. Because MCC wants to make it fair for all SALTers we are only given 10 holiday days. So when there are days that the kids have off I have to find other work that will keep me busy.  Unless I want to take a holiday of course. But this week just seemed too early to use up 5 of my holiday days.  So I had decided to stick around the farm and work at the school while everyone is gone. 

A nice start to the week was Nikki (one of the other SALTers) came and hung out with me for the weekend!  It was nice to be able to show someone where I work and what I have been up to. It was also nice to talk to someone about life, not worrying if they understand what I am saying. Ha. I think the most disappointing part was she only got to meet a few of the teachers and did not really experience the full amount of energy that occurs on the farm on a regular basis. But that will be another time maybe!  While Nikki was here we went for a few walks around the farm, went to a brie (not sure of the spelling) its just like a BBQ, went to church, watched some movies, talked a lot, ate cheese, drank milk and on our way to drop her off back in Pietermaritzburg we actually saw 2 rhinos! And some other animals but the rhinos were the new and exciting ones!

Now I embark on the week on the farm alone.  Well kind of alone. There are a few teachers around during the week, but I won’t see much of them.  While I am here I am going to be cleaning up my classroom and also cleaning up the storage room.  There is a room where all the extra booklets are kept and they want some kind of system put in to keep inventory of how many of each things they have. Which I feel is right up my alley but, we will see how it turns out!

Until next time, take the time to enjoy the noises of the things around you.

Back Home

There have been a few times where I have wished I was back home.  A few of those times have been when I got an e-mail from my sister, she had sent me two pictures of my niece and nephew embracing after she got home from school.  Another time is when my sister texted me and told me she was engaged! And this morning, I got an email from Tyla telling me that there was accident with a 15 passenger van with some Bethany students in it.  All these are very different reasons for wanting to be home.

When I think about my nieces and nephews and the things I am missing in their lives it is hard.  Though one would think I am used to it now. I have not really been in Calgary or Canmore for 5 years. Yes I go home for weekends or for parts of the summer, but I have not really been part of their lives regularly.  But being here in a different country is just different there is not really the option for me to go home and see them for the weekend if I wanted.  But it is part of the price I pay. For now I settle for pictures of their embraces, videos they left on my computer and emails from them or their parents.

Getting the text from Reilly saying her and Phil were engaged was so exciting! I am so very excited that they are engaged. I was pretty sure that while I was here they would get engaged, but knowing that I won’t be there to help Reilly with any of the planning and I think that is what I am going to have the most trouble with.  She also asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, which of course I told her yes!  They will be getting married on July 25th!  Lots of time to adjust to the time difference again! ;)

And finally the accident with the students at Bethany, I know there is nothing I could physically do, I think if I were home I would try to see if there was anything I could help with but I really don’t know what that would look like.  I was at school last time there was a car accident with other students in a 15 passenger van, and it was really hard on the community.  So I can only imagine what the community is like right now.  From here all I can do is pray.  Bethany community I hope you know I am praying for you guys, those who were involved and those who are friends and family and the staff.

What am I learning from all this, well that I can always wish I was else where, but I do need to learn to live and be happy where I am.  To love the people I am around not just the ones who are back home.

Until next time, love those people who surround you.