Today was an all around great day. There wasn't anything that made today oustandingly fantastic, but all the little pieces of goodness add up to one satisfying day! First, I ate breakfast with my new Canadian friends. The guys have really made me feel like a part of their team. I really appreciate how they've included me and loved me this week. After breakfast, they took me up the mountain to school. I was able to witness the meeting of sponsors and their sponsored children. A couple of the Canadians sponsor some preschool children, so the kids were pulled out of class and given some gifts. The first two kids did a great job. They were a little curious about the tall white guy who was talking to them in a foreign language, but they let us take some pictures of them on Helmut's lap. However, Frank ended up traumatizing his kids. The first girl was close to tears as she sat on his lap and the other girl started crying before she even got near him. She wanted nothing to do with the goofy white guy!
After the traumatizing of preschool children was over, I went to 7th grade to watch the Haitian English teacher. He was reviewing mass nouns and counted nouns. It was very, very boring, but it helped me know what to practice with the kids during my hour with them later in the day. I was planning to follow Mr. Gary to 12th grade to see what he would teach the older kids, but I needed a break. Instead of going to 12th grade, I headed up to my computer room to get organized and maybe do some cleaning. My Creole tutor came shortly after I arrived. I taught him to play Jenga because he heard that the kids liked it. I really wanted to win Jenga because it's an American game and I was the one teaching someone else, but the weirdest thing happened! We took out every possible Jenga piece, but the tower was still standing. That has never happened to me before. It was so strange I took a picture of the tower at the end of the game.
After the Jenga game I decided I should probably go watch the end of Mr. Gary's 12th grade class. I am sooooooo glad I didn't sit in on the entire hour. He was teaching them that the third person singular (he, she, it) version of verbs ending in o, sh, ss, x, and ch need an "es" instead of just an "s." I was there for only 15 minutes and I wanted to go to sleep! And the students didn't seem to be learning anything new. Some of them even stopped the lesson to ask me about goosebumps. It was really funny trying to figure out what "chicken flesh" was (that's the literal translation of what they say in Creole).
Oh, this is becoming a long post. I suppose if it's too long, you'll just stop reading. Anyway, last week my grade 7 class was horrible. They talked while I was talking, they wouldn't listen, and they didn't even try to understand me. Today some of the girls were kind of snotty at the beginning, but they shaped up eventually. I had an activity where they were able to get out of their seats and they seemed to enjoy it.
After I finished teaching, I had a Creole lesson. I learned some words for family relationships, and then Arold taught me some songs. I really like learning the songs we sing in church. I'm getting pretty good at the chorus to "I Surrender All" in French, and I hope to add some others to my repertoire soon. Today I was introduced to "Nothing But the Blood" in Creole, but I left my paper at school. I won't be able to practice until tomorrow.
After school was out, I had my computer class. I really enjoy this group of students, probably because it's 15 of the best English speakers in the school. The kids are smart, and they really try hard to understand me. More of them have also been walking with me after class, which I like because it gives me an opportunity to get to know them. The girls typically take off right after class is over and walk so fast I can't keep up. Today, however, I walked with them instead of the boys. Actually, it was kind of nice to walk with them because they are a lot quieter than the boys. The girls aren't as comfortable with English, but they tried to talk to
me a little.
Plus, the walk from school to the guest house took me exactly 30 minutes, which is a personal best. I am pretty proud of myself!
After school, Willem harassed me about all the boys asking for my phone number. A couple of my students have asked me for number recently, and one even admitted to some other kids (that came and told me) that he has a crush on me. Isn't that fantastic? (I hope you caught the sarcasm in that!!) To finish out the night I ate a final meal with my Canadian friends and then said goodbye. They all gave me hugs and wished me well. :) Now, I have some time to clean my little apartment and maybe study some Creole before I head off to bed.
It really has been a wonderful day.
