My first day of school!

Twenty little faces… forty sets of big eyes looking at me, ready to believe anything I say. Yikes! This job is scary! So, today was my first day of school… It was a lot smoother than I expected, although I’ve had a cold the past few days so I’ve kind of been in a stuffed-up fog (it’s so odd to have a cold in tropical weather). However, God is good and I managed to talk for the whole morning and not lose my voice.

The “experts” in education tell you not to smile until Christmas and I think I scared myself with how strict I was today. It was harder to be strict with the girls than the boys. My first period, of about 20 girls, went very smoothly and then I had my class of 30 boys. They range in age from about 14-17 and some of them are my size while others aren’t any bigger than my little brother (who’s 11). Anyways, besides getting a whistle from one of them when I walked into class (if I find out who it was, they won’t have a tongue anymore…), I was very strict and they listened to me. When I began reading from scripture, I told them all to sit up straight and wonder of wonders… they did! I was shocked by my authority! I think this first day is sort of the “honeymoon” because they’re all so angelic, and I know that impression can’t be correct. You can always get nicer, but you can’t get stricter!

I’m so excited about what these kids are going to teach me. I had them fill out a sheet with questions about their interests and what they wanted to do when they graduated and so many of them wanted to go on for more education, or—and this is what was so touching—work for money to give their mother and siblings a better life. I know that they need me to be strict and demanding (and fun and understanding, but more strict for now) so that they can genuinely succeed and reach their goals, but I’m realizing now how difficult it’s going to be to be hard on these kids.

Well, I need to get down to lesson planning. I’ve survived a day and now I have no idea what I’m teaching next! (my bad, I’m an Red. Major… I’m teaching the person of Christ, all the time… But, on a more specific level, I’m not sure). On top of lesson planning, our house got five sets of shelves delivered today. Let me tell you, after living out of a suitcase all week, it was like Christmas morning to walk in and see these five sets of shelves sitting in the living room!

Thanks again for all the prayers and updates from the states!
Oh, by the way, at a friends suggestion I’ve changed my “comments” setting so now anyone who wants to should be able to comment… If that matters.

Finding tarantulas, geckos and the gift of clarity in cold water...

Well, thanks so much for everyone who’s sent me e-mails recently. I’m trying to answer them a.s.a.p., but time is a premium right now with classes starting on Monday. However, I really appreciate hearing from everyone, you have no idea how much your thoughts and prayers mean!

The rainy season has been in full swing today. Ali, one of my housemates, and I left our house to walk up the hill to the school in the middle of a light drizzle which developed into a full thunderstorm. This is when we learned that in the first world, rain means puddles in the street. In the second world, the street kinda dissolves into a pile of rocks and water. The long and the short of this little story is thanks for the advice on the water sandals, Aunt Pam. Chacos definitely rock the free world and parts of Central America.

So, on a deeper level, the orientation for teachers has been a very interesting blend of lessons in respecting the culture and teaching 101. One of the first things we’ve learned is the importance of our witness here in Benque. Father Dan, one of our priests, talked to us yesterday about how we’re a handful of Americans in a small town in a small country, and when we do things in town, it’s only about 5 minutes before the whole town knows about it—for better or for worse. Therefore, he encouraged us to really be on guard about how we conduct ourselves around town. We are all known to be Catholic, and the way that we act in town very much affect the Church’s efforts here. He said, to the people of Benque, we are the Church. This totally excites me-- I mean, as a Catechist, I’ve always known the importance of living an authentic life that provides a witness in the classroom. However, this year, my classroom extends to a whole town! So far, from my experience, this is so true too. Whenever we walk around, it’s sort of like the street is a stage. ALL the eyes are on us from the windows and the stores. It’s a little unnerving at first, but awesome to know that we’re always being watched in our witness.

In the flora and fauna department, I saw my first tarantula this morning… Not in it’s native environment, thank heavens. Jay, a guy who’s in formation here, decided to venture down to some secret room under the sacristy in the church (anyone who knows Jay from FUS probably isn’t surprised about this…) and he found a tarantula that was… well, everything you’d imagine them to be from the movies. Hairy, big and creepy! He caught it in a bucket… maybe they should try and sell these things on e-bay for a fundraiser! I cleaned out my classroom today, trying to ignore the gecko that was crawling around the wall. I swept out piles of dust and killed a few small spiders but luckily that was about all that I ran into! In all honesty, it wasn’t as bad as sweeping the porch of the Cracker Barrel is—what with all the roaches that run around out there (if the Health Department is reading this, ignore that last statement).

Our house is definitely “Steubenville Central America”. Ali and Cathleen are both fellow graduates and then Anne, my other housemate, spent a year at Franuniv as part of an exchange program. It’s a tremendous blessing to be living with people I’m already acquainted with-- it’s one less aspect of life to get familiar with. We’re settling in and hoping to get shelves and chairs soon. Meanwhile, we’ve decorated the walls with all of the art Ali and I brought down for our classrooms. It’s sort of looking like a mini Vatican museum!

The other tangible aspect of life here is that the pace of things is just different. Life is different when you’re only aware of that which is immediately around you. There’s no radio, few televisions and I’ve yet to see a newspaper. The internet is here, thank goodness, but I think one of the first things I’ve noticed is that my involuntary awareness of the outside world—that knowledge you just absorb walking down the street in the states from all the media that pounds into your brain—is nonexistent. I have no idea who’s winning the Olympics, if Bush is more popular than Kerry (although Lord knows I have my hopes in that department) or what movies and songs are out. It’s almost like the elimination of all of this sort of frivolous knowledge that really has no immediate effect on you allows you to devote your thinking and energy to the more immediate, important aspects of life (such as, what I’m teaching this Monday!). However, this clarity (for lack of a better word) has affected life in areas I'm only beginning to be aware of-- it's allowed for deeper conversations with people, a greater sensitivity to the beauty around me and best of all, a sort of instant deepening of prayer. Even the sort of "comforts" that we're without here-- like warm water, air conditioning, etc, allow you to appreciate the simpler aspects of life. A cool breeze is a cause for unbelievable joy.

Ok, so much for procrastination, I need to get back to lesson planning! Please pray for me and my three classes of second formers (sophomores), I think we’re all gonna need all the help we can get!

God... is... Here...

as a very wise man once said to me. So, yes, I am in Benque. I arrived in Belize City yesterday with about seven other teachers. We had so much luggage that a few of us-- myself included-- got a ride with the Deacon from Benque who happened to be in the City and was headed home. He was quite a character to meet, he spent the two hour ride telling us all sorts of stories about his 28 years of ministry in Benque... When he moved here it was all mud flats, it's changed quite a bit since then. I'm in awe of the long-term missionaries here, they are living their faith at a very radical level. There's a level of down-to-earthness that seems to settle in on everyone very quickly when you look around you and see the reality of where you are and what you're doing. I guess what I mean (in my very sleep-deprived state of in-articulateness), is that I've very quickly realized that my faith that God has brought me down here and has a plan for my life here is the only way that I can walk into a (very nice, clean) but sparsely furnished house, walk into a bathroom and see a gecko on the floor next to the (cold) shower and be a bit sqeamish and uncomfortable, but joyful that I'm embracing the life God has called me to (for the year, anyways.) So, these are my initial thoughts on this crazy adventure. I need to get to a teacher's meeting. Pray for me!

leaving... on a jet plane...

Well my friends, I'm flying out of here in about 10 hours. I'm almost all packed-- this was by far the most challenging trip I've ever packed for. Austria pales in comparison to having to bring a mattress pad, towels and any extra materials for teaching (meaning candles and religious pictures and cloth for my sacred spaces) and so on... Plus a coffee maker that I'm PRAYING for St. Caffiene of Java to protect (a real saint? Well, in some people's minds). So, this is it... The next time I write here I'll be in Belize!

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Pray for us!

I may leave in two days, but I still have nine whole days until I start teaching. So, in the Catholic world, we know what that means! Break out with the novena! The above is a link to the novena that myself and fellow missionaries Cathleen and Alison R. are praying in preparation for the first day of school.

I've broken out of my normal routine of packing for a trip the night before and have been trying to cram a semesters worth of clothing, books and coffee into two fifty pound suitcases. Is there a patron saint of packing?

Feast of St. Edith Stein

Tomorrow is the feastday of St. Edith Stein, an amazing woman of God and very Catechetical saint. I wanted to share one of the best quotes ever, that just so happens to be from her writings:

“It is the vocation of every Christian, not only a few elect, to belong to God in love’s free surrender and to serve Him. Whether man or woman, whether consecrated or not, each one is called to the imitation of Christ. The further the individual continues on this path, the more Christlike he will become. Christ embodies the ideal of human perfection: in Him al bias and defects are removed, and the masculine and feminine virtues are united and their weaknesses redeemed; therefore, His true follower will be progressively exalted over their natural limitations. That is why we see in holy men a womanly tenderness and a truly maternal solicitude for the souls entrusted to them while in holy women there is manly boldness, proficiency, and determination.
We are thus led through the imitation of Christ to the development of our original human vocation which is to present God’s image in ourselves: the Lord of creation, as one protects, preserves and advances all creatures in one’s own circle; the Father, as one begets and educates children for the kingdom of God through spiritual paternity and maternity. Transcendence over natural limitations is the highest effect of grace; however, this can never bet attained by an arbitrary battle against nature and by denial of natural limitations but only through humble submission the God-given order.”

-St. Edith Stein, “Vocations of Man and Woman”.

hey, it worked...

Well, I guess photobucket.com is gonna work for this. I also just added a picture of me and some of my students from spring break in the "my photo" spot under my profile. I'll hopefully add some links to the school, etc. as soon as I figure out how.

an attempted photo link

So, I hope to be able to post pictures on this page... here's this liberal arts major's attempt at posting a link to a picture of Belize I took over Spring Break:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/gapgirlonmission/Img05.jpg
Did it work?