The strike is over!

And has been for over a week, but alas, life in Benque has just been to busy to post anything new! Mea culpa, sorry to hold everyone in suspense over the fate of this wonderful country. The teachers went off strike a little over a week ago and I think they got some of the agreements they wanted but not all. There's still a lot of frustration in the country so keep praying! Anyways, it's FANTASTIC to be back in the classroom... The blessing of this unexpected, unplanned and moderately unproductive time off is that I definately have a much greater appreciation for how much joy these kids bring to me every day. Even when they're making me crazy!

Speaking of unconventional discipline, while watching a football game, I talked to one of my second form boys (one of the few polite ones) about how I could get his classmates to behave better. He said, "well miss, I don't know but I think it's good when you start out punishing". In light of that advice, on Friday the first seven or so kids to open their mouths without permission were pulled up to the front of the classroom so their desks were touching the chalkboard. When they picked up the chalk to start scribbling on the board I made them clasp their hand together and hold them above their heads. I then made the most ridiculous statement of my teaching career thus far. I told them, "using your hands in my classroom is a privelege, and you just lost it" to which they nodded seriously and proceeded to keep their hands raised out of fear that I'd send them to the office. Never mind that the use of ones hands is probably an intrinsic right, I proceeded to have one of the best classes ever because my troublemakers were occupied with keeping their hands up and the good kids were so thrilled to see them publicly humiliated that they were very willing to answer questions and participate. It was one of the most amicable classes I've had in a while. Go figure, what do the experts know about protecting kid's egos?

Today we began the process of Confirmation and RCIA classes. Please keep the students in your prayers. It's an interesting group-- We have three loud Creole girls from fourth form (seniors), one forth form boy and three quiet first form girls from Guatemala. It's really hard to describe the personality that comes with any Creole student and these girls pack enough in for a whole class. I knew the dynamics were going to be interesting when I had them sign up for classes and the quiet little first former, Kely, was hunched over her paper and Tricia, one of the fourth formers proceeds to say, "girl, gimme yo pen" and reached across the table and yanked the pen that was holding Kely's hair in place right out of her head. Kely just sort of nodded in a fearful daze. All of the Creole girls are in my small group for classes and I asked Sharen Jones, who's up for full initiation, why she's deciding to enter the Church. She explained to me that a teacher from last year, Eddie Lowen (I don't know if I spelled his name right) whom many of y'all know, hung out with them alot and taught them a lot about the Faith. She explained that he wasn't their teacher but he was, "down with de brown". The other teacher who was leading the group with me and I almost lost it when she said that... So anyways, keep these students in you prayers! It's not an ideal amount of time for the formal process of RCIA, but we're making due!

Thanks for all the prayers everyone!