Home again, home again . . .

I am having a hard time believing that I am already home! I arrived in America at 6:50 pm Friday, but have been "on the go" since then. But let me back up a little bit. Last Wednesday evening was the big graduation at the center from our summer classes. From what I understand, this was a wonderful time, I however, had to miss the festivities. Unfortunately I was extremely sick all day Wednesday and was just not able to get there for the graduation. Needless to say, I was very upset about missing this! On Thursday, I was feeling a bit better, but had to pack to prepare for the long journey home that would begin later that night. I was not able to do too much other than pack and rest during the day. Our flight left at 3:30ish am on Friday morning, and by 6:50 pm I was back on American soil. I had (and still have) mixed feelings about being back but am starting to get back into "the swing" of things here. I hope to see or hear from many soon. I have so many stories to share!!!!! Thank you for all your love and support throughout the trip!

Picnics

Picnics are wonderful! Picnics are such a summer thing to do, especially if you can find a nice cool spot to have one. Here, it is not too easy to find such a location. But, the students at the center were determined to have a huge picnic with as many students and teachers as possible. We accomplished this task this past Saturday. The day began at 6:30 am when we headed to the center to meet everyone that was going to go. We had so many going that we rented a bus to take us, as well as filled several cars. Michele, Christine, and I were privileged enough to be riding on the (packed) bus. What an experience as music was BLARING and much singing, clapping, and laughing was happening as well. It was a pretty fun ride to our designated picnic spot. Once we arrived, we all piled out with our loads of food, drink, and other picnic supplies. After finding a satisfactory location, we began the set up then ate breakfast. All I can say is there was anything but a lack of food for the 42 people that were there! Following breakfast, a bunch of us headed up the (rocky) mountain on a little hike (this ended up being much longer than any of us bargained for, but the views were amazing!). The bad thing about this . . . very little shade, much sun. We returned from the hike to relax for a bit, but ended up going to the parking lot for some soccer and ultimate frisbee. This was interesting as cars were driving through, we were getting yelled at by taxi drivers about hitting their car, and we were on an angle too. I found out a whole new meaning of "street soccer." Then came lunchtime, as if we didn't eat enough for breakfast, I think lunch was twice as big! All in all, it was a wonderful day, relaxing with amazing friends and just having a great time!

getting the site ready

unpacking everything

two friends

resting at the top of the hike

a small part of the huge group

Ladies Day

Many of the team that came over this summer were women, plus 4 women already here makes for many more women than men! Woohoo! But that also means that we have a huge responsibility to take over, showing the women here in K'stan what it is really like to be Loved. Christine's mom is into beading and thought it would be a great idea to send beading kits over with her for us to use. There were many, which meant we were able to hold a ladies day and teach them how to make bracelets (or simply just beading techniques). It was a HUGE success with the women, they all were able to experience the Love that we all experience each day! Of course we did many other things than just beading; like yummy treats, fun games, and just talking. I do not have words to express how bl'ssed I feel to be able to be a part of this! Here are some photos of the day . . . .




getting everything set

what a beautiful model

the line up

beading

what a happy group of women!

The last coffeeshop (at least for now)

Last night we celebrated our last coffeeshop for the summer session. It is hard to believe that it is almost over. Only three more classes, then graduation! Our students have been so grateful and amazing this summer. The relationships that many of us built will be lasting, what an awesome feat! I have to say that our last coffeeshop was quite a bit livelier than the rest of them (not that the others were bad, just a bit more subdued). There was, of course, K'rdish dancing (sorry B, no pictures of that, I promise them next week during graduation). Then one of the guys taught our students how to do the Macarena. Here are a few photos:

Teenagers . . .

Teenagers are teenagers around the world. I can't say that this is a completely new thought in my mind, but I guess it was just solidified these past few weeks, especially today. For the past 5 weeks we have been teaching English 2x a week for a Kids Club. It was a pilot program for the Center, but was a HUGE success! There were three levels offered based on ages (with a few exceptions): 8 - 10 year olds, 11 - 13 year olds, and 14 - 16 year olds. I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with the oldest class. I learned and grew a lot from this short experience working with teenagers. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I now know for sure that teaching elementary school is where I should be! It was wonderful to learn and stretch my professional self during the last 5 weeks, but I also have to say, I'm happy it is over. Teenagers are still teenagers here, they love to talk, not pay attention, fool around, make jokes, be moody, not do the work, play games, etc. And of course, even if they are enjoying themselves, they can't let you know that! Also, they are not big fans of having their parents around (which was a little surprising since family is so important here). I found this out as we were preparing for our mini-graduation ceremony when one of my students grabbed my arm and said "Oh, that's my dad! I didn't want him to come!!!" All I could do was laugh.

The graduation itself was a great time. Of course it did not go as we originally planned, but then again, nothing here actually does! It turned out ok though, so that is all that matters. Here are some photos of my class and the graduation chaos.

My class and I

The Human Knot

Teaching me how to tie Jamana

Graduation Chaos!

Three little ones

Amazing Bl'ssings!

Who knew that 3 men could do so much work in such little time. Seeing as there are less than two weeks until we are all departing (some for Jordan, some for home), time is precious in trying to get the new center ready as much as we can. The new center is huge, and will be awesome for many, many reasons. The new team arrived late on Thursday night and have been go, go, go, go since then. They have accomplished such an immense amount of work in such a short amount of time so far. Their list of items to finish/fix is almost complete already, which means we can being moving things from the old center(that we are not using) to the new center little by little, instead of one huge move! Hooray! The men have been such a bl'ssing for Darrell and the rest of the team! Here are a few shots of the painted rooms and working on the arches . . .

the plasterer working on one arch

one of several "bright" rooms

another "bright" room

these rooms definitly have a K'rdish aspect!

The Office

Did you know that you can use episodes of The Office for English classes? Well, I figured out that it is a great teaching tool. The Office has not really been introduced in K'rdistan yet, seeing as none of my students knew what it was. However, the seasons are available at the Bazaar, which is quite amusing. I even had one student ask if he could burn the disc I had in the computer. They really seemed to enjoy it and really get much of the humor. I had to give them a lot of background information, but that helped greatly.

The episode we watched was from season 2: The Injury. I chose this one because we had been talking about health, wellness, and medicine (disabilities, etc.) during the previous 3 classes, so I felt this would fit in well. Those Office fans I know should know how this particular episode ends; with Michael trying to get his foot in the CAT scan with Dwight. Well, my students had to split into groups and write the ending to the episode. This proved to be quite amusing. One of the groups had the doctors diagnosing Michael with a mental disability and sent him to the psych ward. They are quite imaginative here in K'stan. I have found a new way to teach!