Brain Explosion

I have no excuse.  I know this because I have been trying to find one... Nope, no excuse.  So I'm sorry I haven't blogged in so long.

During my original Excuse Hunt (2 weeks ago...), I decided that I hadn't blogged because nothing had really been happening and I had nothing to talk about.  I was bored during Spring Break.  Then we had review week.  Then testing.  Blah blah blah.

But then I realized something: It's not really that nothing has been happening.  It's more like everything has been happening all at the same time and all within my own thoughts.  Like a brain explosion.

The problem was, I didn't feel like taking the time to explode my brain on the internet.  The internet is for brain-numbing, not brain-exploding.  It's like TV for social people.

But I think the time has come for me to explode for you guys.  Here it goes...

Explosion Part 1: Haiti

(Yes, I know Haiti has nothing to do with Honduras, but one really can't help in which country one's brain explodes...)

If you have ever tried to organize a trip to a country with people in another country while you're living in a third completely unrelated country, you'll understand this particular brain explosion...

If not, which is more likely, consider yourself lucky.

It has been incredibly hard to balance staying present in Honduras while simultaneously trying to plan, lead, and organize a trip to Haiti.  Props to my Stateside Team who have been keeping me somewhat sane!  But nontheless, it's been hard.  Sometimes a little more than frustrating.  At times, I have almost given up... But thank God, who has kept me focused and determined to see this through.  And thanks to some amazing people that I know have been praying for me in powerful ways.  Let me tell you, He's listening.

Soon, however, Honduras will no longer be a "completely unrelated country."  I have been talking to the director of ABBA, and we have decided to start a school-wide unit on serving the poor.  It will be a month-long project in which the kids will learn about Haiti and the school's there.  We want them to be able to see how blessed they are to have a safe and quality school they can attend--so much so that they would be willing to give to those who are not blessed in that way.  Throughout the month, the kids will be raising money toward a new school for a community in Haiti.  We are announcing the project on Monday, so all you miracle-prayers out there: Get to work!

Explosion Part 2: School
Here are some fun lessons I've done this past month:

Who Stole Mr. Potato Head?

Step 1: Hide Mr. Potato Head in a bin under the bookshelf.

Step 2: Hide his mouth with a note framing one of your students: "Help!  Aaron put me in the blue bin!"

Step 3: Tell the class, "Mr. Potato Head was stolen during recess!  What were YOU doing during recess?"

Step 4: Everyone gets a clue card with things they may have been doing when Mr. Potato Head was stolen.  Their initial is by what they were actually doing.  (Like Clue...)

On the back of the card, write what they saw someone else doing.

Okay, so we were learning the Past Continuous Tense, which is like "was walking," "were going," etc.  The kids had to interrogate each other like this: "Were you going to the park when Mr. Potato Head was stolen?"  Then the student had to answer, "No, I wasn't," or "Yes, I was."

They kept asking until we got to Aaron, who said he was doing something, but his "eyewitness" saw him doing something else!  Of course, he denied it and denied it, so we checked his backpack and lo and behold: There he was!

(Too bad for me, my kid's are smart and recognized my handwritting, so I was busted in the end.)

Gentle Jenga

For the Fruit of the Spirit unit we just finished, I wanted to play a game that would help them remember what gentleness means--Hello.  Jenga.

 

Step 1: I wrote questions or tasks on strips of paper and taped them to the blocks.  Some of them were a review of other fruits of the Spirit, some of the were silly (like tell a joke or sing a song), but most of them were situations in which you could show gentleness.  For example: "Someone pushes you in line at lunch.  How can you react in a gentle way?" 

Step 2: The kids got a point for pulling out a block successfully and points for doing the task--different tasks were worth more or less points.

Random sidenote: We made library cards, so they could check out my books and read on their own time.  One morning, I came into the classroom after our meeting and found this:


EVERY TEACHER'S DREAM

Lastly, here are some pictures of my new classroom decor!

We really like mysteries...

 

We traced our own feet to make the footprints. (Steps to Success)

We have one for reading, too... They're supposed to look like big notebooks!

And, of course, the Share Chair they made.

Explosion Part 3: Personal Life

Okay, let's be real here: It gets lonely.  No explanation needed.  I won't go into that.  Instead, I will show you four lonliness-busters.  Ready, Set, Go!

1) English Bible Study
Thank the Lord for English Bible Study.  And our week-late Easter celebration. :)

(Check out pictures on Facebook!)

A special shout out to my friend Katie, who took care of me after a particularly bad and lonely weekend.

2) The Ruins

So I dipped into my saving sock (color of the sock will remain nameless, for his... or her own protection) and went to the ruins (finally!) with Grecia's cousin and a couple of her American friends.  It was really amazing!  Here are a couple of pictures:

Cool statue thingie...

"That's a pretty rock!" -Me
"This is where people got their heads chopped off.  The blood ran down the grooves there." -Guide
"...Oh." -Me

^That's me!^

3) New Apartment

I am very excited to announce that I now live in my own apartment!  I'll have to dip into my savings sock a little more for it... but I do get free wifi.  So I mean, come on.  Bring on the brain-cell-killing!

4) Um, Package.

This is what it looked like by the time I got home... because I was trying to open it and walk home at the same time...

 And this is the fun goodness inside.  Somehow, my amazing parents managed to fit all of my favorite candies inside one single box without it exploding with pure joy.

 Exploding with pure joy.  Yes, that's about where I am now.  Thank you to everyone who has been there for me lately.  I love all of you guys!  A special thank you to everyone who sent a note for my box.  They really made my day.  The candy will be gone in a week, but your words of encouragement are printed on my heart.  :)