Capitulo Diez: Poco a Poco

The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and loving toward all he has made.
The lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
Ps. 145: 17-19

Happy New Year! After an INCREDIBLE time with my beloved ones in Washington, I am back in full swing again. It was so hard to leave home but after the initial ache of leaving has subsided I find myself in a beautiful country with awesome people doing good, satisfying, hard work again. and I like it more than I remembered.
The best surprise to which I returned is that I really do love my students and I like to be a teacher. Yay. :) I had forgotten that. They are so strange. Today ALL my boys randomly decided to "hug" Miss Cole. It was sudden and overwhelming, like being compressed by a mini football team. I couldn't stop laughing at their deadlock tactic, successfully delaying class just a little longer.
I've been realizing that I have some room to grow in teaching cross-culturally. My students love, love, LOVE to talk and in December I was pulling out my hair trying to get them to listen for one second. I'm trying now to shift my focus from getting them to listen to getting them to talk about the right things. Stopping them is like standing in front of a train with my hands out and I come home feeling like... errr. a train wreck. ;) But redirecting them might just work if I can master the art. who knows? I came home smiling today.
Prayer requests:
--> good ideas and teaching skills to make class fun and learning happen
--> a joyful thankful trusting spirit to sustain me
--> wisdom for next year (Should I look for an opportunity to learn Spanish and live with Latinos OR focus on becoming a good teacher and stay here?)