So this week has not been a normal week for me. Monday was normal; I went to school and did everything normal. Throughout the day, I started to notice that my knee started to hurt, but I just ignored it and went right on with my activities. Tuesday morning as I was getting ready for school I noticed that my knee still was hurting, and a tad swollen. No big deal probably just strained it from picking up a child and having to kneel down a lot. Did not know anything was wrong, and went into school and started my day normal, however, by the afternoon my knee was hurting a lot, and I couldn't put pressure on it.
So Tuesday when the kids left, and I noticed my knee was still hurting I decided I could tough it out until 4:10 and then go back home and ice and take some Advil. After my lunch break, I was trying to find a good wireless connection to print off some papers. In the process, I knelt down to look at the process when something in my left knee popped and when it popped I fell backwards grabbing my knee and crying out in pain. Here in Lima you go to the doctor for everything even if it doesn't seem to be a big deal. The school nurse looked at my knee, by this time my knee and toes were swollen, and gave me some Panadol (Spanish for Tylenol) and ice pack. We were trying to figure out who would go with me since my Spanish is still in the beginner stage.
Finally, we made it to the Clinica(Spanish for hospital) and the doctor came in right away. In the states, you will be waiting for hours. Here in Lima I think we waited maybe 5 minutes. The doctor did some test and gave me some prescription and told me to go across the street to get x-ray. The doctor is sure that I damaged the cartilage in my knee, and he has ordered me to rest for 3-5 days.
This is not what I had planned especially since next week is report cards and I have to evaluate my students and next Friday is our mothers day program. But I keep on telling myself that God is good, and He knew his would happen and that this was part of His plan. In Bible, the kids are learning Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble." Who knew that I needed that verse this week.
As of today my knee is still throbbing with pain but it is now a tolerable pain, and I have changed from bed rest to couch rest to have a change of scenery. I still haven't gotten the results back from the x-ray but hopefully, today I will hear back from them.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Another week has past(supercalifragalisticespaladocious)
Another week is done, and it seems like the weeks here fly by faster than it did in the States. Then again, in the States,I had the children for 12 hours a day and the days just seemed to drag. In Peru, the children leave at 1:15 and we have the rest of the afternoon to work on the next day and Fridays we work on lesson plans for the next week.
I can see changes in the children here, and they have started looking at me as their teacher and that they need to obey me. They also are learning the vowels and numbers better than I expected; I only have to say 'Speak in English" only 4 times a day now. Teaching in another culture after having years of experience in the States is proving to be harder than I thought, not bad just hard. There are several things that teachers do in the States that are not acceptable here in Lima, for example, in the States, it is expected almost in a way that a preschool teacher gets on the floor and play with the kids. In Lima, a teacher should never play with the children. I had to learn a new way of teaching and simply put away what I did in the past.
I am getting more and more comfortable teaching here with the children, at first I was very hesitating and not sure if they would understand everything I do and say. But now the children are more and more eager, and I have found that if I have one fun activity for them to do that the lesson goes better. The children are also teachers in a sense that every day they are teaching me a new Spanish word or phrase. Being here and not having a lot of Spanish knowledge is rough but I am in class and am working everyday error every hour and practicing my Spanish and hopefully in no time I will start understanding.
I have found a church here (Inglesia Vida Nuevo), and I love it. It reminds me of Suber Road Baptist Church and is the only church that has English translations so I can understand the message. I have come to the point where singing the songs I don't use the translation device but try sing along in Spanish to see how it goes. There are several families from the school that goes to the church and, in fact, one of my student's family goes there.
The experience overall has been fun. I would encourage everyone to go on a mission trip or if they gave some time to help out somewhere in the world. I am not going to lie to you the first month is hard, and you will be broken physically, emotionally, mentally thru the whole getting used to everything. The first month I was experiencing cultural shock (my stomach had to adjust to the foods here, and the routines and habits of the Peruvians, and just being exhausted from getting off the plane and diving head first into the school year).
It is still a challenge, but I am loving every minute that I have with the children and also with the other teachers. Giannina de la Cruz is my co teacher, and she is the best that there is. She is very caring, and she loves the school and the children. She is understanding of what I am going thru and is patient and I am trying to find how to teach the children and accepting that I do not know the Peruvian way so I will slip up daily(ok not daily but it seems like). My students names are Jordan, Sofia, Leonardo, Mateo D., Antonella, Astrid E., Thiago, Valeria, Belen, Mikel, Franco, Mateo C., Hadassah, Moises, Flavia, Romina, Ana Claudia, Tiziana, Alonso, Maria Fernanda, Daniel, Astrid M., Kyara, Lucciano.Their names are harder to say than they look believe me.They are a joy to teach and have constantly been reminded that Miss Matthews does not speak or understand Spanish so if they speak in Spanish than I can not help them unless they speak in English.
I have to get back to work and finish my lesson plans( I mean start) and get ready for tomorrow where I can sleep all day long and just relax and drink coffee :)
Thanks everyone for praying for me, I have felt the many prayers every single day :)
I can see changes in the children here, and they have started looking at me as their teacher and that they need to obey me. They also are learning the vowels and numbers better than I expected; I only have to say 'Speak in English" only 4 times a day now. Teaching in another culture after having years of experience in the States is proving to be harder than I thought, not bad just hard. There are several things that teachers do in the States that are not acceptable here in Lima, for example, in the States, it is expected almost in a way that a preschool teacher gets on the floor and play with the kids. In Lima, a teacher should never play with the children. I had to learn a new way of teaching and simply put away what I did in the past.
I am getting more and more comfortable teaching here with the children, at first I was very hesitating and not sure if they would understand everything I do and say. But now the children are more and more eager, and I have found that if I have one fun activity for them to do that the lesson goes better. The children are also teachers in a sense that every day they are teaching me a new Spanish word or phrase. Being here and not having a lot of Spanish knowledge is rough but I am in class and am working everyday error every hour and practicing my Spanish and hopefully in no time I will start understanding.
I have found a church here (Inglesia Vida Nuevo), and I love it. It reminds me of Suber Road Baptist Church and is the only church that has English translations so I can understand the message. I have come to the point where singing the songs I don't use the translation device but try sing along in Spanish to see how it goes. There are several families from the school that goes to the church and, in fact, one of my student's family goes there.
The experience overall has been fun. I would encourage everyone to go on a mission trip or if they gave some time to help out somewhere in the world. I am not going to lie to you the first month is hard, and you will be broken physically, emotionally, mentally thru the whole getting used to everything. The first month I was experiencing cultural shock (my stomach had to adjust to the foods here, and the routines and habits of the Peruvians, and just being exhausted from getting off the plane and diving head first into the school year).
It is still a challenge, but I am loving every minute that I have with the children and also with the other teachers. Giannina de la Cruz is my co teacher, and she is the best that there is. She is very caring, and she loves the school and the children. She is understanding of what I am going thru and is patient and I am trying to find how to teach the children and accepting that I do not know the Peruvian way so I will slip up daily(ok not daily but it seems like). My students names are Jordan, Sofia, Leonardo, Mateo D., Antonella, Astrid E., Thiago, Valeria, Belen, Mikel, Franco, Mateo C., Hadassah, Moises, Flavia, Romina, Ana Claudia, Tiziana, Alonso, Maria Fernanda, Daniel, Astrid M., Kyara, Lucciano.Their names are harder to say than they look believe me.They are a joy to teach and have constantly been reminded that Miss Matthews does not speak or understand Spanish so if they speak in Spanish than I can not help them unless they speak in English.
I have to get back to work and finish my lesson plans( I mean start) and get ready for tomorrow where I can sleep all day long and just relax and drink coffee :)
Thanks everyone for praying for me, I have felt the many prayers every single day :)
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Every Day is an Adventure
Life has become very busy but good these past few weeks. At first I would just go to school and stay until 4:10 and then come back to the house to relax. Now I wish I would leave at 4:10, I am lucky if I leave around 6:30 at night and then sometimes a group of teachers goes to a few restaurants with air conditioning to work on lesson plans and paper- work. On the weekends, I will sleep in the morning and help out at a local church with their Awana program.
Today, however, was Family Activity Day at school so from 9-1 we all were at school playing and enjoying the fellowship of the families and other teachers. My games was called Minefield(which is where we create a maze out of balls, cones, ropes, and such and the person going thru the maze is blindfolded and has to listen to the ones behind them getting from start to finish without stepping on the "mines") and we has a blast playing the game :)
I am getting more confident speaking Spanish and have learned a few phrases and that I have repeated several times, and am looking forward to the tutoring for Spanish so that I can have a set schedule of when I am going to practice Spanish.
Today, however, was Family Activity Day at school so from 9-1 we all were at school playing and enjoying the fellowship of the families and other teachers. My games was called Minefield(which is where we create a maze out of balls, cones, ropes, and such and the person going thru the maze is blindfolded and has to listen to the ones behind them getting from start to finish without stepping on the "mines") and we has a blast playing the game :)
I am getting more confident speaking Spanish and have learned a few phrases and that I have repeated several times, and am looking forward to the tutoring for Spanish so that I can have a set schedule of when I am going to practice Spanish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)