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 :)