This day, Saturday, was the one month marker for me. I have officially been in Colombia for one month. It is really surreal. I was talking with a friend today, Sunday, and we were talking about my Spanish ability and she said, "well you have only been here for two months"... haha! It seems like I have been here for so much longer than I already have. But at the same time it feels like I just got here. But yes. One month.
I think that Saturday was actually one of my favorite days that I have had since I have gotten here. It was my first English class. We tried to have an evening class on Thursday but no one showed up (except for the mother and young son from the family that I was staying with for two weeks). But Saturday was a wonderful substitute for the first class.
Firstly, regarding my class, I think it is wonderful how things work out. During my "in between time," as I like to call it, I KNEW that I would be going overseas to teach English. I had my heart set of Korea but... that obviously didn't work out. While I was living at home for a little over a year I took an online course in teaching English as a second language and I am a certified ESL teacher (woot! haha). But I didn't think that I would ever use it once Korea fell through. I made a passing comment to my boss, Linda, about how I had taken the class and it would be fun to teach English is Colombia. So thought people might be interested so she passed on the info as well. Well... that is enough of that. But I do have to say that I am constantly in awe of how incredibly God works things out in ways that I couldn't have imagined.
So, the first lesson (Basic from 8:00am to 10:00am) was great! I had nine victims *ahem* students, and we had a lot of fun. The two hours FLEW by. I had no idea how much fun teaching could be! Then from 10:00 to 12:00 I taught the intermediate level class. This class only had two students, but there has been some sickness going around and business as well so we are hoping it will pick up in the next couple weeks.
After classes I had a little time of rest and then I prepared for youth group!
At youth group (we need to come up with a name... always saying groupo de jovenes or youth group sounds weird to me) we played one of my favorite games, called 4 on a couch. I thought that I did a decent job explaining in Spanish *pat pat on the back* and the kids LOVED it! Not to mention the three of us leaders. Martha's husband Carlos was getting more into it than the majority of the kids and it was cracking me up! We played 2 rounds and went WAY longer than intended but we were all laughing so much and having such a great time that I couldn't say no.
After youth group the worship team was practicing and I stayed behind to listen to them because I love being there for their practice.
Then, the Rodriguez family (the family I stayed with for a bit) and Gamaliel and Amanda and I went out for a late supper. They had chicken burgers! I was pumped. We sat outside and we were telling jokes and making fun of each other and I don't think there was a minute where I wasn't laughing hysterically.
For those of you who have been asking for pictures...
I'm sure that Jean Carlos isn't complaining but I am sure hoping that more guys will eventually be joining the group! That being said, I couldn't ask for a more incredible group of young people to be working with! I love them all so much!
Aaahhh!!! This is so awesome! How cool to actually SEE the kids you're working with :-) You're doing a great job, Tacs!
ReplyDelete