it's a sort of anniversary feeling, although it's not an anni-, just a weeki. I think I've heard sappy newlyweds in love speak of it as their "week-a-versary", so I could steal that I guess. Each Friday over the last nine weeks, I've been reminded of how long I've been here, and today was no different. As Friday's go, it wasn't a bad day and on a good note, I was aware that I wasn't just hating every minute of my one on one for the last hour and a half of my day. I actually had the thought that I could be getting used to the schedule. (This comes the day after me wanting to throw my hands up over the lethargy in my pubescent class that I teach last on Thursdays. Ugh! Teenagers!! Roll eyes here!)
As I reflect on the day, I had E2 at 1:30. It's a small class so I like it a lot. Neco is a big challenge 'cause he's A.D.H.D. and bounces off the walls from start to finish, so I had to say his name the usual average of 150 times in 90 minutes. But, Sophia 2 (there are two Sophias so they number them 1 and 2) was so helpful and pleasant and really displayed a lot of understanding during the class so that was great.
Then I had A11. You know how I feel about A11 (if not view previous post under "nightmare"). Well, they have gotten a lot better since you've all been praying and I am so thankful. However, today we had a nosebleed before our activity, and a couple of bruised kids during the activity as a result of a scuffle between a 12 year old and two six year olds. Guess who was on the ground? (It wasn't the 12 year old!) No tears though, thankfully. (Six year old Nelson cried last Friday because he thought he was getting in trouble for not spelling any of his words correctly. I was just trying to show him that I wasn't going to count the grade 'cause he'd been absent, but he didn't understand and started to cry.)
Then right on their heels I taught A7, one of my favorite classes, except tonight they put two new kids (not new to me but new to the class) in to "try it out" and that pushed the dynamic over the top I think. In language learning, (as in Small Group Bible studies) a class of 10 is great, 12 is a little too big, and anything over that, you're definitely going to have discipline problems and some kids will get left out. Well, A7 had 14 today and it wasn't much fun for me. I really push this group because I like them so much and want them to succeed, so consequently I get really disappointed when they don't get me. Tonight was disappointing. But, it was Friday at 6:00, my last class of the week, except for a one on one tutoring session, so what should I expect?
Last there was Cherry. She's a soft spoken, bright but awkward 13 year old that I see each Friday night on her own. She gets the dregs of me, but doesn't seem to mind. We've been meeting for about 5 weeks I think and tonight was the second week in a row where she looked a little relaxed so that's good, eh?
I scooted home on my new ride (photos to follow in a future post) in a shorter time than usual, (light traffic I think ;), and my roommate had bought me a milk tea drink with pearls (they're gummy balls that have no real flavor but are good to me), so I was happy.
Tomorrow I will take the train, another first, to a city to the south of me, called Taichung, where my good friends Otey and Cheryl live and catch up with them after many years. I've been reflecting on that and remembering that it was 20 years ago that Otey and I met when he hired me to do campus ministry at Clackamus Community College in Oregon City, Oregon. Those two years were great and I've always enjoyed Otey (and Cheryl) a lot since then, so tomorrow will be fun.
Well, that's it for me. Except that I would just ask that you join me in prayer for a friend of mine who lives in Germany. She's younger than me and heard this week that's she's got colorectal cancer that's spread to her liver. She's a missionary from Missouri that I met at Golden Gate and worked with there. She's a great woman and I would love to see God do a miracle for his glory and for her good if it would be his will. Thanks for praying.
God bless and keep each of you.
Until next time,
LC in TW
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment