End of week 4

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Dear readers,

This is what I have learned this week:

1. Sometimes, one will encounter beautiful moments that make it all seem like it’s worth it and entirely horrible days that make it seem that it’s not. I can have a whole day of stress in a classroom where the kids are not listening and are choosing not to learn. I feel like I am talking to the wall and that no one cares about what I have to say. I feel like I am accomplishing nothing, I get discouraged and I feel like I am making no difference. But then, one afternoon, after days upon days of practice, I can have one of my grade threes read his very first sentence. He is beaming, and for the first time in school, he does not feel stupid. He feels like he is capable. For that brief, sweet, delightful moment, I know that what I am doing matters. I know that I am leaving my mark and that I am positively impacting the life of even just that one child…I don’t know if it a special brand of bad memory or if it is my somewhat twisted perception of reality, but I am pretty sure that I will always remember those short moments of perfection and never those long days of tried exhaustion. I will always remember that because of me, a little boy read “Sam sat at a mat” and that for that moment, we both felt proud.Life can’t always be easy, but the rewards in the moments justify the effort.



2. It is hard to be sick without your mummy, ginger-ale, and rice crackers. I am very spoiled.



3. Toothpaste may be the world’s greatest invention. In a place where I am never really clean, toothpaste gives me the best, be it artificial, feeling of cleanliness.



4. Sometimes, all it takes is to make a list with the heading “What would Leslie Knope do?” At one point this week, I was trying to come up with some decent ideas of what to do with the rest of “my time here. I literally took a page, wrote “What would Leslie Knope do?”, and I suddenly ha roughly 30 ideas. Is it wrong to want to be a weird character from a quirky TV show? I think not. ( I hope not)



5. So much can happen internationally in a month. We were invited over to someone’s house for dinner this week. They were one of the few families that have met who have a TV. We watched the news. It was crazy. I sort of forgot that there was a world outside of where I am right now, and that many things are happening in it. I was completely mesmerized by the news anchor. I did not know how much I missed knowing what is happening in the world.



6. Kids can be extremely honest with developed (be them rude) opinions. A child was over at my house and we were looking at prom pictures on my laptop. She came across a picture of someone and said “That girl has an ugly dress. I hope that you told her.”



7. Even in 40 degree heat, I miss my onesie.

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