Huelga!

Thursday at school we got an e-mail from the secretary: "Classes are canceled for tomorrow. There is a huelga scheduled for the area surrounding the school." A huelga is a strike, and because they can sometimes burn tires and block roads, the school decided that it would be safer to cancel school for Friday instead of go through the hassle and potential danger of getting our students to and from school. Naturally, we were all excited about this extra day off! (You all got Memorial Day off, and we got our huelga. 4 day week either way. :) )

Since we had an unexpected 3-day weekend, I finally made it to the beach!!! It was beautiful, as always, and the water was as warm as bath water. Frozen lemonade, beach chairs, crystal clear water, mountain views, and chinola (passion fruit) popsicles. Perfection. Only downfall: I somehow missed my ankles and my right knee with sunscreen and now have very splotchy legs.

Saturday was also a fun day... of games! The Wolverines won (yay!!) and I got to go to a baseball game at the stadium here in Santiago. Santiago is hosting the International Tournament for 8th-10th graders this year, and there are teams here from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Guatamala (and possibly more). There were 5 students from our school playing for the Dominican team, so we went to support our students. Puerto Rico won, but it was a fun game anyways.

Sunday was also the first English service at Vida Nueva, a local church in the area. It was truly a blessing to be able to worship in our own "heart language." This is something that I definitely miss living here. It looks like this may happen once a month, so I'm pretty excited!

(I'm really proud of the fact that I'm actually blogging - yay me.)
(Also, it was so hot today that the candles were sweating....)

Fuente de Vida

I have been loving the worship at the church that I've been attending recently. I just thought that I'd share one of my new favorite songs with you! Follow the link if you'd like to hear it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYbxPjQAG1E

My House

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15

Lately I have been reading excerpts from John Wesley's sermons in my devotions in the morning. This morning I was especially challenged by his words and the verse of his reflections, Joshua 24:15.

Who is my house? If I had a husband and children, then the answer would seem obvious, but today I started wondering if there could be more implied outside of my immediate family. What of those relationships and friends that you engage with for some period of time, be it long or short? For however long the period, aren't they committed to you in such a way as can be considered a part of our "house?"

My life has been separated into stages of 4 years: 4 years here, move, 4 more years, college, 4 more years graduate, etc. :) At each stage I've made relationships deep enough that I could easily consider them family in my heart and mind. But have I loved them enough to confidently say that through knowing me they saw the Lord? That through knowing me they saw what it meant to serve Him? As part of my "house," have I encouraged us to serve Him together? If I were to give an account to those in my care, would they be accounts of joy or of grief?

As for now, I think that my house extends further than even my friends, but I think that it especially includes the students entrusted in my care for 8 hours a day, 9 months of a year. May I consider them a part of my charge and encourage them to serve the Lord with everything they have and all they are.

"And it is not the will of your Master that these should go out of your hands before they receive from you something more valuable than silver or gold."
John Wesley

New Memories with Old Students

Three of my students from last year came to my house this past Friday just to spend some time with me and catch up on their summers. I also wanted to hear about the beginning of 7th grade! They had been visiting my classroom daily and wondering when we could spend some time together, and since lunch times didn't work I invited them over. We had a fun time eating WAY too much food and reminiscing about last year. We had snacks of my favorite bean dip and mangoes, and then we ordered pizza, made brownies, and had hot cocoa. One student brought her camera and we looked at pictures of SpiritWweek last year, and it was just so fun to remember all the funny things that happened throughout the year! She had a video of 3 of the boys in my class dressed up as people from different countries doing a silly dance. There was one that had a traditional Mexican costume from his uncle, complete with a sombrero. He had stuffed the outfit so that it would fit him and during the dance he was losing his belly. :) Looking at their pictures I realized how much they had grown over the course of the year, and how much older they look now! Middle school days bring about big changes right before my eyes, and it's surprising how little you notice it while it's happening.

One of my favorite things about working at SCS is the relationships that I develop with the students - the elementary students all the way up through the high schoolers. The mission statement of our school is to influence the lives of our students and parents for Christ, and the atmosphere really encourages us to do so through the relationships we develop with our students. It really is a special ministry.

Blistering heat...

FYI, the heat index yesterday was 114 degrees.

Prayer Request

The day ended sadly for the 6th grade today. One of my students lost her mother. She had been sick for awhile, so it was not unexpected, but that does not reduce the difficulty of this situation or minimize her pain. Please pray for her and her family. She has an older sister in high school at SCS and older siblings in college. May God's grace and love abound more and more in this time of grief.

First Days of School

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and school has officially started! On the first day of school (Tuesday, August 18), I must admit that I was a little nervous! I was feeling the 1st day jitters as we drove to school and I thought about my new class, but as soon as I got out of the car one of my students from last year saw me and ran across the parking lot to give me a big hug. All day long I was greeted with hugs, air kisses (Dominican greeting), and enthusiastic "Miss Long!"s, and I just kept thinking over and over again that this is why I'm a teacher. Now into the second week of school some of my old students are still dropping by my classroom, sneaking up behind me as they see me around campus, or waving from their classrooms. I know this will die down a little as they get used to 7th grade and their new teachers, but I'm still cherishing the relationships that I've made with them and just the opportunity to see them grow. They have middle school uniforms this year, and they look so old to me! Most of them grew over the summer and are now taller than me. :) I just have to accept that they're big 7th graders now!

Because our last few days of school were canceled last year due to swine flu, we had to do 6th grade graduation this past weekend. It definitely added extra stress to last week trying to get everything prepared, especially since my co-teacher and I had no idea what we were doing (we were both new to SCS last year), but things went off smoothly, and it was really nice to have the opportunity to reconnect and celebrate with my old students.

As I continue to enjoy my kids from last year, it really increases my excitement for this year. I know that I will get to know the kids in my class now just like I know the 7th graders, and I'm excited to learn and grow with them together. I have already had a lot of laughs with this new bunch, and I'm pumped for the year ahead! It's been a good first week!