Here I Am

I now finally have time to go over my last week and a half. It’s time to reflect on everything that has happened and probably laugh again at the super funny things that happened as I made new friends.

So, my everyday duty here is to take attendance at every meal, I have learned people’s names way quicker than I normally would because I controlled whether or not they were late. If you are late for a meal or class you get one point, once you have gotten 12 points you’re in trouble but most people don’t even get to 4 points by the end of the year. I have had to give a few lates but not too many and those people knew that they were late. It sometimes is hard to tell whether or not they are late just because if they were washing their hands or if they sat down during the prayer so then I didn’t see, nobody has gotten really mad about what I have put down. Since most people know when they are late and when they are not, some people have even come up to me and told me they were going to wash their hands so they might come in after the prayer so then I knew that they were there and not late. I always just giggle after people do that, they are so worried that they are going to end up getting a point but I guess so would I if I wasn’t the one doing the attendance. I can’t be late for any meal because then I have to mark myself down and well that would just be awkward.

The food here is way too good. Like honesty I am always going for seconds at meals. It’s so crazy and the bread is homemade most of the time so it’s like fresh and so tasty. Even when it’s just like the simplest of meals I am always like ‘wow! This is amazing!’ the cook just kind of thinks I am crazy for always being so excited about eating but hey if you were here you’d understand what I am talking about. I always knew that I loved food but I had no idea that I could love food even more than I did beforehand. However, I still want my mumma’s home cooking; there is just something about it.

I’ve got three classes in the morning and then two in the evening after supper. Which would make you think that I have afternoons off however, it is far from it some days. Monday and Tuesday afternoons I have off to do homework and just hang out. Then on Wednesday it is outreach day, so we all signed up for an outreach we thought we’d enjoy. I am going to Fabra Elementary School and doing mentoring there with 11 other students (that’s including our driver, Levi, who also is mentoring a student and works for His Hill). We haven’t met the kids yet, we will this coming Wednesday. I am so excited, they are either from families in poverty, or they are having a hard time in school and just need that one friend that they can talk to and do homework with or whatever they want. It sounds like so much fun! There will also be times when we’ll do things as a whole group like for Halloween – craving pumpkins, Christmas – decorating cupcakes and times like that.

Just as a side note – this past Wednesday on our way back to the school I asked Levi if we could stop for ice cream in Comfort before going to the school, since we had time. Jordyn and I even offered to pay for his ice cream since he was driving. We thought it was a brilliant idea. But then he tells me that he’s allergic to ice cream within three feet. I don’t really know him yet so I was like I want to believe that but I am having a hard time with that, since I had never heard of anyone being allergic to ice cream. However, by the time we got back to the school I totally believed him and mainly the whole van had gotten into telling me that he was. When I was about to get out of the van back on campus, he turned around and was like, I am not allergic to ice cream. I laughed so hard, I couldn’t believe how gullible I was. I also couldn’t believe that he had lied to me so I told him that I would never believe him again. This is going to be hard since I will see him at least once a week for the whole afternoon.

On Thursday afternoons we work - real work. The girls are cleaning things like the dorms, dining hall, chapel, motel and other random building on campus and the kid’s camp ground too. While the guys are doing hard labor kind of things – moving rock, digging holes and what not. We start around 1:45 and aren’t done until 5 o’clock – just in time to clean up for supper. It is a long day, at least this past Wednesday was. My group of five girls was in the dining hall, we cleaned everything. Scrubbing things that I was like ‘really, we clean this’. I found it a little over the top, but if they want me to get down on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor then hey I will. About every month we’ll be changing up the jobs so in a few weeks I’ll be moved into a new group cleaning a new place. It won’t be that bad, some of the jobs are way easier than others are.

Then there are Fridays, a completely different day of the week from the rest. On Friday’s we have discipleship groups in the morning – they put us in groups of 3 or 4 and we are meant to talk about this book that they gave us to read but we can also talk about whatever else the group wants to talk about. I really enjoyed yesterday’s session. My group leader is named Chris and she had us over along with her husband, Bob’s group of boys over for breakfast. It was so nice to just get off campus for a little while. We all had breakfast together then we went into our groups and chatted. My group has the oldest student who is Swiss – Martina, a second year from Costa Rica – Ardri, a fellow Canadian from Ontario – Rachel and then me. It was such a nice time to spend with those girls, I hadn’t really gotten to know them very much but by the end of this semester we’ll all be like sisters. At least that’s what we prayed. After that at 11:30 we have one session in the chapel with one of our three professors – Kelly, Charlie or the guest speaker – Satsih. Today’s session felt like forever since I was excited about lunch again through the whole thing. After lunch is over, we have two more session with the other two professors. We are done around 3-ish, I think. Then we are free for the weekend.

 

That is mainly my whole week, I don’t think I really left anything out other than what we do in the evenings after class but that’s just kind of a grab people and do it kind of a thing. So who knows what we’ll end up doing next week in the evening or if I will even end up going. I did this week just cause we were all trying to get to know each other and bond. But now we are all pretty bonded and have our main group of friends and everything. Over all I am very thankful I am here, it’s all working out for the best I’d say.

Love,

a.m