listless moments, industrious hours

Tomorrow I'll be off for a weekend away again, but before I go, I thought it was high time I posted again.
My weeks usually begin slowly and accelerate to a very full Friday, hence my hesitation in posting earlier: there wasn't that much to say! :) Maybe you will be grateful for a less-lengthy post, anyway. Well, here it goes.

Monday most meetings were canceled. Ran errands in the city, however. Found a navy blue handkerchief with a map in white ink of a city to the north of us. I bought it in hopes that it will prove useful for my bare, white walls in the dorm this coming semester.

Tuesday was a full day of classes. They went more smoothly than before, as I have altered my classroom style to one which I can oversee them more thoroughly. Unfortunately, this means less small-group activities (some of my favorite to make) and more games and work as a whole class. Creative activities in this format can prove challenging to conjure up because of my limitations with having a chalkboard as my only visual aid.
At the beginning of class, I gave my students a few questions to answer anonymously on a sheet of paper and turn in. I was trying to poke around and find out where they needed or wanted help and what their expectations of me were as a teacher, as well as their desired career destination. Since asking questions of the teacher during class is not culturally normal, this was my way of attempting to get in their heads a bit.
The results didn't give me a detailed direction, as I'm making up lessons from scratch instead of following the curriculum now, but they did help considerably. I felt connected to the students as I read, and came up with a few sketchy ideas for lesson plans. It's very difficult to know their needs, as in some areas they are very advanced while in others they need quite a bit of review.

The evening brought our sleepover! We invited the friend who is staying with us to invite her dormmates over for the evening. She requested American snacks to be served, so we went to the largest grocery store in town and scoured the import aisles.
Our menu:
Oreos
Lays original potato chips
Oreos
Lays bbq potato chips
Oreos
and...hmm...
well, the crunchy Cheetos I'm afraid didn't make it past Monday night...
Imported food costs a pretty penny here. Still, some of it is cheaper than in the states, but relative to the normal cost of groceries, it is quite a bit more expensive.
We played games and watched movies late into the night before tumbling into our beds.

Wednesday was a takin' care of business day for me. I did quite a bit of the busywork that being an intern requires. The team from home landed in the morning. We were able to go into the city late in the afternoon, and after buying some craft and school supplies and only making it through a few bites of a mini-carrot cake at a coffee shop (I eat dessert instead of drinking coffee, and this icing was about 99% butter, I'm fairly positive), we headed to the team center to greet our new arrivals. To say they looked dog-tired would be putting it mildly, but they made it! :)

Today brought a morning of manning the student center upstairs which was slow with only one student coming in. After a lunchtime meeting, this afternoon was my 1/2 day of prayer and fasting. I have to admit I fell asleep for an hour of it, but it was very refreshing none-the-less. I felt a real need to reconnect with God, we had been loosing touch a bit. I found that the prophetic books are much easier to understand and gain insight from when read aloud several times. A new technique I think I will adopt when studying them. I also got to skype a friend from home for ten minutes and my family for about an hour today, which is always a huge treat.

Well, so much for this being a short post! At least it's more brief than most! Ingat y'all!
Thank you for your prayers for me and the student here. I need them for creativity, energy, and a maintained walk with Him, for sure. Thank you for praying with me for the students, as I think of them, I can't bear to think even one of them suffering after death...
To end on a lighter note, may I ask you also to pray for the team that just arrived from my home Body, as they will be going through culture shock, climate adjustment, and need the energy and insight it takes to serve!
Thank you all!