Beth on a Mission: End of Teaching Week #2

My beautiful maths notes

I have now come to the end of my second week teaching. My biggest challenge so far (apart from learning so many names) has been the children who are testing me in what they can get away with when I’m teaching. This has been a good lesson in patience for me but also makes my role a lot less enjoyable at the moment. I now have a timetable to work from though which is good. So this week I mostly taught (other than swimming) grade 5 maths which is challenging for me because I’m having to remember my maths from years ago. I work especially with the children who need a little more help either focusing or with the work in general which again is a good test of my patience especially when repeating the same thing a minimum of 10 times (seriously I’m not exaggerating). I ended up drawing out all the diagrams myself in my book to help with them visually.

On our way to the pool

Music lesson outside

The small pool here at Amano

Last Sunday (the 15^th) in the evening we went to a service at an orphanage which was lovely, it had lots of singing and the talk was short and to the point and I actually understood what was being talked about which is always good. Hopefully we will get to go back there sometime. This week it was held at Amano in the boy’s dorm.

Diana and Michelle playing volleyball with some
of the dorm girls and boys

We started a couple of new things this week. One was our cultural training on Monday evenings. Last week we learned lots of statistics about Africa and Zambia in particular. We also learnt much about the differences between the English and German culture which was really funny. For example, the English way of writing an email vs the German way; typically, Germans are short and to the point but the English add lots off fluff to everything. On Friday Michelle decided that she was going to go and play volley ball with the dorm people (some of them are really not kids anymore 😂) while I sat and watched which was very entertaining for me. We also joined the Friday evening music group which was really lovely because we also sang with some of the older dorm kids (different ones from the ones playing volleyball).

I’m starting to get used to getting up so early which is good because it means I start the day in a better frame of mind. I also am maybe getting more used to being called Miss Beth but that is still very strange and makes me feel old, especially when the 17 & 18 year olds ask ‘Miss Beth may I be excused from the table’.

We came out to support.
Melanie, Michelle, Me, Pia and Julia

On Saturday there was a big sports event held at Amano which had, I think, 6 other schools taking part. It was basketball and volleyball which was lovely to watch especially since I haven’t really seen any proper matches of this before (other than one basketball game last year in Canada). It was a lovely day of just being there and supporting Amano. The girls came 1^st in the basketball. I don’t know how well the boys did over all.

Me standing on the plane in the playground at church.
(It was a real plain that flew once upon a time)

This Sunday I went with Pia, Michelle and Julia, to the flying club church which I think has been my favourite church so far and I’ll probably keep going there. We also were invited to a BBQ after church down at the ranch and I got to cuddle puppies 😍🐶. It was really good to get to know people a little better, even those who work at Amano (which is most people there)

Puppy 😍🐶

The things I found most interesting about this week.

When giving or taking from someone you MUST use your right hand and it is also best to have your left hand on your elbow. (This apparently shows that you don’t have a knife in your hand. I think now it’s just more of a sign of respect than a I am not going to kill you sign)
When a child is being told off they don’t look into the eyes of the one telling them off because that says that you are equal which in that moment would be EXTREMELY disrespectful.

Points of Thankfulness

Weirdly I am thankful that my shower is cold. The heating doesn’t always work in the flat, especially when there’s a power cut but it’s really good for this heat (although not so much at 6am)
I am thankful for data bundles which enable me to talk to those back home (although I ran out this week by accident)
I am thankful for Mosquito nets

Prayer Points

Please pray for the eczema on my hands and ears to go away. I have to wash my hands all the time here with strong anti-bacterial soap which is not good for my hands. It flared up when I arrived and it’s just not going away and occasionally getting a little worse.
Please pray for patience for me with those children who are still testing out the boundaries of what they can get away with me.
Being here is still very exhausting, learning new things, getting to know more people, being busy, being so hot etc… I go to bed at around 9:30 pm but even then I’m exhausted all the time. It’s good though because it means I’m never bored.

Bonus Photo time