Fights and Russians

These past two weeks have been quite eventful. Last weekend I was so tired that on Friday night I went to bed at 9:30 because I couldn't stay awake anymore. I also woke up at seven that Saturday morning which was quite a disappointment after looking forward to being able to sleep in that weekend. Unfortunately it seems my body is getting accostomed to waking up early in the morning. Something I thought would never happen.

Perhaps part of the reason I was so exhausted by Friday last week was in part to the events that came to pass in my classroom. On to the first part of the title of the blog: fights. I have to say I may have been a little naive to believe this, but since I was teaching in a private school I figured the chances of breaking up a fight were slim to none. As I said, I was naive. As I'm teaching a very important lesson on congruent segments, I see out of the corner of my eye a Dasani water bottle being picked up by a student and soon flying through the air at a very fast speed. Next thing I knew it was hitting its target in the face. Bad news. The target of the bottle was soon on his feet and although I tried to stand in his way knowing nothing good could come of him getting any closer to the thrower of the bottle, he got around me and soon his fists were making contact with the thrower. Next thing I knew I was grabbing his arms and pulling him off the other student. In some miracle of a motion I pushed the boxer in front of me while opening the door to the classroom and guiding him out of the room. I don't know if the thrower thought his actions were acceptable because I had to inform him that he also was making a trip to the dean's office. He was soon following behind and we were walking to the dean's office. The only words coming out of my mouth were "unacceptable, this is unacceptable." I was in shock. In shock that a fight broke out in my classroom especially in my normally best behaved class and that I was able to break up a fight. I even had one student calling me the fight referee not a title that I would like to continue fulfilling. It must not have hindered the students that much since the class had an average score of a 93 percent on their test the following week. Thankfully they've moved on. Hopefully there will be no more fights.

After a long week, we were invited by one of the other high school math teachers to her home for lunch on Sunday after church. We were happy to have a free meal (we never turn down a free meal). This teacher is from Armenia and is actually a robotic engineer turned math teacher. Needless to say, she is a genius. She picked us up from church and took us to her apartment where we met her mother (I didn't know she lived with her mother). It was one of the most unique experiences of my life where I found myself in the Dominican Republic eating crepes with two Russians and the only language that all four of us had in common was Spanish. It was so interesting to hear from her mother tell about her life growing up in Russia under Communism and how the system worked in Armenia and how it still is impacting the people. We felt very welcomed and very full (her mother kept putting food in front of me and saying "eat" it didn't seem like a suggestion) by the time we left.

This week hasn't been nearly eventful. For one, I haven't had any fights in the classroom this week. My roomate's husband flew into the country on Wednesday for a couple days. We all went out to dinner Wednesday and Thursday with administration and other teachers from the school and then on Friday my roomate and her husband left to go to the beach for the weekend leaving me in my very large apartment all by myself for the weekend. Everyone kept asking me what I was going to do all alone all weekend and I kept telling them "sleep." I have really enjoyed my weekend alone. If you know me well, you know that I really enjoy my alone time. I was able to get a lot of grading done and relax. I ventured out to the local bakery to get some food making sure to carry my keys between my fingers just in case an attacker was nearby, but God protected me and I didn't have to use my keys other than to get into my apartment.

Dominican Birthday

This morning I found myself feeling quite nostalgic.  I don’t know what it is about the completion of my twenty third year of life, but I found myself reflecting on how much has changed in just a year.  Last year (on my twenty third birthday), I was in Ohio sitting in my aunt and uncles basement spending time with family and enjoying a relaxing labor day weekend.  I was feeling nervous about starting student teaching that coming week, but excited about the start of the end of my final semester of college. I really had few plans for my future.  My goals were to make it through student teaching alive and with all my hair.  I had no idea of the changes that were to come.
I had no idea I would spend a month as an aide for special needs kids.  I had no idea that would be the hardest job of my life.  I had a pretty good idea I would be back in Monte Plata for the summer but nothing definite.  I had no idea I would see three very good friends who were all single at the time or in new relationships get married within the next year. I had no idea if I would have a job or if I would spend a year in limbo substituting here and there.  I definitely had no anticipation of having a job in the Dominican Republic as a math teacher.  I had no idea how much I would absolutely love this job.
Basically I was clueless what God was doing, but I am incredibly grateful that He always has His plans worked out and that they always happen.
A couple students found out about my birthday and word spread pretty fast.  Students were wishing me a happy birthday from the start of the day until the end of the day.  My classes were trying to convince me that to celebrate my birthday they shouldn’t have homework (I said their homework would be their birthday present to me). My tenth grade geometry class broke out into the “happy birthday” song in the middle of talking about line segments.  They all wanted to know what I was going to do for my birthday, and they must have been expecting that I was going to have some elaborate celebration because my response of “going to dinner with friends” didn’t seem to be good enough.
As I said earlier, I am loving this job.  The smaller class sizes allow me to meet the needs of my students and make connections with them.  I also can be relaxed while teaching and have a lot of student involvement. I am surprised daily by their eagerness to participate and learn. I began teaching my elective class of personal finance today.  We talked about global debt and the stock market and the great depression and why investing in gold is a good idea and why you should stay out of debt.  The kids were very eager to understand the system of money. I’m excited to  see where the class goes and how the school year continues.