smelly teacher Angela...

These kids are incredible! I often think I know how great they are, but then they surprise me all over again. Gruar last night was awesome, as always. It was only raining a bit on the way over, but by the time we started to unload and set up it was coming down hard, so we relocated further into the squatter where there's some shelter. The venue is smaller and cramped, but we were mostly dry and managed to do our songs, skit, prayers and hand out food :) Milet told the story of the feeding of the 5000. I mostly held Mae Mae- I got to meet her little brother and parents yesterday. It was really cool to talk with them briefly. They told me that I'm Mae Mae's favourite, and of course I told them that she is mine. Not that I should have any favourites, but it's always going to be true that some kids stand out. They are ALL special. Her English has improved since last year when she didn't speak any at all! I'm very proud of her. And I've learned more Tagalog now, so our communication is improving all the time :)

Perhaps I should lay out what my weekly schedule looks like. I realized I've never done that before, maybe it gets confusing sometimes? Anyway here it is:

Monday:

• I teach the Grade 3 reading class at 9:00 am,
• Grade 2 reading class at 11:40am,
• East Avenue, Quezon City children's ministry from 5:00pm-10:30pm

Tuesday:

• Grade 3 and 2 reading class
• Bagong Silang squatter village ministry at 4 or 5:00pm, then dinner at the church

Wednesday:

• Grade 3 and 2 reading class
• Prayer meeting at 7 or 8:00pm

Thursday:

• Grade 3 and 2 reading class
• Preparing food for Gruar from 11:00am- 4 or 5:00pm
• Gruar squatter village ministry at 5:00pm

Friday:

• Grade 3 and 2 reading class
• Worship practice at 8:00 (?) pm

Fridays are rather quiet for me.... I can do lots of reading and sleeping on fridays!

Saturday:

• Superkids children's ministry (400 kids) from 8:00am-1 or 2:00pm

Saturdays are definitely the longest and most tiring days, but also so much fun. It's nice to have a good rest after the chaos of hanging out with, then feeding 400 kids. Trust me, you cannot imagine what it's like unless you've seen it! haha.

Sunday:

• Church at 10:00am
• Youth group at 6:00pm

There are almost always people at the church, so I will usually hang out with whoever's around during the hours in between events. They end up being full days, which is so good, and I'm very happy about that. I prayed before I came that I wouldn't let one day be a waste. I don't want to take any of my time here for granted, which is sometimes hard when it's so hot and all I want to do is lay down with the fan on.. haha. And I do that too, but I'm usually with people. Community is so important here. It's a cultural aspect that I love and am growing accustomed to. 'Alone time' is experienced when you are showering, in the bathroom, or going to bed. Haha. And I like that!

About showering, maybe I should explain for my Canadian friends what bathing is like here. I have a bucket, and a smaller dipper. I fill the bucket with water, and splash it on myself using the dipper. Once nice thing about a dipper bath, is that you can let the water sit out and get a little warmer, so it's not such a shock to splash cold water on yourself. Also, you waste a lot less water bathing this way. I quite enjoy my bucket baths. I have one every night, one in between classes in the morning, and one in the middle of the day to cool down.

One of the students gave me a bar of soap today. I didn't understand at first, I thought he was playing a joke on me, trying to say that I'm smelly! But Ate Mona explained later that his father works in a soap factory! So sweet little Jules was giving me a gift. What a blessing to receive a gift from small hands that have so little already.

I love my students, I love my classes, I love the squatter village kids, I love the Superkids, I love the youth of the church, I love the leadership of the church, and I love my God for bringing me here.