Dancing and Teachers!

This weekend each year we celebrate teachers.  Our school does it up right! We go on a trip and spend the weekend together. This year we stuck around the area and just stayed together one night. While it was a short time it didn't diminish the fun and relationship building time. :) As many of you know this was one of my favorite memories from last year. It was again another favorites. Last year I had been slightly under the weather and this year I was in raring form. We spent Friday evening playing a game together. In short it was a picture scavenger hunt around town. Except people had to be blindfolded along the way at different times. It was hilarious! (See picture below)...

After we ran around the town we had a wonderful meal. Then it was time to really party. We dusted off our dancing shoes and got silly. It was so much fun! I haven't danced for so long and so much in far too many years! My body has been hating me since then.

Of course even though the hotel said the party was finished we didn't let that stop of us from having a good time until EARLY the next morning!! :)


Then the next morning we played tourist and walked through the forest with some of our history teachers playing tour guide. :) So thankful for the work I have and the people I get to do it with.

It's been a busy October already. I'll have lots to share with the October update in two weeks! I hope you all are doing well.

Salt

It's been too long since I last updated my blog. I really didn't have much to say or time to say it over the summer with work. It was a long and challenging summer. It was tough to go from working straight into working another job. Luckily the next job was different and came with different challenges.  But I am back now in Poland. I had a break for a few weeks to get situated and adjust to the time zone and and the quirks of being back in another culture. In the middle of the summer I felt myself adjust to American culture. It was like a switch and I cringed when it happened because I knew I'd have to adjust even more when I come back here. With the buffer of some time it has really helped. There were a few tough days but working through with patience and grace for myself I was able to work through it all.

While there are numerous things that I could talk about from this first week of school...I'm gonna talk about something that happened yesterday. Early yesterday morning I woke up to sounds outside my window of my bedroom. I have a small balcony there.  I hear things all the time and throughout the night so I didn't think much of it at first. Then I heard sirens stopping and not continuing on. Even in my sleep I remember hearing something but couldn't tell you what it was. Well, upon getting up and going to the balcony it was chaos.  Two fire trucks, police cars, and ambulance, and a big tanker all sitting right there in the tiny intersection.  It was scary.  In the end come to find out it was an old man who was on a bike was hit by this tanker.  I have to say that I hate this intersection. I see so many accidents happen on this street and people speeding down this road. We really need a stop light here!!

For a moment in the chaos my friend couldn't find her dad (a good friend of mine).  And even when they loaded the body into the ambulance it looked like her dad so tensions rose even more.  Thankfully it wasn't her dad we found out. It was weird to watch the police and firemen clear the intersection and everything go back to normal.  This morning I was sitting on my balcony for my quiet time and something stuck out to me.  It might be nothing but I thought it was interesting.  So often I see little vigils for people when someone has died.  I realized this morning that here, there is nothing. No candles and no flowers.  It makes me wonder...did he have a family? Do they know yet? What was his life like? I guess what hits me is that in this work as a missionary we talk and think of the eternal. And as I think about this guys life I'm reminded how finite our time here on earth is. Chances are this guy didn't know God in a personal and real way.

In church back home we are studying Matthew and this morning I was reading Matthew 5. We are the salt of the world. How flavorful am I in the world? That might seem like a weird question, but bare with me. :) When I was teaching in the states I worked with a teacher who LOVES salt. We always made jokes about how much she liked salt.  This summer she told me a story of how she had gotten sick this year and had been drinking too much water and her body didn't have enough sodium (salt).  After the fact we could all laugh at the irony.  I mean even our bodies need salt to be healthy. I may be going on a tangent and stretching this analogy too much...sorry for that. But if our bodies don't have enough salt (God's word) we can't be flavorful for the world or impact our worlds.  So again I ask myself this morning how flavorful am I in my world around me in light of eternity.  

(Backup) The other side of the world

I made it back Friday afternoon. Traveling is always an adventure. For everyone! This time the flights were amazing. I was so blessed by easy flights and transferring around in the airports. I still love Munich airport, even after all these years since I’ve flown through there. Now that I’ve survived the travel I’m left with jet lag. I usually do pretty good with it and can maneuver through it with pretty good ease. This time has been different. My mind is still in a fog. I was exhausted before I arrived and that has been compounded by jet lag. In the evenings I get extremely exhausted but then can’t sleep. When I do it for short periods of time and then I’m up and down. Also, jet lag has me super dehydrated. So I’m drinking water non-stop too. The perks of living a transient life. Hahaha! 

I was able to go to church yesterday! It was so much fun to be back in the room worshiping but it also felt like I hadn’t been gone because I’ve been watching the live stream! I got to run into several friends and say hello. I haven’t started making plans for getting together with people but I’m gonna get on that. :)

Today is my first day at work...aka at my old job. I’m excited to come back and work with the kids and a different set of kids. It also helps to be teaching kids who are English speakers and gives my brain a rest from translating. :) plus, my job this summer is very low key.  I’m an hourly support staff member so I don’t need to worry or stress about overseeing programs. :) I just implement. 

This morning I was awake between 3 and 4 so around 6 I just decided to get up and go to the coffee shop. I’m enjoying a cup of my favorite coffee and my new book. :)

Green School #1

What is it about leaving town that clears the mind? I mean simply getting in the car and about an hour in and you feel a slight relief of stress?  I am currently on a bus with about 40 fourth graders heading to the sea for the week. I’m thrilled to be going and spending time with my students and fellow teachers! I do enjoy going on trips because you really get to build relationships with kids. I’ve packed “sleeping queens” so I’m hoping to resurrect this game for trips! Please pray for our patience and safety this week! 

Peacock's are loud

We just finished off a nice spring break. There are several holidays at the beginning of May and so we get to take off for most of the week. It was a very busy week. I traveled up north to visit a city called Poznan.  I have a friend who is from America who works/lives up there with her family with another ministry. I enjoy visiting her when I have the time. It is great to catch up with people in the same country but a different ministry. It allows us to see what each other are doing and how we can support each other. I also learn cool tricks to how she is living in a different culture. Also, I get to hear the great things they are up to in their ministry and I learn how I can incorporate some of that into what I'm doing. It's really neat! I live in a smaller town so we don't have the same shops so this is nice to be able to do some shopping as well. I've learned a lot of fun things from her. They were going on a retreat with their ministry and they needed someone to hang with the kids while they had their meetings. I had 6 kids from 3 to 10 years old. This didn't sound difficult at first. :) I quickly learned the challenges of having kids from so many different ages and abilities running around and trying to get them to listen. It was eventful to say the the least. ;) The retreat was in a small town with little cabins. They had pigeons, rabbits, and parrots in cages and then walking around the grounds were peacocks. It was beautiful but boy do they make crazy noises and at all times of day!!! Some of them would be on the roofs in the mornings and and that would be our alarm! We all at first thought they were kids yelling when we first heard them.  After a few days here we headed back to Poznan and relaxed and did a little bit of shopping. It was a lot of fun. I won't be able to see them again until the fall since I'll be heading to the states this summer.

Peacock with the most beautiful feathers

Kids playing on the playground. 

View from the bike ride. 

The lake where we did a scavenger hunt. 

On Saturday I came back home. On Sunday I attended the first communion for our third grade students. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. This is a tradition that takes place in second grade in the states and her third grade. One of the families I'm very good friends with and they invited me for the party after the service. Being a teacher I was able to sit up right in front...it was a little close for my taste but I got to see first hand how they do everything.  I went to the party later and it lasted for hours and so much food, CONSTANT food, a course and then dessert, then another course, and then more dessert. I took home more food than I will be able to finish. Since I've been on vacation I'm happy that I won't have to worry about groceries right away. The traditions were very different but through attending the ceremony it has opened the door to talk about things regarding church and what people are looking for in church and some of their issues with religion. One family I was able to invite to the church in Lodz. 

Catching up

Since I'm at home sick in bed. I decided to go through the photos on my phone. I often take lots of screenshots and then forget to delete them later on. Well, today I was going through them and realized that I had some that I wanted to share! I had been keeping them around to make sure that I shared them. So I'm going to try to catch up a little bit. :)

The after school program at the church offers a place for kids to come and get help with school work, food, and a safe place to hang out. The first semester we tried to include English....it wasn't working. Then in the second semester they switched my schedule at school and for a week I thought I wasn't going to be able to go to the after-school program. But I was able to find time on Friday's for the program! We haven't been doing English groups and it's been going really well. I've been able to help the kids with their homework and just hangout and play with them and support the staff that can speak to them fully in English. It's a lot of fun. The other week I was helping with some homework. Now this homework was math and ALL in Polish. I do have to say that I was pretty impressed with myself for helping her get through her work AND her understanding what we needed to do!

I really don't know what we'd do without Google translate! Next, we have the weekend before Easter...I know these posts aren't in order...I didn't go through my phone in order. ;) At Christmas and Easter, Proem does a live theater of the story of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. Now....I think it's really cool that they do it. BUT acting is NOT my jam. So I help out in other ways. I hadn't been through it before and so one of the days I was able to just in and watch it. It was super exciting. Also, a confirmation that I couldn't do the acting. ;) Here are a few photos of what they did! 

Actors ready to welcome Jesus on a donkey singing hosanna. 

Within Jerusalem, people walking around. Jesus in the bottom right corner.

The last supper with the 12 disciples. 

Stephanie and Nina! This is the little girl I watched. She made it out for a quick moment to dress up with all the other kids. 

Easter in Poland

So this past weekend was Easter. It was not particularly warm. With Easter came my birthday as well. But along with the big 35th also has come a nasty cold. I started to get some sniffles last week but then they really hit on Easter. I have been in bed since Sunday evening. It is getting better but really slow. When I get respiratory stuff it doesn't leave quickly. Luckily, this week school didn't start until Wednesday. I had coverage for my classes yesterday and today. I have decided to stay home tomorrow as well to just make sure I am giving my best foot forward to get rid of this cough. There are times I feel so much better and then times where I feel really sick. Walking to the store downstairs of my apartment seems to kill my lungs.  Overall I am starting to feel better but the cough is just knocking me over!

Anyways...Easter. We had a good Friday service at church on Friday...It was incredible. Probably the top service I've been to here! It was authentic, beautiful, and really well put together. Saturday was spent with American friends. We all feel a tug at our hearts around the holidays so we like to get together when we can. The morning was at the Crozier's painting eggs and enjoying coffee together and then we finished up with a nice lunch. Then it was off to the Guzda's house. Where we hung out with the kids. Made pizza's and watched Jumangi. It was a lot of fun too!

On Sunday I headed over to my Polish families house and spent the day with them. This was when I was really starting to feel sick so I wasn't as in high spirits. We had a good time just hanging out but I wish I had been in better spirits. 

Monday here is also a big holiday for Easter but as I woke up with an eye infection and a terrible cough I couldn't go anywhere. I ended up sleeping the whole day even though it was my birthday. I like to celebrate my birthday's and yet I just haven't gotten to yet. I am hoping that maybe there will be a time in the next week or so that I can get together with people and enjoy some time celebrating. After I can kick this cold I am hoping to finish out the semester nice and strong! 

Here is what I've had going on lately...I've started teaching a history class as well for high schoolers. I've been working on summer plans, helped here with the Road to Jerusalem which was for Easter (I babysat). School has been going well. I have some new units I'm going to be starting next week so I'm excited to see how we finish those off. :)