TEA WITH HONEY

The past two days I have spent my days working at the preschool. I am slowly finding out more about my job. Tonight I was able to snag the 1st section of my curriculum.

Yesterday got off to an interesting start. I really had to work on my nonverbal skills. The girl I was working with wasn’t speaking English and I couldn’t speak Polish. It made for working together very interesting! After awhile I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. She was so sweet but redid most of what I did. Then when I was told to go downstairs to scrap a border off the wall they had me stop doing that too. I told one of the directors in America that means “You’re an idiot we don’t want you doing this.” He had a laugh at that one. I was feeling kind of defeated but then the three of us girls were cleaning windows together and had a couple of laughs and that changed everything. They would ask me words in English and do it perfectly and I would ask words in Polish and totally butcher them! It was a great time. I was actually feeling kind of excited to go into work today.

I was fairly exhausted when I woke up and had a difficult time getting ready. Once I was there we unpacked the supplies my director and I “rescued from storage.” The teachers were soooo excited. I can’t even explain the joy that they had going through the supplies. Let me just take a minute and explain to you the type of supplies we had! Semi-used crayons, paper squares, left over foam letters and shapes, paper plates. I mean this wasn’t a brand new package of paper or plates. We had a class set of things (10 students in each class) and that was about it! Pieced together items for their supplies closet. I was floored!! These teachers work so hard to provide quality education for the students and they have such a limited budget and available supplies. I have a lot of respect for them! I was also humbled by how resourceful they were! Next time you are able to use supplies or not wanting it anymore feel free to pass it along. If your class wants a project feel free to send over supplies. I was told today that pipe cleaners are something they can’t get here and we we found a small pile of about 10 my director was so excited and she said the teachers will kill for these! That is something I would have seen and said “Those are just scraps...I don’t have enough of those.” Then I would have thrown them away.

My job today was to clean up the supplies closet. I won’t even try to spell the name of the girl was working with because I would do a terrible job. We started working and she told me that she understands English but doesn’t speak it well. She does a great job with speaking. She had great verb usage and corrected and instructed others. We sat and laughed and talked in English and Polish to each other! Other teachers walked in and joined in on the fun. I found out from my director later that those teachers don’t like to speak english with her. I was thrilled to know that they were feeling open to talk to me in English. A door is opened... On our way into school yesterday my director and I were able to talk about our ministries/gifts that God has given us. She never felt like she would be at a preschool because she felt her work was with women. One day she realized that there were all these mothers that needed encouragement and hope too...this was her ministry. Today I was able to see some doors and ways for ministry with the other teachers.

Towards the end of our time with cleaning my partner in crime came up into the room with two cups of tea. She told me she made her favorite kind, earl grey. While I’m not a big tea drinker there was nothing that was going to stop me from drinking this cup that was offered to me. She added honey to it and it almost tasted like my black tea with carmel. She told me to sit and relax. This one cup of tea meant so much to me! I felt comfortable in that moment, and at peace. I also felt like I was bonding with the ladies at the school already! I actually feel more comfortable with the Polish teachers than the American ones! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. While there are parts that are challenging and I struggle through them at times, it is truly a blessing to be here and I am thankful for the opportunity and the people.