Weekly Schedule

October 18, 2008
I thought I’d share with you what our week looks like.

Mon-Thursday – Maria (the girl from Austria, and my roommate)and I get up at 5:10 and go and pray for all our girls and for the day. At 5:30 we run back to the dorm and have worship with the girls. We sing songs and then have a little worship thought. I’ve been very bad and I’ll wait till 5:45 to figure out what worship is going to be that morning. I’m trying to work on that. Then at 6 we have our own devotion time. Many of the girls have their own while I think that others just sleep. 6:30 is when it is time to get ready for the day but I usually read right through it. Then breakfast is at 7.

7:30 is farm time. It is really hard to get the kids to be on time for breakfast and then to farm. It is hard because they think that the later we leave for the farm the less work they have to do. We are still working on that. We are at the farm until 9:30 or so. Then we come back and have to get 17 girls and two staff washed in 45 minutes. It is hard for Maria and me because we like to take our showers alone. Then at 10:15 classes start. I teach math l, then English l, then math ll.

Then we have lunch at 12:30. Then I have the rest of the day free till supper at 5:45. And at first I was excited because I had so much free time, but during that time I have to grade papers and prepare for the next day. This is difficult because I’m so tired during this time. Sometimes I get a nap in, other times I just slowly work. Many times I have other things I need to do and have a hard time getting to the grading, but I have to get it done because they need their homework book back by study hall which means I have to be done by supper. The kids have industries from 1:15 – 4:30. They usually get out early. And so between 4 and supper I’m usually busy taking care of my girls.

Then supper at 5:45, directly after supper I like to go to the chapel and start worship by singing. Then we have worship with everybody. Then after worship is study hall. Then bed time by 9. It is a long day full to the brim. It is good though because it keeps the kids busy.

Friday’s we have industries in the morning instead of classes, and then in the afternoon we have village outreach.

Sundays’ we go to the farm still but after that we have study hall, and then we have free time in the afternoon. Some of the kids just want to “lime” (hang out) at the dorm while some of the others will go to the football field and watch the football game (soccer).

Sabbath’s are very different. They are a very nice break for us because we don’t have to go to the farm or do campus work! Such a blessing. We have worship at breakfast at 7, and before that we get to sleep in, or at least I get to sleep in. We leave for church around 8:30. We attempt at that but we usually leave a little after. I’ve been having trouble getting a shower before church, but today I decided to take one in the Admin building since no one is staying there. It was nice, to use a nice shower head. My hair felt so wonderful! The shower head in the girls shower doesn’t give much water at all. I fixed it once and the girls didn’t like it because they like to use the laundry faucet not the shower head. Maybe that is why they call it bathing not showering.

Church starts at 9. We have Sabbath school all together, and then they split up. Sometimes they have lesson study in general, and other times they have different classes. They have small Sabbath school classes and there are about 15 different classes in the sanctuary. We go to the bleachers where there are two other classes, one for youth which has 15-18 people, most of the students are in that class. And then they have an English speaking class which all the older kids go to along with all the staff. Then they have a little something in the sanctuary between Sabbath school and church. Then they have church.

Church is sometimes hard to understand since they have it in their dialect. Sometimes it is better than others. When the kids or Pathfinders do it they speak in English and then someone translates for them, or if an American speaks they translate that too. But sometimes I can’t understand a word that is being preached. The kids at this church are very involved. I think that every week they have some kid do something during church, if not Sabbath school too. They also have a lot of kids. The kids can all sit together and take up almost the whole middle aisle of seats (there are three aisles).

After church we come back and have lunch, then have some relaxing time until AY which we usually leave for around 4. After AY we come back and eat, then have some activities.

Well I think that is all I do! Ok so maybe that is just what I do on a regular basis in brief. Many random things happen, like a student leaving in the middle of the week with a couple hours of warning. Or the village wants the girls to go to some health talk in the village, and so we switch industries and classes. Or other times James will come and we will have to go and get him, or the supplies he brought (the airstrip is a 10 minute boat ride from the school. But those are only rare occasions.