Life on Mulawan Street

Roommates

Along with a second year of teaching, it is also my second year of living in the Philippines.  I have three awesome girls as roommates and we live together in a fun, Filipino neighborhood. Two doors down is a 'sari sari store’, which is a neighborhood one-window convenient store.  We have quickly learned to love this store, especially when we realize we are out of eggs in the middle of baking.  We have very friendly neighbors and great neighborhood guards.  A few nights ago, I was privileged to fall asleep to some neighborhood karaoke music. This is not uncommon in many neighborhoods here. We also share our home with many cockroaches, which we could use one less encounter with. However, a feeling of true cleanliness and satisfaction washes over me with each cockroach terminated. 

Our local sari-sari store

Mulawan Street

Our home

We live near an intersection that is on pretty low ground; and so when the typhoons come, this area usually gets a bit flooded.  The rains haven’t been bad this year, until a typhoon began its path through the Philippines ~ giving us a typhoon day and a day off of school. Although a day off is nice, it's tough for people who have homes damaged or belongings destroyed.  A few days ago after a hard rain, I couldn't drive across the one major road between home and school. I attempted to pass through the flooded area hoping that the water was lower than it appeared; but when my engine began to make concerning noises, I decided to turn around.  After a few hours the Manila heat had done its job and the water had evaporated.  

I'm very excited for the school year and ministry ahead.  The Lord's plans are great!

Back to Manila and Back to Teaching

It's back to Manila and back to teaching! This year has started off to a crazy, yet rewarding beginning.  After many of the teachers had gotten their classrooms decorated and set up, our principal decided that my 2nd grade class of 28 (with some more on the waiting list) needed to be split. This meant, moving a teacher from kinder to teach Gr 2 and shifting 3 classrooms. I was amazed by the attitude of my roommate, Nicole (a second year teacher) in being willing to change grade levels at such short notice (she will be my grade partner). The last two days before school started were a bit of a mad rush, but the community really stepped up and helped.

This change has left me with a class of 15 students. It was a little bit of a culture shock coming from my class of 27 rowdy 2nd graders last year, to this year's quiet, small class. Classroom management is a much calmer ball game this time around. I did have any kids running away on the first day of school this year (like last year). I do not have any kids with bottoms hanging out from cubbies (like last year). I do not have kids rubbing my legs and commenting on the texture (like last year).  This is definitely going to be a different year.  Even though my class is small, it is very diverse with students from N America, Europe, and Asia. I look forward to investing in these students and giving them far more one-on-one attention.  I know that God has something up His sleeve for this class this year.