The New School Year

Hola Amigos,
I hope that you are all doing well!! I figured that you all are probably ready for an update from me. So, here we go. We started school on Aug. 16th. I am officially teaching two sections of 8th, 9th and 10th grades and one section of 11th grade. It has been very challenging but good. It's hard to keep class creative and interesting for the students, but it is very good. I like it a lot minus the discipline part. I absolutely love my students!! They are so precious!! Culturally, it's been a bit of an adaptation as far as how the students act in the classroom. If you didn't know it already, Latins love to talk!! So, the hardest part is to get the students to keep quiet while I am trying to teach or explain things to them. Let's see, I'm sure you are all ready for some stories, so here are a few of the frustrations that I've had to get used to. First of all, in secondary school the students do not switch to different classrooms between bells instead the teachers move to the students classrooms. That is nice for us, but I think that it makes the students really antsy by the end of the day because they have to stay in one classroom all day. A good piece of background info. for you all, the secondary school is three stories (wonderful stairs!!) but when you walk out of any one of the classrooms you are outside. That is so wonderful!!! Also, their lunchroom is outside under a giant tent!! It's so great!! You've got to love the tropical climate!!
Another frustration was the whole copy machine process. You have to have all of your copies made two days in advance. So, you have to have really advanced planning. There are only three people who are allowed to use the copy machine, so that provides for a few problems if you can understand. So, this was one of my greatest frustrations until one day I sat down and was thinking about how it frustrated me so much, then I finally realized, "Amber, you are not in the United States, you are in a developing country it's okay if they don't do things like they do at home!!" I sometimes forget that I am in a developing country when I'm here because it is so Americanized. So, it was quite a relief when I remembered where I was!!

Okay, so now you need to hear about one of my favorite days that I've had since I've been here. This was my first time spending my birthday in another country, and I must say that it was probably one of the best ever!! I woke up the morning of my birthday and I was kind of missing home while I was taking a shower. Anyway, I got out of the shower and opened the door to my bedroom and my roommates attacked me with baloons and singing and candy!! They also gave me a wonderful Dora the Explorer party hat that I was instructed to wear the rest of the day along with a pin that said, "Happy Birthday." So, being the good sport that I am (hating every minute of it ;) ) I wore the hat and pin for the day. At school, in almost all of my classes I had all of my students throw me a surprise party!! It was so wonderful!!! I walked into the classrooms and they were decorated, they threw confetti at me, and there was tons of cake all day long!! So, I'm sure to all of your guys surprise I did not give any class that day. We just hung out and ate cake!! It was wonderful!! I received four cakes and a cupcake from all of my classes that day!! It was so great!! I've never eated so much cake in my life!! So, just when I thought the fun was over, there was more. My roommate Ann and I had decided that we would go with our friend, Josue, to the top of the volcano that afternoon after school. We were excited about that!! It was absolutely beautiful!!! You could see the whole city of San Salvador from up there, all of the mountains surrounding it, and beautiful lakes!! That was wonderful!! We came back by dark and were planning on going out to eat with the rest of my roommates, so on the way back we were discussing places we could go but did not come to a decision. So, we pull up to the house to pick up the rest of the girls and I notice several familiar cars outside of my house but Josue played it off really well so I didn't think anything of it. Well, we open the door and the next thing I know I have people smashing confetti filled egg shells on my head!! I was in complete shock!!! I did not have a clue!! So, after the confetti eggs they brought out my pinata (I had really been wanting one for my birthday). That was quite humiliating, but as we all know I don't really mind humiliating myself!! As I am trying to hit the pinata, I was somehow talented enough to hit myself a few times while I was at it, much to the amusement of all of my friends!! So, as you will see in the pictures all of my friends were there and threw me a surprise party. I have really wonderful friends here!!! They are so good to us!! In the picture from left to right are (so, you know for future reference when I talk about them): Fabio and Cady, Josue, Elvis and Ashley, Stephanie, Cristina and Charlie, Anne, Ann, Me, Courtney, Karen, and Cynthia and Miguel. Karla was the only one missing that day because she was sick. So, we did have another cake!! I received five cakes for my birthday!!! I've never had so many in my life!!! It was an absolutely wonderful day!! It was topped off by my Mom and my sister calling me to wish me a "Happy Birthday." Overall, I would have to say it was a fantastic birthday!! My friends are good to me!!

Independence day for El Salvador (and Guatemala) was Sept. 15th, so we had the day off of work. So, we (my roommates and I) decided to go on vacation to Guatemala for the weekend with our friends: Cynthia, Miguel and Karla. So, Cynthia and Miguel drove with a car full and Karla, Courtney and I took a bus. No worries, it was not as interesting as I thought it would be (the bus ride, that is). Anyway, we spent our time in Guatemala City and Antigua. Antigua is a very historic, old city. That is where all of the pictures are from. Anyway, it was a good trip. Guatemala is also beautiful!! The next trip we are planning is Costa Rica. I'm looking forward to that!! It's supposed to have beautiful beaches.

So, that is a small update from me for now. I am so busy all of the time; grading and planning for classes. It is very time consuming!! However, we do still make time on the weekends to have fun with our friends. It is hard and very tiring at times, but God is so faithful!! I am so at such peace because I know that I am exactly where the Lord wants me for this season of my life!! That is such a blessing!! God has allowed me to live a small piece of my dream and I feel so complete and full of joy!! It makes my job so much easier and enjoyable!! It is so amazing to have an opportunity every day to have an influence in the lives of teenagers of the next generation!! God has given me such a heart for these students, that I could not have through my own power. I absolutely love them!!! I know that they can see God's love and joy through me!! I just pray that the Lord would use me every day in their lives to show them how amazing he is and how much he loves them!!!