The Struggles

I have been here for just over a month, and I am starting my 5th week in the classroom. While I am enjoying my time here, it is not perfect because life isn’t perfect, so I thought I would share some of the struggles that I have while being here. 

The time difference is hard for me because I am 6 hours ahead of everyone back home. This means that communicating with people back home can be difficult. When at Norbs I call my mom a lot. I call her almost every day and sometimes even more than once a day. That is difficult to do while I am here because I am going to bed when she is finishing work. On the weekends we are able to talk more, but we don’t always talk on the phone because it gets expensive. 

This leads into my second struggle which is getting homesick. I love being able to talk to my mom, but it also makes me miss home. I miss things that I thought I wouldn’t miss like my roommates; Sarah singing all the time, Brianna coming to cuddle with me even when I’m not in the mood for people, and Corie making chili and complaining about her “wife status”. I also miss the activities that had become regular things that I did. Some days I would hate how busy I am and the time and effort I put into serving other people, but I miss leading Bible study and going to Crulive meetings weekly. This past weekend has also been the weekend that I have gone to the rodeo with my best friend, Jaylea, for the past few years, so I am missing that and missing her a little more this weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I love my time here and the people I have met so far, but sometimes I miss home a little too.

Controlling a classroom with 36 students is difficult. It is even more difficult for me because I do not use the cane to punish students. My cooperating teacher will even say to the students, “You don’t respect the teachers, you just respect the cane.” It doesn’t take long for a room with so many kids to get loud, and some times they listen to my ways of getting them to quiet down, but other times it takes a little longer. While this is getting better, I still struggle with it some times. I am thinking about using some PBIS types posters and expectations to help them understand what I expect from them. I’ll let you know how it goes in the coming days.

A lot of people back have been saying that I will have a nice tan when I get back. However, because of Harmathan, I will not be as tan as some people think. Harmattan is what they call the weather we are experiencing here now. The sky is always hazy so while it is sunny, you can’t really see the sun directly. It is also very dry. I have been here for 4 weeks and it has rained only once. That rain shouldn’t even qualify as rain, it was more like a light mist for about 10 minutes. Because it has been so dry the roads have been very dusty, and sometimes the dust is a little more than I can handle especially when I am walking to school and there are also cars driving on the roads to bring the students to school. I love that the weather is a little cooler, but I hate the dust.