February 8 "Orion's Belt"

Today we got to work right away with a meeting with Pastor P and one of the D's about how we are going to go about teaching. Everyone is excited that we are here and wants us to begin straight away! After our initial meeting, we stuck around for the current English and basic health classes that the women are currently receiving, which is once a week for two hours. We want to increase what the women are learning as far as English goes, but we don’t want to overwhelm them, so setting up a schedule to fit everything in should be interesting! Plus, we didn’t think they had any background at all in English, but they were all reading it at different levels, but still reading nonetheless. With ESL and tutoring split 50/50, we should have some full days! The rest of our day was kind of spent toying with the schedule and different ideas we had for what should be taught and when. We also visited the preschool on campus where thirteen of the seminary students’ children attend. They were so cute with their chants and songs! T and I got to help “teach” by helping them with their worksheets. We found out from D&D, the Kingdom Workers, that C—the preschool teacher—wants us to teach them two days a week while we are here! The kids are very well behaved and so adorable, but as T and I are used to the big kids, this will be another adventure! We are starting next week! We talked with A, our “house mother” for awhile this afternoon while sitting in the shade of the mango trees. She is the guest house manager, so she keeps it clean and will cook us dinner nightly. Yum! D&D were so kind as to drive us to the mall again tonight to grocery shop and we ate at another lovely little food place—chicken pitas. Delish! Once we returned to the seminary, it was past 7, and T and I decided to talk a walk and start exploring our new home. It was dark when we were walking past 8, and very quiet. It seems that the families mainly stick to their own houses after dinner, but we sure see many kids playing, husbands learning, and women working throughout the day! Our night was complete with a look at the stars from the Southern hemisphere and some good time to catch up on logistics for the trip.