As my life becomes more enjoyable, easier to laugh at, and slightly less stressful, I find it appropriate to give another glimpse at the joys and sorrows of life in Mussoorie.
I’ll take the oreo cookie sandwich approach. This is a teaching method in which you surround negative with positives to make a situation appear better despite its awful appearance.
A blessing fell from the heavens today. I had been having some difficulty with my sixth grade class. Let me paint the picture for you. I have both sixth grade sections at one time. That means 36 students in the gym at one time. Without knowing names, language abilities, or personality clashes, this class has been my constant battle. It takes every ounce of energy I have to maintain a class that is not absolute chaos and madness. Hearing that other people had concerns with the 6th graders eased my pain slightly, but it didn’t make it less stressful. After calmly, or quite directly, stating my concerns at a junior school staff meeting, an angel has come to help me along. It was decided that we would take out nine of the kids at a time to do the rock climbing wall with one of the rock climbing staff. This man will add a year to my life, and he has no idea. This does however create a whole new problem. Now, I will have nine kids missing class material every day. Awesome. So life goes on.
My schedule in the senior school has remained less than ideal. By a freak chance of nature, I saw one class for the first time today and had to assess their soccer skills. Umm, what. The third week into school should not be a time for first meetings. Thanks Woodstock.
The monsoon varies from easy peasy to are you kidding me in seconds. Every now and then the monsoon slaps me in the face for my “easy peasy” thoughts. For example, this morning the rain was horrible. I had gymnastics club at 7:15. I planned on getting to school early to do a bit of work before it, but then I saw the rain. I had little hope that anyone would show up for gymnastics, but I pressed on anyway. I wore sandals, my rain coat over my backpack, shorts, and carried an umbrella. I was preparing for battle, and the rain won. I felt like I was on the Oregon Trail fording rivers left and right. I kept fearing that I would lose an oxe or worse my backpack down one of the streams. I even had to go the long way because there was so much rain pouring down the stairs of death.
While it’s been raining on my parade and my schedule has been craptacular, I have been finding peace and joy in many things here at Woodstock. As mentioned, the people here are some of the most amazing people to grace this planet. I’m beginning to pick out favorite students, and I hope I’m becoming someone’s favorite as well. The cross country team, despite its lack of consistency or care, brings a smile to my face and calmness after a long day. Every now and then we even see the sun at the top of the mountain where we run. It’s almost as if God’s giving me a reward for trekking up the mountain after a morning workout and six classes of teaching.
The gymnastics clubs have been bringing me other kinds of happiness. I had left the field long ago, but I have found myself in a situation to give these kids an outlet that they need. I teach junior school after school on Tuesdays with some senior school “helpers,” and I teach senior school club before schools on Tuesdays. These kids want to learn everything. Can I teach you how to do a flip? Well, let’s focus on a cartwheel first pal. Let’s try flips maybe next year…
What are you looking at?
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