By: Cindy
It’s been raining here all week. When it rains in Tanna it really isn’t such a bad thing. Okay, so the girls DO get a little stir crazy after a few days (and so does their mother). And we may have a laundry basket full of clothes waiting to be washed. But, that is okay because the alernative is to handwash in the rain and then deal with wet clothes that won’t dry because of all the moisture in the air. Okay, so we may have to wash dishes in the rain because our washing table is outside, but hey, washing them makes them wet anyway, right?
There’s good things about this week of rain too. One thing being, I don’t have to haul water very far. One of the gutters on our house is broken so it makes a nice stream of water right out the side of our house. I just put my bucket right under the water and pretty soon it is full!
Another good thing is that we are blessed to be located high up on a hill. And because we are high up on a hill, we get a lot of volcanic ash blowing our direction. It falls down on the ground (and on houses and plants and sometimes our hanging clothes). But, with so much ash mixed in with the dirt, it doesn’t really get muddy here. Our house is surrounded by “cleared” ground – just dirt, no grass – for about 4 feet each direction. If we didn’t have the ash, we would have a virual mud pit! Instead, the water just soaks right into the ground and we have very little mud to deal with!
Of course, with all the extra humidity in the air, it tends to just soak right into everything, including our box of matches. Wet matches don’t strike (yes, I know, so profound). BUT, Aaron and I are coffee drinkers. No, you didn’t mis-read that. One DOES have something to do with the other. There is an easy solution to the problem of damp matches. Just place them in your container of coffee and soon you will have dry matches! I won’t charge extra for that little tidbit!
After being stuck inside all day long on Friday and Saturday due to a literal DELUGE of rain, we began to get the itch to get out and get some fresh air and space. There is only so much spreading out four people can do in a two-room house, afterall. So, we beat the trail down to Tess and Harry’s kitchen, where we found them gathered around the fire. Passing the time together on a day like today gives much the same feeling you get when you are cooped up with your family during a blizzard. You are just happy to be warm and dry. And if you are those two things then you can relax and have a little fun. So, we practiced the Bible class songs from the USA that Aaron and I have taught the kids, which sent us all laughing hysterically to tune of “Hippo-Hippo-Hippopotums”, “Hallelujah, Praise Ye the Lord”, and “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up in Jesus”. Good times! Then, Aaron pulled out a deck of cards and we taught their family how to play Spoons (only with shells instead of spoons) and Go Fish. Before long, the sun was setting and our stomachs were getting hungry so I headed back to the house to cook dinner with Aaron, Kaela and Melia braving the rain about 20 minutes after me. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and bonding with our two Christian friends and their 6 kids. Come next week when we head back for our month-long time in Vila, it will be hard to leave.
So, when it rains in Tanna…you get the good and the bad. I may not love my leaky roof (which is especially bad when it has been pouring night and day), but at least I am blessed to have enough bowls and pots to catch the water! And not to worry, the sun is sure to come again. Let’s just hope it is soon - I only have one laundry basket! Ha!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Teaching: Taking It One "Stitch" at a Time
By: Cindy
Three weeks ago, Willie, the RTC School Manager called a teacher’s meeting. Since I agreed to help teach a course or two in the coming year, I was invited to come to the meeting. Originally, I said that I would take on teaching a class at the RTC when we came back for our second lot of time in May. I figured that would give me three months to get used to life here and a month in Port Vila to prepare for my class. Well, naturally in Vanuatu things don’t always go the way you might expect. So…we go with the flow and on with the show!
As it would so happen, the “regular” Home Care teacher is away somewhere (?) and no one seems to know when or if she will return to the village. (Home Care includes Cooking, Sewing, Caring for Babies and Children, Painting, Drawing, etc.). So, teaching the female students has fallen to the RTC Manager’s wife, Iawilam (YAH-Will-Am), and me. Finding out that Willie was expecting me to take on a class with just a week to prepare did not go over very well with me. I do not like feeling unprepared. Seeing as how there is no “set” course to teach or guidelines to follow it can leave you feeling kind of lost and frustrated.
I went to visit Iawilam to talk to her about teaching Home Care. At first, I wanted to ram my head against a wall! We talked for about 20 minutes as I tried to nail down exactly what we were supposed to teach and when. I also tried to explain that teaching at the RTC falls to about #4 on my list of priorities. #1 being our mission work, #2 teaching Kaela and Melia in school, #3 caring for our home, #4 helping with the RTC. For 20 minutes we talked and talked and it became very clear that while there are a couple of people “in charge” of the school, in reality there is no one person to give out directives and thus there are very few teachers taking responsibility for their work in the school…and so I just wanted to ram my head against the wall in exasperation! However, as we talked some more I began to realize that Iawilam is in the very same position I am in in regards to teaching. She didn’t ask to take on teaching the girls. She has her own work to attend to in her home and that takes up most of her time. But, yet, Willie is her husband and therefore, he volunteered her for the task. I felt much better knowing that she wasn’t overly excited about it being thrust in her lap at the last minute either. That was how I felt. But, as there was no one else to take on this task, it has become ours to do with it what we will. So, we agreed that she would teach the course of her choosing on Mondays and I would teach the course of my choosing on Thursdays.
It is at that point that our innate cultural differences became very obvious.
We both were called upon to take on teaching the girls this term. We both, somewhat grudgingly, agreed to do it. We both were responsible for choosing what course we would teach in the coming weeks. However, Monday’s Home Care class came, but Iawilam did not. After a little while Willie showed up and taught the class. And the same happened this week on Monday. No Iawilam.
On the otherhand, because I said I would teach Home Care on Thursday’s that is exactly what I spent the week before my first class preparing to do. I chose “Stitching” (very simple embroidery) as my course to teach. I felt most fortunate to find some embroidery floss in the school’s storage house. It was apparent that it had been abandoned and no one really knew what to do with it. So, I decided to teach the girls how to stitch. A skill they can use to make gifts for family and friends or decorate clothing or tea towels to sell.
I’ve had two classes so far and they are going well. I have 8 students and almost all of the girls seem to really enjoy their newfound skill. They not only practice their stitching in class from 9:30-11:30am on Thursdays, but most have been working on their projects outside of class, as well.
Even though I wasn’t quite ready to take on this new task, I have found that I am enjoying it. I just had to draw some definite lines with the management as to what I was able to do. Teaching two hours in the morning once a week? Yes, okay. Taking on another two hours in the afternoon each week…I had to say, “so sorry”. You have to know your limits. And I know that if I agreed to teach more than that this term, I would find myself with little time to prepare Bible studies and shorting Kaela and Melia on their schooling, which just isn’t right. Now, come May we will see what will happen. I’m scheduled to teach Cooking and Cultural Relations sometime before the end of the year, so we will see how those courses pan out as time goes on!
Three weeks ago, Willie, the RTC School Manager called a teacher’s meeting. Since I agreed to help teach a course or two in the coming year, I was invited to come to the meeting. Originally, I said that I would take on teaching a class at the RTC when we came back for our second lot of time in May. I figured that would give me three months to get used to life here and a month in Port Vila to prepare for my class. Well, naturally in Vanuatu things don’t always go the way you might expect. So…we go with the flow and on with the show!
As it would so happen, the “regular” Home Care teacher is away somewhere (?) and no one seems to know when or if she will return to the village. (Home Care includes Cooking, Sewing, Caring for Babies and Children, Painting, Drawing, etc.). So, teaching the female students has fallen to the RTC Manager’s wife, Iawilam (YAH-Will-Am), and me. Finding out that Willie was expecting me to take on a class with just a week to prepare did not go over very well with me. I do not like feeling unprepared. Seeing as how there is no “set” course to teach or guidelines to follow it can leave you feeling kind of lost and frustrated.
I went to visit Iawilam to talk to her about teaching Home Care. At first, I wanted to ram my head against a wall! We talked for about 20 minutes as I tried to nail down exactly what we were supposed to teach and when. I also tried to explain that teaching at the RTC falls to about #4 on my list of priorities. #1 being our mission work, #2 teaching Kaela and Melia in school, #3 caring for our home, #4 helping with the RTC. For 20 minutes we talked and talked and it became very clear that while there are a couple of people “in charge” of the school, in reality there is no one person to give out directives and thus there are very few teachers taking responsibility for their work in the school…and so I just wanted to ram my head against the wall in exasperation! However, as we talked some more I began to realize that Iawilam is in the very same position I am in in regards to teaching. She didn’t ask to take on teaching the girls. She has her own work to attend to in her home and that takes up most of her time. But, yet, Willie is her husband and therefore, he volunteered her for the task. I felt much better knowing that she wasn’t overly excited about it being thrust in her lap at the last minute either. That was how I felt. But, as there was no one else to take on this task, it has become ours to do with it what we will. So, we agreed that she would teach the course of her choosing on Mondays and I would teach the course of my choosing on Thursdays.
It is at that point that our innate cultural differences became very obvious.
We both were called upon to take on teaching the girls this term. We both, somewhat grudgingly, agreed to do it. We both were responsible for choosing what course we would teach in the coming weeks. However, Monday’s Home Care class came, but Iawilam did not. After a little while Willie showed up and taught the class. And the same happened this week on Monday. No Iawilam.
On the otherhand, because I said I would teach Home Care on Thursday’s that is exactly what I spent the week before my first class preparing to do. I chose “Stitching” (very simple embroidery) as my course to teach. I felt most fortunate to find some embroidery floss in the school’s storage house. It was apparent that it had been abandoned and no one really knew what to do with it. So, I decided to teach the girls how to stitch. A skill they can use to make gifts for family and friends or decorate clothing or tea towels to sell.
I’ve had two classes so far and they are going well. I have 8 students and almost all of the girls seem to really enjoy their newfound skill. They not only practice their stitching in class from 9:30-11:30am on Thursdays, but most have been working on their projects outside of class, as well.
Even though I wasn’t quite ready to take on this new task, I have found that I am enjoying it. I just had to draw some definite lines with the management as to what I was able to do. Teaching two hours in the morning once a week? Yes, okay. Taking on another two hours in the afternoon each week…I had to say, “so sorry”. You have to know your limits. And I know that if I agreed to teach more than that this term, I would find myself with little time to prepare Bible studies and shorting Kaela and Melia on their schooling, which just isn’t right. Now, come May we will see what will happen. I’m scheduled to teach Cooking and Cultural Relations sometime before the end of the year, so we will see how those courses pan out as time goes on!
Monday, March 28, 2011
This ‘N That
By: Cindy
Good Morning -
I’m writing this blog at 1:39am. I’ve been awake for about two hours now. Maybe three cups of coffee was too many this afternoon.
Blog
Many thanks to all of you who take the time to read our weekly blog! Several of you have posted comments and we just want you to know that even though we may not be able (for various reasons) to reply to all of your comments, they have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for all of the encouragement and kindness you extend to us each week! We GREATLY appreciate it!
Baptism!
Great news! We have a new sister in Christ! Harry’s wife, Tess, was baptized into Christ on Wednesday afternoon. I wish you all could have seen the smile that stretched from ear to ear when she told me that she wanted to become a Christian! It was pure joy at its best! Interestingly, Tess is also the sister of Sam, Nipina, and Andrew and the daughter of Abu Iata and Abu Salome who are all Christians living and worshipping in Etas Village just outside of Port Vila.
Food
Our food situation has greatly improved over the last month, as new crops are starting to grow. I am SO THANKFUL that the market is beginning to offer more than just slimy island cabbage (in my opinion), young coconuts and cucumbers. Now we are beginning to enjoy avocado, green peppers, onions, susut leaf and pumpkin leaf (greens), and a few types of green beans! Yea! AND a new shipment of flour just arrived in town. There hasn’t been a bag of flour to be had for about three weeks now and it was really cramping my style to not have flour on hand! I was so happy to see those 25Kilo bags of flour stacked outside a store I could have yelled for joy! (It’s the small things in life, you know…)
Care Packages
Our teammate, Mike, has informed us that there are a few boxes waiting for us at our house in Port Vila. If you sent a care package to Port Vila, we will be sure to email/snail mail our thanks to you shortly after we arrive back in Vila at the end of April. So, don’t think we are ungrateful…we just are waiting to see what we are grateful for and to whom we should send our thanks! :o)
That Funny Kaela…
Last night Aaron and I were enjoying a cup of hot tea with our dinner. Kaela begged Aaron to make a little bit of hot tea for her to drink too. As he dipped the bag, he asked, “Kaela, how dark do you want it?” And she replied, “About the color of Martha, Miswel’s wife!” HAHAHA!!!! Kids! :o)
Good Morning -
I’m writing this blog at 1:39am. I’ve been awake for about two hours now. Maybe three cups of coffee was too many this afternoon.
Blog
Many thanks to all of you who take the time to read our weekly blog! Several of you have posted comments and we just want you to know that even though we may not be able (for various reasons) to reply to all of your comments, they have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for all of the encouragement and kindness you extend to us each week! We GREATLY appreciate it!
Baptism!
Great news! We have a new sister in Christ! Harry’s wife, Tess, was baptized into Christ on Wednesday afternoon. I wish you all could have seen the smile that stretched from ear to ear when she told me that she wanted to become a Christian! It was pure joy at its best! Interestingly, Tess is also the sister of Sam, Nipina, and Andrew and the daughter of Abu Iata and Abu Salome who are all Christians living and worshipping in Etas Village just outside of Port Vila.
Food
Our food situation has greatly improved over the last month, as new crops are starting to grow. I am SO THANKFUL that the market is beginning to offer more than just slimy island cabbage (in my opinion), young coconuts and cucumbers. Now we are beginning to enjoy avocado, green peppers, onions, susut leaf and pumpkin leaf (greens), and a few types of green beans! Yea! AND a new shipment of flour just arrived in town. There hasn’t been a bag of flour to be had for about three weeks now and it was really cramping my style to not have flour on hand! I was so happy to see those 25Kilo bags of flour stacked outside a store I could have yelled for joy! (It’s the small things in life, you know…)
Care Packages
Our teammate, Mike, has informed us that there are a few boxes waiting for us at our house in Port Vila. If you sent a care package to Port Vila, we will be sure to email/snail mail our thanks to you shortly after we arrive back in Vila at the end of April. So, don’t think we are ungrateful…we just are waiting to see what we are grateful for and to whom we should send our thanks! :o)
That Funny Kaela…
Last night Aaron and I were enjoying a cup of hot tea with our dinner. Kaela begged Aaron to make a little bit of hot tea for her to drink too. As he dipped the bag, he asked, “Kaela, how dark do you want it?” And she replied, “About the color of Martha, Miswel’s wife!” HAHAHA!!!! Kids! :o)
Where’s Aaron?
Don’t worry. I’m here. Where have I been, you might ask? Well, between being sick and classes at school starting for the year, I have been busy. Not the kind of busy where you want to pull your hair out, but the good-kind of busy where there is stuff to do everyday and you can sleep well at night. That kind of busy. “Busy doing what?” you might ask. Well, here goes.
First, our main priority for moving to Tanna is to work with the church. Our second priority is for Cindy and I to help at a local Rural Training Center (much like a vo-tech in the States) to bolster goodwill within the village where we live. School began two weeks ago and time has really been flying by ever since.
I am teaching two classes at the moment, English and Bible Study. English, I teach on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I like it OK, but let me say there is a huge difference in speaking the language versus teaching that same language. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one thing. Try teaching English without any curriculum and this is why it’s even more difficult to teach the students here. They come to class with pencil and paper. That’s it. Then, it’s up to me to teach English to 18-20 year olds who, on average, have an eighth grade education. I’m not complaining, but just mentioning that it is like a Rubix cube puzzle – just when you think you have one side all lined up, then you look at the five other sides and realize you have a long ways yet to go.
The positive side is that the school has a very small and antiquated library. So, I was able to rummage through their books and find a few about the English language and use them to draw some ideas from and put together a make-shift curriculum that should last me a few weeks. After that…who knows?
So while thumbing through these books, I was completely reminded of the disparity between Western education standards (Australia, New Zealand, USA) and Vanuatu / South Pacific education standards. The grading scale for Vanuatu goes like this:
A+ = 100-85
A = 84-80
B+ = 79-75
B = 74-65
C+ = 64-60
C = 59-50
D = 49-40
F = 39-0
I don’t know about those of you reading this blog posting, but where I went to school from primary school, middle school and high school, you had to get at least 90 and above to earn an A. It seems here they are handed out like lollies. In addition, a 50 while growing up would earn me an F in school, a stern lecture and probably an application of the good ‘ole fashion “board of education” to my “seat of learning”. I guess that’s just me, because here in Vanuatu a 50 earns you a C. Wow!
My favorite class, by far, is Bible. Each student is required to take my class, so on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the mornings (7:30 – 9) I have about 17 students with whom I get to spend a few hours teaching the Bible. I pray that in the future, this will really produce a great harvest for the church.
Because so many students come from so many religious backgrounds, I am working slowly on laying a good foundation about trusting and studying God’s Word. I have students with Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Neil Thomas Ministries, Church of Christ denominational, and even Bahai beliefs. My goal is to teach the truth in love as clearly as possible so that the Word can do its work in them. Even with students with such a mixed background, only the Word is able to unite them in one belief, if only they are willing to follow and study the Bible, and it alone. Only time will tell how it will turn out. Prayerfully, there will be a harvest sometime in the future.
Where else have I been? Well, due to our family not having refrigeration, I am trying to go to town every Friday and Monday to get food and supplies. On Fridays, our famliy makes the trip to town to do our shopping and have some family time together. We usually try to go swimming to have fun together for an hour or two each week. Then, on Mondays, I come to town by myself to send/receive emails, go to the bank and take care of other odds and ends. On Fridays, we leave at 9:30 in the morning and return about 4 in the afternoon. On Mondays, I leave at 9:30am and return by about 2:30pm even though I walk 30 minutes to catch a truck to get to/from town.
Besides going to town, we spend time in the garden weeding and cultivating our crops. Everyone here in Tanna spends time in the garden. It’s what you do. It’s how you get food. So, we knew if we came it would be frowned upon if we didn’t have a garden. Therefore, we’re going to try and turn our black thumbs green in this rich, black soil found in Tanna. Who knew black plus black made green?
Oh, funny story (and not just a preacher’s story, this really happened). So I was preaching this past Sunday in a village to which we had been invited. Our family as well as Harry and his family, Miswel, and a few people from around the Lorakau area, walked to Lausenganu (pronounced Lao-sang-ahn-oo) village where we were to worship. The walk was about 45 minutes one way and boy, that sun was hot!
As I was preaching during worship, there were various chickens and dogs milling around. For sure, nothing can disrupt a sermon like a good dog fight. I was preaching away and all of the sudden two dogs right next to where I was standing decided to tear into one another and away they went at each other: fighting, biting, clawing and gnawing. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this, but try preaching while the entire group of people gathered is watching a dogfight and see if your points get through.
Needless to say, the dogs went round and round, growling and fighting and something had to be done! I decided in that instant that since I was the closest to the dogs and was probably the only one annoyed at the show they were putting on, that I would give my strongest, hardest, fastest kick I could muster to the closest dog. Just like my old soccer coach taught me, I planted my left leg, swung with my right, and expected good, solid contact. The only problem was that I missed! The dogs decided, mutually, I’m sure, to stop fighting in that instant and move away from this funny looking white man standing on one leg. As they moved away, I missed my well-planned, but poorly placed kick and nearly lost my balance. Try regaining the attention of your audience once they are snickering at you almost falling down. Not easy, believe me.
Anyway, that was the first time I ever tried to break up a dogfight while preaching. I’m guessing it won’t be the last.
First, our main priority for moving to Tanna is to work with the church. Our second priority is for Cindy and I to help at a local Rural Training Center (much like a vo-tech in the States) to bolster goodwill within the village where we live. School began two weeks ago and time has really been flying by ever since.
I am teaching two classes at the moment, English and Bible Study. English, I teach on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I like it OK, but let me say there is a huge difference in speaking the language versus teaching that same language. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one thing. Try teaching English without any curriculum and this is why it’s even more difficult to teach the students here. They come to class with pencil and paper. That’s it. Then, it’s up to me to teach English to 18-20 year olds who, on average, have an eighth grade education. I’m not complaining, but just mentioning that it is like a Rubix cube puzzle – just when you think you have one side all lined up, then you look at the five other sides and realize you have a long ways yet to go.
The positive side is that the school has a very small and antiquated library. So, I was able to rummage through their books and find a few about the English language and use them to draw some ideas from and put together a make-shift curriculum that should last me a few weeks. After that…who knows?
So while thumbing through these books, I was completely reminded of the disparity between Western education standards (Australia, New Zealand, USA) and Vanuatu / South Pacific education standards. The grading scale for Vanuatu goes like this:
A+ = 100-85
A = 84-80
B+ = 79-75
B = 74-65
C+ = 64-60
C = 59-50
D = 49-40
F = 39-0
I don’t know about those of you reading this blog posting, but where I went to school from primary school, middle school and high school, you had to get at least 90 and above to earn an A. It seems here they are handed out like lollies. In addition, a 50 while growing up would earn me an F in school, a stern lecture and probably an application of the good ‘ole fashion “board of education” to my “seat of learning”. I guess that’s just me, because here in Vanuatu a 50 earns you a C. Wow!
My favorite class, by far, is Bible. Each student is required to take my class, so on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the mornings (7:30 – 9) I have about 17 students with whom I get to spend a few hours teaching the Bible. I pray that in the future, this will really produce a great harvest for the church.
Because so many students come from so many religious backgrounds, I am working slowly on laying a good foundation about trusting and studying God’s Word. I have students with Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Neil Thomas Ministries, Church of Christ denominational, and even Bahai beliefs. My goal is to teach the truth in love as clearly as possible so that the Word can do its work in them. Even with students with such a mixed background, only the Word is able to unite them in one belief, if only they are willing to follow and study the Bible, and it alone. Only time will tell how it will turn out. Prayerfully, there will be a harvest sometime in the future.
Where else have I been? Well, due to our family not having refrigeration, I am trying to go to town every Friday and Monday to get food and supplies. On Fridays, our famliy makes the trip to town to do our shopping and have some family time together. We usually try to go swimming to have fun together for an hour or two each week. Then, on Mondays, I come to town by myself to send/receive emails, go to the bank and take care of other odds and ends. On Fridays, we leave at 9:30 in the morning and return about 4 in the afternoon. On Mondays, I leave at 9:30am and return by about 2:30pm even though I walk 30 minutes to catch a truck to get to/from town.
Besides going to town, we spend time in the garden weeding and cultivating our crops. Everyone here in Tanna spends time in the garden. It’s what you do. It’s how you get food. So, we knew if we came it would be frowned upon if we didn’t have a garden. Therefore, we’re going to try and turn our black thumbs green in this rich, black soil found in Tanna. Who knew black plus black made green?
Oh, funny story (and not just a preacher’s story, this really happened). So I was preaching this past Sunday in a village to which we had been invited. Our family as well as Harry and his family, Miswel, and a few people from around the Lorakau area, walked to Lausenganu (pronounced Lao-sang-ahn-oo) village where we were to worship. The walk was about 45 minutes one way and boy, that sun was hot!
As I was preaching during worship, there were various chickens and dogs milling around. For sure, nothing can disrupt a sermon like a good dog fight. I was preaching away and all of the sudden two dogs right next to where I was standing decided to tear into one another and away they went at each other: fighting, biting, clawing and gnawing. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this, but try preaching while the entire group of people gathered is watching a dogfight and see if your points get through.
Needless to say, the dogs went round and round, growling and fighting and something had to be done! I decided in that instant that since I was the closest to the dogs and was probably the only one annoyed at the show they were putting on, that I would give my strongest, hardest, fastest kick I could muster to the closest dog. Just like my old soccer coach taught me, I planted my left leg, swung with my right, and expected good, solid contact. The only problem was that I missed! The dogs decided, mutually, I’m sure, to stop fighting in that instant and move away from this funny looking white man standing on one leg. As they moved away, I missed my well-planned, but poorly placed kick and nearly lost my balance. Try regaining the attention of your audience once they are snickering at you almost falling down. Not easy, believe me.
Anyway, that was the first time I ever tried to break up a dogfight while preaching. I’m guessing it won’t be the last.
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