P is for Patience.

We have been teaching for three days now and everyday is different in terms of which children decide to behave.

Wednesday was our first day teaching at the YuvaLok school. Instead of 4th and 5th grade, Lauren and I are actually teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. When we arrived wednesday morning at 1:30 we were given a list of names of our "batches" of children. At first Lauren and I were going to separate and each teach about 7 kids for 40 minute time incremements for each grade. We later learned that that doesn't work.

Wednesday Lauren had 5 second graders while I had 7. My second graders names are Soniga, Tomilan, Surya, John, Ranjitha, Gayathri, and Ruben. They know very very little English so the first day we just went over the alphabet. I had them write it and then say it aloud. I also wrote down simple words for them to copy so they could practice writing their letters. After 40 mintues of 2nd graders, we got our batch of 1st graders. I had 8 1st graders while Lauren had 7. My 1st graders names are Muthu, Sarah, Shabaz, Karthika, Savitha, Supriya, Deepa, and Vignesh. They are wild. They know even less English than the 2nd graders and so they don't understand us when we reprimand them. They laugh at us when we get mad at them for climbing all over the desk and chair. Our classroom is a very small computer room with one big teachers desk and a chair. They insist on climbing all over that all the time. And then they like to jump off. Lauren and I are really learning what it means to have true patience. After our 40 minutes with the 1st graders, which has become 30 minutes the past 2 days because of their misbehavior, we get our 3rd graders. Lauren and I have been keeping our 3rd graders together because there are only 7 of them total. I only know three of their names. There is Prateep, Amitha, and Anitha and then the other names are really hard to pronounce and I don't know them by heart yet. The 3rd graders are really fun and I'm so glad that we get to end our days with them. They listen and respect us and the difference between the knowledge of the 3rd graders vs. the 2nd graders is astounding. They love to learn and they truly desire to be correct in everything they write. They also love to dance and teach us songs.

So today is Friday and this morning Lauren and I still kept the 2nd grade batches separate but we decided to combine our first grade classes because when we had them separate they would just run down the halls trying to find their friends anyway. We have 6 more days of teaching and we keep telling ourselves that this is the experience of a lifetime, but it's so hard to have a firm grasp on that when you have 13 five and six year olds bouncing off the walls and laughing in your face. So note that as a prayer request please. :) Sometimes the kids are adorable and polite. They do stand up as a class when we enter the room. They love waving, high fiving, and smiling at us. And they all call us Auntie which is adorable.

And on the YoungLife front, last night Lauren and I got to witness out first Indian club. We went to the Bagalur club last night and it was phenomenal. The structure was very similar to an American club. They play games and hang out with each other as they wait for more children to arrive. Then we started with two mixers. One was called Bomb in the City, which is the same as our version of 4 corners. Then we played what they call Fire on the Mountain, which is where when the music stops the leader calls out a number and you have to get in a group of that many people. Then there were some songs, a raffle, an up front game (who could eat the most bananas in a minute), and a talk. My favorite part was at the end when the whole group welcomes the newcomers with clapping and smiles.

I met a young girl named Mary at the Bagalur club who is 11 and she's the most adorable thing ever. She wanted to hold my hand and just be near me the entire time we were there. And she made sure to know that I was coming back next Thursday. After club last night I got to ride on the back of Sharola's moto. Without a helmet. It was exhilarating. There are so many things that happen here that would never ever happen in a million years in America...and these things have started to become normal for us here in India. Lauren and I were laughing today about what it's going to be like when we get back home. We won't be seeing anymore random cows wandering the streets or chickens with no buttfeathers greeting us in the morning on the way to school. There are babies riding on motorcycles with no helmets with their parents of course, but still. There won't be anymore cars driving on the wrong side of the road and rickshaw accidents. But I can't get nostalgic while I'm still here. I just wanted to you to get a taste of the chaos.

Tonight we are headed off to YuvaLok YoungLife club which is the club for the kids from the school that we are working at. Lauren, Taylor, and I are in charge of the mixer. :)

Special prayer request for Taylor. She's not feeling very well. We think she has the flu and she's going into the doctor today to find out.

Also, a random aside...when certain cars are backing up outside our window in the mornings they have special tunes that play instead of just plain beeping. One of the tunes we hear often is the one from Titanic...my heart will go on. Epic.

I also taught all the leaders how to play Nertz and they are obsessed. They play every night.

And last night we were in charge of making dinner. We made pancakes with bananas and peanut butter but the leaders didn't really care for them because they were too sweet with the syrup. They prefer spicy. Not sweet. Note to self.

Pray for patience in our teaching and for persistence in our seeking of the Lord as we start to become homesick.

Thanks for reading dear friend!!