Life Lesson #2

"Hey, at least it's not raining." -- Meaning, it could always be worse.

I spend so much time dwelling on my own problems. When attending the necrological service of a 28 year old who recently died and left behind a heartbroken husband and a 1 month old son, I realized just how trivial those problems are.

Life Lesson #1

When traveling (or living) overseas, never use a slang expression that has the potential to be deemed cruel or disrespectful.

Yikes!

Miss Atkins, student and instructor

You know, I'm really enjoying being a teacher -- English and ballet. It's so thrilling to help others learn something new, even just one tiny thing like how to correctly releve in fifth position. And teaching is such a great learning experience, too.

I am so in love with my ballet class!!! We're currently preparing for another performance on Christmas Day, and we're all tired but having a blast! I love it, because the longer I teach them the more I learn. I'm learning to balance fun times with serious, stricter times, and I've come up with some really great (not to toot my own horn or anything) on-the-spot games and ideas for our classes/practices that have made them really enjoyable. I feel like I'm getting closer to the kids, too. They used to be shy to speak English to me, or to tell me anything about themselves, but now it's like I have 11 new brothers and sisters. On that note, my class has gro-o-o-wn!! I'm happy to know that more kids are interested in joining, but I finally had to set a cut-off date. It was getting to big for me to handle. We've practiced every day this week, which is pretty tiring -- but it's a great feeling to know that they're so excited to come every day. Last week I traveled to Baguio and they all groaned when they heard we wouldn't be practicing for two days in a row. :)

In other news, the Christmas break is coming up and I just gave my English students their second exam. Two of them have improved significantly, and I'm excited. It's better than none! As with the ballet class, I feel like the longer I teach the more ideas I get and the better I become at it. I never thought I'd enjoy teaching this much. I still don't think it's something I'll pursue as a career, but we have teaching opportunities every day and I'm glad to know that I'm not terrible at it. Oh, I just wish I was staying here another year so I could teach for an entire year and use all of my ideas!

I love you all and hope you're each enjoying a blessed holiday season!
love,k