Hello, everyone! Is it really already February? Spring is just around the corner for most of you. The seasons and weather all run together here. To us, it's just hot. Always. Hot. Although the weather doesn't seem to be changing much, our daily schedules down here in Managua have become quite different in the past few weeks. Students start school this Monday, February 9th! We're excited to get started and meet all of our students! It feels like it's been a while since we've been in a classroom and we miss it!
We began our teacher work days at NCA Nejapa (Nicaragua Christian Academy) 3 weeks ago. Just to recap, Mitch is the English coordinator and will teach 20 hours a week and advise the other members of the English department the other 20 hours a week. We anticipate that he'll get to speak some Spanish, but mostly English. Lauren is a kindergarten sssistant and will spend each day in a Spanish speaking classroom. We're excited for these different roles and all that we'll learn in the year to come.
What a difference it is to be in this Christian school system, instead of the public system we were used to. We've been adjusting well to all of the changes and are enjoying the Christian atmosphere. Our first week our principal reminded everyone of the importance of academic learning, but more importantly, of the importance of teaching about Christ and being models of Christ in our classrooms. We talked about it at home later than night and how we never had the freedom to share those things before now. It was always academics above all else. We are grateful that we're getting the opportunity to experience both sides of the coin in these early stages of our careers!
Speaking of things being said, all directions that we're given, all staff/teacher work days, all workshops, and devotions are all done in Spanish. We decided we probably get about 35-40% of what's being said at school. Directions are given, and we miss them. Tasks are divided out, and we miss them. Jokes are said and all the staff laughs, while we look at each other with blank stares. Depending on who is speaking, how clearly and how slowly, we can either pick up most all of what's being said, or we miss almost every word. We are learning to be gracious with ourselves in acknowledging that we've only been here for 4 months and there's a learning curve to learning a new language.
The first week of teacher work days, we skipped the morning session to go to a funeral of a staff member whose father passed away. Somehow we didn't catch that when it was explained to us all in the morning announcements. Lauren found out when someone came up to her and told us in English, "So you two will get to experience your first Nicaraguan funeral today!" Lauren said, "What?" She then went and told Mitch and somehow he missed the memo as well. Since then we've been careful to clarify everything that we hear in Spanish. There are several staff members who speak English very well. All of the staff in Mitch's English department speak English and help us out when we need it.
We've been trying to figure out our schedules and get into a routine so we can find intentional times to go to Fortress of Hope in the evenings. Today, we went to Fortress of Hope to begin English classes again. This was our first English class in 2 months! We decided to teach English there only on Saturdays for now and we'll hopefully add a day or two during the week once we're a little more settled in to our school schedules.
We'd love your continued prayers, especially now as we're adjusting to a new school in a different culture. Thanks for your love. We feel it all the way down where it's 90 degrees :)
Make it a great week,
Lauren & Mitchell
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