Workin Workin Workin!

So last week was my first full week of my dental charla series. I gave 13 dental talks to every class in the grade school (pre-school to 6^th grade) and 7-9^th grade in the high school. It was very successful, and I know the kids really enjoyed it. However, I was very tired. I never knew teaching was so draining. And I only worked for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon! However, I was teaching in my second language, so that was a little bit harder. So I started with the little kids, we sang songs, read stories and played simple games. Then I transitioned into the high school and for a moment I forgot what it was like to be in high school/middle school… but it quickly came flooding back to me. I don’t think I was sufficiently prepared for what I entered into. I came from little kids in classes no more than 10 to an 8^th grade class of 30 students! Not only did they laugh at me when I said words wrong, but it was tough. I felt very intimidated and also slightly embarrassed after they laughed at me. It is really different than teaching to the little kids. They don’t care or even notice when you say something wrong. But the big kids- they notice. So it was definitely a transition, but the 9^th and 7^th grade went tons better. I was more prepared and I knew more kids well in those other two grades. And I’m going to tell you a little secret to the success of my lessons. TAG! They loved tag. I didn’t know the word for it in Spanish so I just called it tag! They did not want to stop playing, such a simple game that I grew up playing at recess, but it was totally knew to these kids and they really had a great time playing- success! It feels good to be doing things though. And now all the kids call me Profesora Sara- I like it!

Other than that I worked out mon-fri last week. I went running/walking. Right when I get lots of motivation to get out there and start working out, getting back into shape of course something happens… I have mean shin splints. And they hurt, really bad. Boo! So not only is it weird that I’m running in the first place (because that is not a normal thing) but not I run even funnier because my shins hurt so bad! But you know, I’m pushing through it and doing as much as I can! But because of all the running I’ve been doing, I’ve had lots of women tell me they want to start exercising too and that we can start walking together in the later afternoon! So that’s pretty cool and I lost 1 kilo (2.2 pounds)!

Today I hung out and I think I was officially accepted into the cool girl circle! I have a group of young girls my age in my site. Ages 21-24 and there are about 5 of them. They all work in our local municipality and they invited me to play basketball and hang out with them today. We played for a few minutes and then sat around drinking terere and chatting all afternoon! It was really fun and had a great time hanging out with girls my own age! They said they would help me move in and arrange all my things when I finally get my own house. And we can have a move in party!! More than ever I’m really looking forward to getting my own place! Probably wont be till October, because the guy that owns the house is going to build the bathroom and he is currently working on a job in another town so he doesn’t have time right now. But I talked to his brother the other day who is like the liaison between him and I and I told him how I was really excited to have my own house and I was really ready to move and hopefully his brother will finish his job soon! We’ll see!