The Final Countdown

You would think that since I've stopped tutoring that I would have a lot more time to post. Well, I do... And I've used it for other things. : )

The last few weeks have been really great. I stopped tutoring about two, two and a half weeks ago. It has been a lovely two weeks. I've stayed over at a friend's place a few times, gone out with people just to hang out on a Thursday (my Friday) night, I've done more reading, I've started packing (YAY!!!), and I've been going to the beach. Ahhh... the beach.

The beach is a funny place to go. Now, granted, I could probably save myself some hassle, but I'm too lazy. I've been trying to go about three afternoons a week for maybe an hour and a half or so. There is a beach not too far away that a lot more Westernish (or just liberalish) people frequent, but it's a beach park. Great place to go if you want to spend the day or have a nice little BBQ near the water. However, if you're only going to go for an hour and a half, it's far too much time and effort to go, park, pay, and then trek all the way in to the beach. Mind you , it's probably under a 10 minute walk. But why would I do that when I can practically park at the edge of the sand and just walk down to the water? Well, there are reasons I suppose, which I've chosen to ignore Unfortunately, those reasons don't return the favor. Apparently there is just something about a woman in a swimsuit, I think a white woman in particular, that men here find absolutely magnetic. It's like flies to a bug zapper (can anyone picture the scene I'm thinking of from A Bug's Life?). Let me give you one example. I usually try and find a spot that's a good 50 yards away from anyone else, which fortunately isn't too hard to do. Today, I note a couple of men who walked down to the shore and invaded that nice 50 yard barrier I had, but they were still a good 40 ish yards away. No big deal. I keep a cover-up handy (I seriously hate being gawked at), and I conveniently moved my big beach bag so that the view of me was blocked as soon as I laid down. Well, wouldn't you know it? The one man felt like going for a jog. Thus, he began jogging my direction. Sadly for him, he was not in good shape. In fact, he happened to start slowing down after he got about 35 yards. Another five yards past me I ceased hearing footsteps. Poor man was apparently too winded to go another step. What else could he do but stop and stare at me while he waited for his friend to slowly walk down as well? After I glared at him, he decided he could swim while he waited for his friend, who showed up less than a minute and a half later. The two exchanged a few words, then got out of the water and walked back to where they came from. Thus my first (though not last) encounter for the afternoon. [large full-body shudder and flailing of the hands as I shake off the creepy-man feeling]

Happily for me, my afternoons forays have been paying off. My skin is starting to look a little less "undead" (can you tell who watched Twilight last night?). The whole glow-in-the-dark white look just isn't so nice in pictures, unless you happen to be a geisha.

In other news, things at school have been going well. Teaching is officially finished, though we've been doing this summer-camp ish thing called Funtasia for the past week and a half. I get to do the music "destination". The kids are supposed to write a song on the day before I see them, then come to me and my cooperating teacher to perform the song. Well, it hasn't quite been working like that, but we've been having fun. I think our smallest group was our four kids today, and the largest was eight on the first day. It's only two hours in the morning while grades 4 and 5 have exams, so it's working out pretty well. Makes the days go quickly, and I get to use my (now extremely limited) piano skills again. Mary Had a Little Lamb is a piece of cake, but trying to do If You're Happy And You Know It with two hands while listening/directing the kids was a bit more of a challenge. : )

Now is when I take a moment for a bit of a backward glance. I'm down to seven working days of school, one more Friday for church, and a grand total of nine days until I head to the airport. Last week two of the teachers in Grade Two who live together, and who have been here the longest, decided to host an end of the year dinner at their place last week. Well, it took me a second, but when I finally processed the camera flashing in my face as I walked in the door and people shouting "Surprise!", I realized that it wasn't just a dinner for friends, it was a going away dinner/wedding shower for me. I was seriously awed and humbled. We really turned out to have a great team of people in Grade Two this year, and I met a few other mutual friends who turned out to be pretty nice too. In all of that, however, I never, ever expected people to take a night out of their lives to honor me. One of the other teachers even made a point of really thanking me for my hard work this year and telling me how much she wished I was coming back next year. I've heard that sentiment echoed several times since. Besides immensely humbled, I'm left with a feeling of gratitude, being enormously blessed, and a reminder that people watch even when you don't think you do. My faith is on display every moment of every day. I even just had a conversation with a teacher from another grade, whom I basically never see, and who is of a different set of beliefs. She told me that she had seen something in me and wondered what it was. She was quite shocked, as well as really encouraged, to hear that there are Americans/Chris ...ns who live a life different than the ones she has seen in movies and in the people she has met. It was a very nice conversation.

This coming Friday I know I'm going to expend more than a few tears. After church, my good friend Michelle (not flatmate Michelle) and Mrs. Cousino--who along with her family has really taken me in as one of their own, are hosting another farewell get-together for me with our good friends from church. The past two months or so I've really made a point of being around and being involved. I started going to Friday Foundations (since we can't have Sunday School), making a point of spending lunch with people, and trying to attend a few other functions. In some ways, I regret that it took me so long to do so. I realize that there were circumstances that made such things difficult or impossible for a lot of my time here, but even in the short time I've invested myself, I have also been greatly invested in. I have come to appreciate my brothers and sisters here so much--their sincere kindness and earnestness in pursuing a life of holiness; I will miss them dearly. It's been hard to say hello and goodbye in the same breath, but it's been worth it. Twenty months ago, as I prepared to embark on this journey, my mom and I had a conversation about whether or not I'd be able to find a church here. In all honesty, I wasn't too concerned. Personal devotions would get me by just fine. Only for a short period was I ever really involved in a church. I certainly wasn't expecting to plant myself in a healthy, thriving body here, of all places. I was coming here to earn money to pay off my student loans so I could go on to do the "greater works" planned for me. This was just a job--a two year waiting space. Certainly God did not have some work planned for me here...     Oh what a big God he is when we let him out of the little tiny boxes our minds confine him to. As I look back, I realize that we are always both preparing for and in the middle of those "greater works" if we would be look around to see what they are. It's not just a job. It's not just college. It's not just a summer spent somewhere. It's not just a temporary whatever.   It   is   your   life.   And you only get one to live in the service of the Him who gave it to you. Apart from the many other lessons I learned here, that is what I hope to take away with me.  Live intentionally. Always. We never know when the sand is going to run out of the hourglass.

~ Nikki