three days down

School has officially begun at DA. I have taught for three days and am still in one piece. The school is really the center of life. There are kids playing games and hanging out all the time. It is more than a school-it's a family and community.
I forgot how hard it was to start over (and what it's like to be new), and I hope to build some great relationships. I do miss Tipton and all the people there. Fortunately there is facebook and email to keep relationships going. :)

Interesting things about school:
1. There are 5 different buildings so it's like an outside school.
2. I alone have kids from 11 different passport countries. There are MKs, Ambassador/Diplomat kids, etc
3. I can't escape Husker nation. A boy in my class (who is only here for a semester) wore a Husker shirt the other day. :(
4. I find myself wanting to do hall duty. Only people in Tipton will find this humorous because I never made it to the hallway like I was supposed to. Nobody stands in the "halls" here.


Other things I've been pondering.
1. Sometimes it comes rushing at me that I live in Africa. Take for instance when I don't finish my food. Growing up I always heard "there are starving kids in Africa." I always said they could send the food to Africa. Now these people aren't a continent away. They are half a block away. Reality is hard sometimes. Really hard.

2. Begging is a natural part of life here. In fact, there has to be beggers. I know that sounds foreign to Americans, but in Islam, one of the pillars is giving to the poor. If there are no poor, then they cannot complete this pillar. I was downtown last week and I saw a beggar shopping for earrings. Don't get me wrong. Not all the beggars are like this. Some really wouldn't survive without it.


More later...