Living in the Moment

As I was walking around Iowa City yesterday, I was struck by how much I live in the past or the future. Does anyone else feel this way too (about their own lives)?

Maybe it's natural at this point as I am still settling into American culture. Reflecting on the past is one way I am acknowledging I am a different person than when I left for Senegal. (I mean, I looked at the tailgating scene like a person who had just seen it for the first time.)

Or maybe I try to use it as a confidence booster for my current situation. I mean, I'm starting over at a new school, new church, new everything. Seeing Tipton people-former students, parents (well still parents but you know what I mean), and colleagues helps me know I can do it again.

This morning, I started to think: "What if I would have done this instead of that" or "Lived here instead of there." It's at these moments that I need to think, "God has me here for a reason." He answered my prayers to bring me to each place (interesting stories if you want to hear them sometime) and has taken care of me each step of the way.

As I receive affirmations from the past or questions about the future, I need to remind myself that God has me where He wants me. My worth is not in being "a favorite teacher" or "a missionary" or ...It's being a child of the King.

3 months

I have been back in the US for three months now. Kind of strange. Instead of gearing up for the hottest month in Dakar, I am wearing layers, many layers.

Overall the school transition hasn't been too bad. I think I'll always have those moments when I want to shake my kids and say, "Don't you know how lucky you are?" I think living in a third-world country will cause that attitude at times. Really though, let's be honest. Sometimes I need to shake myself and say the same thing.

From August 20th

This is an excerpt from my journal on August 20th:

First day with all the teachers. Thought I should finally start journaling. I know I should’ve started earlier. But when I first encountered all of this, I wanted my writing to be “perfect.” Now it’s past my bedtime so I don’t care what comes out. So here you have my first ramblings.

My first reaction was “Eek!” How can I reinvent how I teach? I mean, on some level I have been successful-kids like my class, students have gone on to be successful in math-related majors, my AP kids killed the exam. I don’t write this to brag. My closest friends know that I need more confidence in myself. But I always knew I could do more. That’s what appealed to me about this job. How can I go further?


The Present:
So far I have had my students start blogs, shown movie clips, focused on more real-world apps, and basically am trying to take risks. This shall be an interesting year...

Testing 1, 2, 3

My students have to create blogs so I am testing some things for them. Blogging in math class huh? Sorta crazy but I think it'll be sweet.

Review is good for all

I wrote this sometime in the past and recently came across it on Joe's facebook page. As a teacher, I really don't like to review. I find it boring. However, I see the merit of it, especially in our walk with Christ. I thought I'd repost this as it seems to be constantly true in my life:

Lately I’ve felt that God is teaching me to see Him for who He truly is. I tend to want to put Him in a box (or more accurately a lamp that I can rub when I want something). My God, the God of the Bible is so Big, so Powerful, so Merciful, so Perfect. He is really beyond description. When I start to view Him as another human being, that’s when the trouble starts. Sure, God did manifest Himself as a human through Jesus Christ, but God is not first and foremost human. I cannot approach my relationship with Him casually and then act like a pouting child when things do not go my way. My prayer for you (and myself) is that we would study the Scriptures and worship the God that is found there. He is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

a blog for Hannah

My sister keeps telling me that I need to blog again. She is probably right, she usually is. After all, there was my trip to Guinea (AWESOME!!!!), the last College World Series at Rosenblatt (bittersweet), another trip up north to Lake Belle Taine (fun as always). Life this summer has been good...Now I feel like I'm venturing out into the unknown. You see, my family has visited Senegal. They have some idea about my experiences and why I act/react the way I do. Reentry into the US has been pretty good. Granted I haven't wandered down the aisles of a grocery store yet, but that'll come soon. I guess the first real test will be visiting Chicago in a few days. I always feel leery around all the opulence and money. We'll see what happens this time. I love America. I really do. The thing that saddens me the most is the huge culture of "me" that has seemed to take over our hearts. We have to wait in line-we complain, they don't have the one cereal we want (out of 100s)-we complain some more...I'm not immune to this. It's just that I don't want this to be me. May we be able to take a step back and thank God for our blessings (because we have soooo many).

Over and out from Senegal

My last blog from Senegal. Sigh. I leave for the airport in 20 minutes. I plan to write a reflective blog later but I wanted to write about my adventures from yesterday.

My roomie and I went to walk around a place with really cool rocks. As we were driving there, we saw a taxi take a corner too fast (coming into the area around the Plaza de Independence). His door flew open. No worries though. He reached with BOTH hands to shut it while still in motion. Oh, how I'll miss the drivers here.

Anyways, to make a long story short (because of time), my roomie and I were sitting on rocks letting our feet dangle over the edge. The water really wasn't coming up so we weren't in any danger. Suddenly a huge waves comes, soaks us, AND sweeps my roomie's purse into the cove along with one shoe and part of a hamburger from Times Cafe. At first we were shocked. Then I asked where our truck keys were. You guessed it-they were in the bag. By now the bag was about 50 feet away. Since we were in a cove, I told my roomie not to dive in b/c the currents were tricky. Suddenly I saw some men and flagged them down. They bravely dove into the water and retrieved all the items. What an afternoon.

Well, over and out from Senegal.
Thanks for reading.
Annie

Oh, in case you care....My last meal was a hamburger complet (hamburger, fries, egg, tomato, lettuce, cheese, ketchup, and mayo), nems (sp?) glass-bottled coke, and Biskrem.

Senegal happenings

Guess what? I actually have some humorous stories to share with you.

Last week I was returning to my classroom after lunch and I hear “She’s coming, she’s coming.” I’m thinking, “Oh no. What have they done this time?” I get up to my classroom and I see a toilet paper barrier (like yellow police tape) around my window. I look down and there is a dead bird. Yes, a dead bird…in my classroom. Side note: sometimes birds fly into my classroom but they always make it out.
Here is our theory:
A bird flew in the window and then somehow turned around and tried to fly out. Instead of going out the open side, it flew into the side that was closed. And yes, there are pictures. Check out facebook.

Not for the faint of heart (or stomach)
I am staying at someone’s house and I grabbed a box of cereal out of their cupboard. I noticed black specks in it but I thought they were seeds b/c the cereal contained dry fruit. After several bites, I realized the fruit in the box wouldn’t have seeds. I picked up one of the “seeds,” examined it, and thought it looked like a seed. I ate it and realized it didn’t crunch. I leaned closer into my bowl and saw the other “seeds” had legs. (This can be fairly common. Bugs do get into our food.) And yes, I quickly dumped the cereal and moved onto box #2-one without “seeds.”

For the end-of-the-year banquet (junior-senior banquet), the juniors make a senior predictions movie. I had to take a few students off campus to film one clip. As we were coming back, one student wanted a coke so I pulled over by a boutique. It happens to be on a roundpoint and there was no place to park. The other students told me to just keep driving around the roundpoint. I went around once but the student still didn’t have his coke. I went around again and started to get dizzy. At least this time I saw him talking to the boutique guy. We started around again. I told them I wouldn’t be able to do more than 3 times because I was getting sick. Fortunately we saw the kid on the side of the road with his thumb out so all was well. We picked him up, turned the corner and drove STRAIGHT home.

oh to be a kid again

Random comment before I begin...the blog page came up in English. Wahoo! (Usually it comes up in French and I have to guess which button to push.)

Do you ever have those days when you wish you were a little kid? When you just want to fold your arms and ignore the world around you? As an adult, those days stink because you know you can't do that. Christ still calls us to be righteous, to turn the other cheek, and to keep living for Him. I must admit, I have had days here when that's tough. For perhaps the first time in my life, I really have to rely on the fact that my worth is from nothing else but Christ. His opinion of me is the only one that matters. While the barrage of opinions, advice/criticism, etc pours in, I must find myself in His arms. That's hard for me. As a people pleaser, it's painful to know that I can't please everyone. No matter how hard I try, I can't do it here. And perhaps that is one of the biggest lessons God is trying to teach me.

I am here...or there

I know, I know. I never seem to have time to do this anymore. This is a belated blog about Europe.

It was green. It was cool. The end. JK

Here are the highlights:
Our flight was delayed out of Dakar so we missed our connection in Lisbon. No fear. TAP gave us vouchers-16 Euros each (which I think is about $24). The catch-We had to spend it in one spot. My friend Danielle and I scoured the Lisbon airport looking at all of the eating spots. Then we saw it--McDonalds. We shared one voucher (with two other people) for breakfast. Three hours we were back on the hunt. Again, we ended up in front of McDonalds. We spent another voucher, this time with no help.
I think that's the first and last time I'll eat McDonalds twice in a day. Aren't you proud Schmoe? ;)

We got to Kandern around 10:30 pm, only 5 hours later than we planned ;). The next day, my super, awesome friend Anne took Danielle and I around a neighboring town where we hiked up to castle ruins, ate Doner Kebap (German style with lots of cabbage) and went shopping. Can you say H&M?

The best speaker at the conference was Wess Stafford, the president of Compassion International. What an amazing testimony. Book recommendation-Too Small to Ignore

After the conference, Danielle and I spent time in Zurich. We just wanted some first-world living. I was quite proud of us and the Swiss transportation system. We took a train, tram, and bus to get to our bed and breakfast.

Our bed and breakfast was a new one so we got a pretty good rate. Let me tell you, it was fancy. There were more switches than we knew what to do with.

Our Zurich adventures: shopping, “hiking” around a mountain, lake cruise, AND seeing snow. The views were amazing. We could see the Alps from our bnb window. We kept commenting that they looked painted. They were just so picturesque.

The thing that surprised me the most about Zurich were the costs. A McDonalds value meal was approx $15, and that was one of the cheapest meals we saw. We got creative and went to grocery stores most of the time but still…

Last adventure-landing in Zurich. After going down the steps onto the runway, we saw a man with a sign that read SAL-Dakar. Danielle and I debated about asking if it was for us. Finally I worked up the courage and it was. We (and a few others) got to take our own van and enter in our own door in order to make our connecting flight.
Lesson learned-Don’t be afraid to ask the “dumb” questions.

Well, that’s the shortened version of our trip. Feel free to ask about our adventures such as seeing an adult onesie on a rack in Zurich.

I guess there is something to write about after all.

I just finished my monthly update letter. It’s funny. I always think I have nothing to blog about anymore, and then I spend a page of my update letter talking about all of the events that have occurred in the last month.

We had Junior Carnival on Friday. I’m just happy the community had fun. I’m not going to lie. It was a lot of work. Life would be so much easier if there was a Wal-mart here. (Perhaps I should be their advertising manager.) Someone pointed out that Carnival wouldn’t be as special then. I guess that’s true. We did request a large amount of food from the States-Velveeta for mac-n-cheese, sliced American cheese for Big Macs, Oreos, and M&Ms for McFlurrys, etc. I believe our menu was a hit.

Some things that stood out to me:
The most popular booth was my favorite as a kid-throw a dart at a balloon and win a prize. I still remember trying to win those mirror pictures at Hoo-Doo days.

I asked one of our Embassy kids to help with dishes. I asked if he could dry them. He said yes, and then proceeded to ask how to dry dishes. I was proud of him though because he didn’t shy away from the task. He jumped right in and worked with three mothers.

I didn’t get to see this but I guess we had chameleon races. They were supposed to be frog races but the frogs escaped/were stolen.

A six pack of Root Beer went for $20 in the silent auction. Enough said.


On a totally unrelated note, I have received encouraging messages from students in the States. They are really living for the Lord and it makes me smile. It can be tough to do this in the States and I love hearing from them. I hope I can have an impact on students when I return to the States. I sometimes fear that Tipton was this special school and I won’t find a place like it again. What if the kids don’t like me at the new school (wherever that may be). I guess that’s a worry for another day. Or better yet, a big prayer request.

Until next time
AP

random things to write about

So I'm sitting in the dorm trying to put up with slow internet. I asked them what to write about. Here's a list:

1. "E": Write about "E" throwing candy at you. "E" throws Haribo gummy at me.
2. "S" (boy): Write about "S" sitting in a room with the freshmen girls.
Editor's note: The freshmen girls are so giggly right now.
3. "E" to "K": Turn off that country song.
Editor's note: The song that came on was African.

Okay, I think I better write about a coherent topic now. Senior Cafe is over which means I can spill the beans. I danced as Miley Cyrus to Hoedown Throwdown. It wasn't my idea. Trust me. You see, I had the junior girls over to watch the newest Hannah Montana movie. Don’t laugh. It’s a good one. My friend suggested we learn the dance so there were 15 of us trying this thing out. Then someone mentioned the brilliant idea of doing it for Senior Café. A week went by, and I thought the idea died. Then one Monday during lunch, I go to a “meeting” in my room where I see the girls with a cake that says “Pretty Please.” They get down on one knee and ask me to be Miley Cyrus. How do I say no to 13 girls on their knees? Seriously, I couldn’t do it. That began the two week ordeal of learning the dance and getting ready to perform. We ended up winning first place. I must admit, it was fun. However, I don’t think there will be a repeat performance ;)

you see, here's why

So people ask me why I'm leaving....hmmm...How do I explain it? Do I reveal my innermost thoughts? Do I give the quick answer-I feel God is allowing this move (which is true). What do I say?

It's hard. I will miss it here. When I tell people aloud, I never look them in the eye because I don't want to see their reaction. I do feel like I'm disappointing them, and I hate that. After talking to the student I view as my younger brother here, I thought, "Am I doing the right thing?" Then I get home, have a facebook conversation with a former Tipton student and think, "yes, this is a reminder of why I am going home."

You see, I do love teaching in public schools. For some strange reason, I think God has gifted me to work in that varied climate. Some of the students that I bonded with the most were opposites-good athletes, good mathletes, struggling mathletes, loved school, disliked school, supportive parents, absent parents, etc. At Tipton, my room always had kids in it-before school, during my preps, during lunch, after school. It didn't matter. Sometimes I couldn't figure it out. After all, I am not a people magnet. Sure, I get along with people, but I am not my brother who has tons of friends. But perhaps one of my weaknesses (emotional health) is actually a strength in the classroom. I just try to treat each one of my students as someone that matters, because they do. After all, that's how I want to be treated.

In the end, I know the students at DA will be all right. Most of them know and love the Lord, they have teachers that love them, etc. I can't say the same for most of the students in the States. That just breaks my heart.

I've basically hinted at why I'm leaving after this year and not next year or the year after. Looking back over this year, I can honestly say that my mental health hasn't been the greatest. God has taught me great coping skills, but I miss being healthy. I miss being the person that smiles all the time. I had a student in the States that asked me once what was wrong b/c I wasn't smiling. He said I always smiled. I miss that. I'm tired of being on a roller coaster. I'm tired of just "surviving." I know that God is big enough to heal me. I do. It's just that after months of praying, I feel like God has indeed given me the release to go home. And after I felt that, I smiled.

I don't regret coming here. I know that God worked in the two years I was here. Some parts wish there could be many more, but I hope my close relationships don't end once I leave. It will be sad in June. I will cry. Next fall I will miss being here. There will be days when I deeply regret my decision, but I have to keep reminding myself that God can use me wherever I am. I just need to trust in Him.

Much Love
Miss Pettit aka Annie

My Bowers Travel Badge

Once upon a time, there was a missionary family that lived in Mali. They entertained people with their travel adventures. When you heard them, you thought, "Now those are missionary stories." Then a young lady named Annie went to stay with them. Her journeys to Mali went smoothly, perhaps too smoothly.

Fast forward to New Year's Eve, 2009. The family was to camp near some gorgeous waterfalls about 4 hours away. The trip would involve traversing some rough terrain, but the trip was worth it (or so I was told).

We started off early in the morning, stopped to see the location of the new Mali dam and basically bounced along enjoying the company. There were times when we were able to drive in third gear and everyone was happy with the progress we were making. Then we hit the rocks (which I later named the rocks of despair). We had to put the vehicle into 4-wheel drive which proved to be fatal (to the vehicle). We lost all the oil in the vehicle AND got a flat tire. We quickly determined the vehicle would not hold oil anymore.

The time: 11:30.
Time into the trip: 3.5 hours (only 3 hours of driving)
Location: approx 6-7 kilometers from a village

Danielle's dad was able to get into the village and find a mechanic. Little did we know it was someone trying to be a stunt driver. We were tied by a small rope and the man was going way too fast. (I am not exaggerating here.) After several stops for rope breaks, we made it close to the village. The last task-climb this big hill. Unfortunately the car couldn't make it up and we had to end up pushing the car up the hill and being towed by another vehicle.

The time: 1:30ish
Time into the trip: 5.5 hours
Location: some village I cannot spell

We had a small problem, besides the broken down car. There were other people waiting at the waterfalls with tents. They weren't going to leave until we arrived. There was no cell phone coverage so we had to hope they would get into range, drive by etc. This meant we had to sit alongside the main road and wait...and wait...and wait. I am sure we looked quite funny in our chairs, reading books, completing Sudoku puzzles, etc, especially since we were the only white people there. I started to take pictures of things that came down the road pretending I was watching a parade. (If you want to see pics, check out my facebook page.)

The time: 5:00ish
Time into the trip: 9 hours
Location: same village I cannot spell

We were able to get a hold of a family friend around 3 who was willing to come and tow us home. Unfortunately he wouldn't arrive until 7. After sitting for such a long time, I proposed that we find the river. Us kids (and Chester the dog) set out. After some climbing, it was a success. The views were beautiful.

Around 6:45 we arrived back in the village. The sun was starting to set which meant we couldn't read anymore...Alas, I was with the resourceful family so we read by flashlight. Then we looked up to see the "full" moon. I remembered reading on someone's facebook page that it was to be a blue moon. Only the moon didn't look full so I justified it by saying it must have been full last night. (more to come on the moon)

The time: 7:10
Time into the trip: 11ish hours
Location: same village

Our hero arrived ready to tow us back! We hooked up to the back of his vehicle and we were off (much slower this time). As we were driving, we noticed the moon getting more full. We pondered this and came to the conclusion that it was partially covered by a cloud before. (Later we realized that we had witnessed an eclipse!)

The tow trip was going well, all things considered. We were getting covered in dust but that could not be helped. Then kathunk...several things fell off the roof rack. Fortunately, Ben realized that some things had fallen completely off the rack and he ran down the road to find the grill and mats. After retying the items, we were off. (Our only other problem was coming unhooked on top of a bridge).

The time: 11:40
Time into the trip: 15.5 hours
Location: home!

Needless to say we stayed up until midnight to ring in the New Year. (I'm still wondering if this was just a ploy to get me to stay up so late.) ;)

Thanks for reading my short story.
AP