The Throw Down

Happy Liberation Day, which is much like the United States Independence Day. Yesterday was our last class of the week due to the holiday. Though it was their last it was my first, yet second was the grade I worked with. One of the classrooms for the second grade has 35 students in it. Wow, talk about some energy. Those of you who are teachers know what I’m talking about, and those of you who have ever had an eight year old child, know even more. I originally was to spend most of my day observing but next thing I know I was tutoring one of the kids that had just showed up a week ago and school started about a month ago, his name was McCall. The part that made it difficult was his lack of the English language. Now there were a few words he knew, the main one being “I don’t know”. We spent a good chunk of time perfecting his Alphabet song, and then I saw one of the assignments he was struggling with were his sounds. So I would beat box the sounds of the alphabet, he would point to a letter and I would continue the beat with the new sound, he got me on ‘X’. The class really is a mad house, and normally that energy can be good, but I can tell I really am going to have to lay down the law, it also helps to call someone out when you know their name. I really give Brittany some super credit for holding it down for this long, being that many kid’s makes it very difficult to involve the hands on activities that these kid’s really should have. I’m in the process of trying to figure a way to split the class, problem is where to take them, even the cafeteria has classes in it at times. So if any of you could overnight a new classroom, that’d be great. Make sure it has a good pencil sharpener though, because ours doesn’t work so all the kid’s bring in their own little manual ones. At the beginning of the day the floor is a workable tile, at the end of the day it looks like someone sabotaged a mulch bed that W. C. Fields just put in.
Since today was a big Holiday, with Holidays come parties. Last night a huge party was thrown in the gym, with many activities and little competitions between classes, the teachers had our own team as well. They had a HUGE feast, lot’s of meat. The had fresh coconuts that they threw a straw in, topped with just the right amount of pineapple juice. Raw fish was even on the menu, and it still tasted like any other raw fish I’ve tasted. After a few interesting island dances it was time to wrap it up. Here in lied the problem. This was a party that brought it much more than just the SDA student crowd. If some one had told me that every member from the mafia at the highschool age was at this party, I wouldn’t have doubted it. If beetle nut wasn’t being spit on the ground then butterfly knives were being confiscated. Our main duty as missionaries were to get everyone to leave. So I grabbed this really good can of soda and started ushering kids out. I came to this one kid and I told him he needed to head out. He got real offended and came right up to my personal zone and was like “what you say to me” [sic] I was like “nothing you need to get offended over” then him and his little gang all tried surrounding me with their arms crossed and their lips sticking way out, like it was their first kiss or something. I couldn’t help but smirk a little bit. I couldn’t help my self, so I then told the ‘ring leader’ that I didn’t understand what that meant [as I imitated what they were doing]. The guy replied, “It means I’m gonna punch you face” I finished taking another chug on my soda, and calmly replied, with a twinkle in my eye. “I don’t want to start anything, you just need walk away right now.” So he walked away and his posse followed. I thanked God for the confidence he had just given me and walked to the next group. Just when I thought most of the warrior mafia kids were gone, I walked by this group of girls. Two of the girls were playing around grabbing each other, nope just kidding, as it transitioned into a flat out battle I realized it was no joke. Since this throw down emerged right next to me, I immediately grabbed the arms of the girl who had clenched onto the other girls head of hair yanking with all her might. As I did this another missionary let out this warrior cry while he grabbed the other girl, needless to say they let go, his cry was so beastly I even let go. Then God sent us some heavy rain and this cleared everyone out.. we all let out a sigh of relief and just hung out since we were able to sleep in a bit the next day due to the Holiday. Today I received my luggage, we also went in town to go supply shopping, which was my first experience to really see the town. We stopped at a bunch of little shops because each one seems to have their own especially cheap item. One place is better for cereal, another better for detergent. I looked at buying a block of Mozzarella, $34.95. Kristina says she’s going vegan. Tonight we had a potluck just between us missionaries Tommy and I brought ice tea, [the peach one Ma] and this pasta dish we threw together including the Goya cilantro mix I smuggled in from the States. Well it’s passing my bed time but I wanted to take the time to update you before things get very busy here seeing that school I’m sure will be a task. We are going camping this weekend, out to an island. That’s all they’ve told me so far, so I’ll give you the low down hopefully next week sometime. I hope you have an amazing finish to your week, and Happy Sabbath. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers and thanks for stopping by..