Back to School!

Well, it's exactly 2 months since I last wrote. How pathetic am I? Updating my blog more often is one of my new year's resolutions (along with flossing). Hope it sticks!

Today was the first day back to school, but it was only a half day. It was good to see the kids again. It reminded me how much I love them and enjoy teaching them (most of the time). This semester I will be teaching the same classes as last semester, but instead of teaching the Old Testament, I'll be teaching the New Testament. I'm REALLY excited about it. I just LOVE the NT. It's so rich and full of amazing truth. I mean, the OT is really great too, but harder for me to get through than the NT. Another class has also been added to my schedule... 9th grade boys PE. I will have them twice a week and we'll simply do fitness. I offered to teach it only for selfish reasons. I said I would do it only if it required doing fitness because I myself want to get in shape, and I want to use this class to force me to workout. Strange, I know. On top of that, girls' soccer has begun and we start having games next week. So, I guess I just didn't think I had enough on my plate. ;-P

Christmas break was nice. I still had voluntary soccer practices with the girls and it was fun. My parents also came from Spain to spend the break with me. It was nice to have them here and for them to see what my life is like here. But I didn't realize it would also be somewhat difficult. This has nothing to do with my parents and everything to do with me. It's difficult to describe in words all that a person goes through when transitioning from one world to another. I feel as though I have two lives... one in the States and one in Africa. And so then to have my parents here was a little strange because it was as though my two lives were now mixing. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have multiple personalities and I'm not being fake in one place and real in another. I'm still myself in both places, but because they are so different from each other and so far from each other, it just feels like two separate lives. I realize this may make no sense, but it's the best way for me to express myself right now. Anyhow, I really did enjoy having my folks, it was just different having them here than me visiting them at home. It wasn't bad, just different. We got to go on safari, we went to Kibera (largest slum in E. Africa), and we also saw a lot of cool and fun things in Nairobi. There's so much to do and see here. And we had a really nice Christmas together too. They liked what they saw of Kenya. We got to visit some homes of Kenyan friends and they really enjoyed experiencing the people and culture first-hand. And I enjoyed introducing them to all of my friends.

I've been doing a lot of thinking and processing about stuff and I find it very difficult to express my feelings and thoughts. I mean, how do I explain what my life is like here on a daily basis? How do I make people back in the States understand what kind of things I go through? And do people really care to even know those details? Sometimes I feel like, why bother with trying to explain, it will just take too long? Maybe that's selfish of me to think that way. I hope I'm not coming across negative, because I don't want to sound that way. Maybe that's why I also have been slacking on updating my blog, because I don't know what to say or how to say it. Does that make sense? But, I do want to be respectful to all of you since you want to hear from me. It's like I want to tell everyone everything about what's happening, what I'm learning, what my frustrations are, and so on. But how?

I still love teaching these kids. I still love living here. I love my family. I love my friends. I love the Lord and am thankful that He brought me all the way over here. And I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

Much Love,
Jen