January, 2013

Well it was great to see everyone over the holidays! I hope all of your New Years are off to a phenomenal start!         Things are going pretty well here.  School got up and running much more quickly than expected.  We had a decent turnout the first week, effective classes the second week, and by week three we a record number of students showing up! haha So school is off to a pretty good start.  I’ve gotten back into the groove of teaching.  I have decided that for the rest of my time teaching I am going to try and focus more on problem solving in math class and reading comprehension and writing in language arts.  I feel like those are skills that will be useful for a lifetime while what I try to teach from the syllabus is forgotten within a week of learning it.  So more or less I am trying to impart as much wisdom to my students as I possibly can before I leave them.         The more I think about it the sadder and more sentimental I get.  I have even toyed with the idea of extending and staying a third year but I think deep down I will be ready to go when the time reaches.  I still have so much to do in life and what always seems like so little time! ha  For those of you that don’t know, my current life plan is as such: next year live at home with mom and dad, try and find any work that pays while also giving me plenty of time to make up for lost time with my friends, and applying to law school.  I am currently thinking I would like to focus on International Human Rights Law which would allow me to continue to help those in need while also providing me with the opportunity to continue travelling.  Finally, after working as a lawyer and making some money I want to open my own school here in Sierra Leone supported by a non-profit organization I will start before going. haha So well see which if any of those goals is accomplished.         My desk project is still chugging along.  Its really like the “Little Engine that Could.”  We just keep chugging away and eventually, one day, everything will be completed.  All the desk sets are completed they just need to be polished and then we are still left with the tables, chairs and cupboards.  Hopefully within a month it will all be done.  I know I keep saying that but one of these months it has to be true, right? Just like one of these days we have to move to the new school, right? They’ve only been telling me that for the last year and a half.         Soo in addition to that I have been helping my principal with another project to make a school library.  I have had to type and try and email any documents or pictures they need.  Obviously here that is not as easy at it sounds… Last night I spent about 2 hours online trying to send 2 emails.  Friday night I spent another hour or so sending 1 email.  And now tonight I am back at trying to send one of the emails from last night because the connection dropped after I had been trying to send the 1 email for about 45 minutes.  So yes while I can access internet from my house, now you can see why the emails and blog updates are so infrequent… I literally want to through my computer across the room every time I attempt to use the internet.         Alright well on that happy note, I think that is all I have to say. Things are well here, hope they are well there too!  Love and miss you. Sara