The Unexpected

I was always told during my education classes to be prepared for anything, that the unexpected will happen. Well, that was pretty much the story of last week!

It started with a student rushing out of the room because she had to throw up. I left to check on her, leaving my students to their reading. Then a bit later, another girl asks to go to the bathroom and comes back squealing/screaming. She informs me there is a giant spider in the bathroom. I then proceeded to get my students working on something else while I then went to the bathroom to kill said spider. I return to gather up the sick student's work and talk to a parent and send her off. When I finally get back to my class, I look at the clock to see it is lunch time. Not the most productive of mornings, however, my students were extremely well behaved considering the circumstances, and for that I was thankful.

This week also provided some more funny moments. These moments seem to always come just when I'm feeling overwhelmed or stressed about something! God's wonderful comedic timing.

• One of the girls told me she had a secret question she had to ask me. She whispers in my ear, "What do you do when you have a crush on a boy?" Not expecting that. I told her we would discuss it later when we had more time to talk. Fortunately, she forgot about it! 
• My lone boy walked up to my desk during silent reading time. He leans on my desks and says, "Have you ever had wine Miss Ongna?" I had no clue where this came from. I said "Well, yes I have. Why?" He thinks for a moment and says, "I just wasn't sure you were old enough." He then walks away. 
• A student hands me a note with my name written in a heart, spelled "Miss Onghgoh". It was precious. A lesson in writing dutch last names is coming soon! 

School has been chaotic, crazy, and wonderful. I love my job. Have I said that before? I may sound like a broken record, but I can't imagine doing anything else. Though it is sometimes hard to be away from home, especially when missing out on things, I know I am where I am suppose to be. It is so reassuring to know that and to feel God's love and presence around me, especially when I'm feeling down.

If you could also pray for my class, we are having some rather strange/potentially serious health issues come up. I can't be anymore specific, but please pray that my students stay as healthy as they can and that I know how to handle it all. It is nerve racking when issues like this come up. All I can do is pray for the strength and knowledge to deal with it all. All in God's plan!

Psalm 56:12-13 "God, I must keep my promises to you. I will give you my offerings to thank you, because you have saved me from death. You have kept me from being defeated. So I will walk with God in light among the living."

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Yes, I used a Beach Boy's song lyric as my title. I love them. I'm alright with admitting that. Plus, I kept thinking to myself "Wouldn't it be nice if time on the weekends went slow?" Thus my title choice.

This past weekend I got a great visit from the parentals. It was awesome to have them around and to show them around town. Now that we've lived here for almost 2 months (crazy!) we actually know where some good spots to see, eat, and visit are at! We are pretty good hosts, I must say. If you visit, you get a whole basement for your leisure, including an air mattress. Plus, we will most likely feed you. You have better chances if you bring food and/or gifts. We aren't greedy, just poor!

School has been great! I feel very used to the schedule and the students have gotten very comfortable with me as they have gotten to know me. The downside is now that they feel more comfortable, they try to get away with more. Today was a battle from the get go, and it ended up being a rough day. However, these days happen more often, and I have to learn to deal with them. Overall though, its been a great few weeks and I am excited for the rest of the year!

Here are some funny 2nd grade tidbits from the week:

• Today during our grammar lesson, students had to come up with sentences and here was a particular one that I enjoyed! "Miss Ongna and I went to Wisconsin and got 10 monkeys." Rather clever, although monkeys aren't exactly native to Wisconsin...I informed them of this. 
• No 2nd grader can say the word "indivisible". This makes listening to the Pledge of Allegiance rather amusing! :) 
• I was called the best teacher ever. Given this isn't true, but its still a self-esteem booster! This could have been a result of my math lesson in which they used M & M's to count...nothing like chocolate to get you the best teacher ever vote!

 All in all, its been a great month and a half in Pittsburgh. God is good, school is crazy, and life is wonderful. Now its off to more planning. It never ends...

My parents and I on Mount Washington. My dad isn't a picture guy :)

Ryan enjoying the view of the city.

Reflection

This past weekend, I've spent a lot of time reflecting. Not only on my past 2 weeks of teaching, but on the past years of my life, especially seeing as today is September 11. It is crazy to look back those 10 years and see where I was then compared to now. Back then I was an awkward 7th grader at Oostburg Christian school, trying to fit in and figuring out my place in life, when this tragedy hit our nation. Now I am a 2nd grade teacher living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, watching videos and news reports on what has happened in those 10 years. It is amazing to see how God works throughout good and hard times to have His will and good accomplished. We can forever trust in Him and know He has a plan for our lives. How amazing is that?

Speaking of my childhood, I am super excited for next weekend because my parents are coming to visit! I am especially excited because my dad hasn't been out here yet. When we moved out here, he was busy on the fields, so he was unable to come. Julia, Ryan, and I have been planning out some things to do while they are out here. We are excited for some familiar faces and for awesome care packages from home, including some great Wisconsin cheese! (finally! cheese here cannot compare.)

I am looking forward to this first full week of school too. It really cements in the routine and it has become more fun to teach as I've gotten to know each student. Here are some highlights of the past school week:

• Hugs from my students. Best thing ever! It is wonderful to know you have established that relationship and your students like you as well.
• My one boy in my class always comes up to me in the morning before school and we have a 5-10 minute chat. I enjoy it so much because often the girls tend to overwhelm him, so he is more hesitant often times. He is unbelievably precious and I so enjoy that time. 
• The other morning, one of the girls came to school with her backpack soaked from her lunch having leaked. As soon as she discovered this, she grabbed her lunch box, thrust it in the air and exclaimed, "Curse you ramen broth!" I laughed a little on the inside, then quickly took care of the leaky situation. No worries! 
• I asked my students the other day what they're favorite part of 2nd grade was, and they were all shouting out different subjects. I told them that my favorite part was them! One girl then said to me, "I would have said you Miss Ongna, but that would be cheating!" :)

As you can see from reading, I have been so blessed with a wonderful class. They teach me new things everyday and I love this job. Yes, some days are more challenging than others, but I wouldn't want to switch jobs for anything in the world. God has led me to this place, this time, this job, and I am grateful and comforted by that. I thank God for each of you who continue to pray for me, Julia, and Ryan, and I pray for you also.

"Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" Psalm 23:6

My class! This describes their personalities so well! Also, it was mis-match day, thus the crazy outfits. :)

Busy Bees

My first week of teaching...done! Given it was a 3 day week, but still. It was a crazy first 3 days, full of procedures, classroom management, and getting a routine in line. I also had to adjust to getting up super early and being on my feet and talking all day. All in all though, it was a pretty great 3 days! However, I am very thankful to have Labor Day off. VERY thankful! 2nd graders can really wear you out...I am excited to get back in shcool though and get onto the really fun parts of school and further into the content! I love it, I really really do :)

Since starting school, I have gotten much more busy, as has Julia. There was a day last week where we actually didn't see each other. We have also been getting to know our local walmart really well! We have made random runs to get various teaching supplies as we think of them. My personal favorite time was when we went before school one morning, at 5:45 am. Yep. We got cornstarch and celery. Dedication, that's what I say!

We also got to have some great down time this weekend since we got an extra day off! While we spent a good bit of it catching up on sleep and working on cleaning our house, (see picture below) we also hung out with Ryan and his cousin's who visited a bit. We headed to Shadyside, a part of the city of Pittsburgh, where we went to this awesome ice cream place called "Oh Yeah". There you could get a scoop of ice cream and mix in different things, much like coldstone. However, their menu contained a much more diverse list of mix ins. This list included bacon, seaweed, rose water, lemon peel, and goat cheese. I veered away from this strange list and got cookie dough ice cream with honey nut cheerios mixed in. SO good! If you ever visit, remind us to take you there :)

All in all, its been a great week! We have found a church that we really love with people that we know, we are settling well into our schools, and we are enjoying exploring this cool city. I cannot say it enough, we are SO blessed! Now onto a bit of relaxing and a whole lot of lesson planning! Happy September all!

Our dining room turned work area!

The 3 of us enjoying a night out in Pittsburgh!