Friday, August 26, 2011

More about my ministry...

So far I have told you a lot about the fun times being had in Ooty, but I figure I should probably fill you in on some of the actual work I'm doing here as well :) It is also fun, so I guess this will be another post about fun times - only centered more on the classroom and dorm.
I am working as a teachers aid in the morning with 2nd,3rd, and 5th graders in primary school. Then a couple afternoons a week I am co-directing a play! I have half of the 6th grade class, and we are doing a fun little play called "The Truth About George". We finished assigning parts yesterday, and now have a bunch of maidens, townspeople, a knight, a mayor and a couple of others running around campus memorizing their lines like crazy. We will be performing in 7 weeks. Here at Hebron everyone in 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade is in a play the first part of first semester. It's really fun! Each class is divided into two except for the seniors, so there will be 7 plays performed. They are all types - from "The Diary of Anne Frank" to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to one called "Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmitic" to "Murder in a Cathedral" to one where they all talk like New Yorkers and throw pies at each other... can't remember the name of that one.
So my days are full and fun :) I am hoping to travel around a bit and see India while I'm here... we (the other IG's and I) have every Monday off, and so we are planning on riding elephants, climbing a couple nice mountains around here, and riding on a miniature steam engine in the next few weeks. We also hope to go to Mysore, where there is a great old palace that gets all lit up at night. So much to do!!
The city where I'm at, Ooty, reminds me a lot of the mountains of Ecuador, so I actually feel quite at home here. The Eucalyptus trees, mangoes, bananas, altitude of 7500 feet, and open-air markets help with that also. The brightly colored sari's and salwaar kameez that all the women wear are very different though - so that helps to remind me I'm actually half-way around the world from Ecuador!!
Oops... I got off topic again! Now, back to what I'm doing in the dorms:
I am connected to Gables dorm, which is where girls in 6th and 7th grades live. I get to put them to bed a couple of times a week, go on outings around Ooty with them, and make sure they are getting their homework done. Some of them are in my play, so it is fun seeing them several times a day! I live at Selborne, which is the girl's dorm, and is located about a mile from the main school campus. It is a nice walk, except when it is raining!
I will also be teaching a Good Book study this semester every other Sunday on lament, and will be tutoring students for the SAT, helping them with math, and quite a few other random things. We are definitely kept busy around here!
Several of the students at Hebron have parents who are in politics or who are missionaries in dangerous places, and so you won't be seeing pictures of the students on my blog, newsletters, or facebook. There is face recognition technology now that makes it easier for people to find out information about these children and subsequently their families. Also, I won't be using a lot of religious language in my updates because of the same reason. Hebron is a very solid X-tian(if you don't get that term, think X-mas... :) school - I have been so impressed! - but they also have to be careful with what they say because of the delicate situations many of these children are in. So you'll be seeing some rather different language in my posts, but I'm sure you'll be smart enough to figure it out!

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