Getting Used to Time

As of tomorrow we will have been here for 3 weeks.  I would say that we are pretty settled into our home, although in the last few days a few more critters have been found in our home.  Hopefully we can keep this to a minimum though!

This last week the concept of time has really hit me.  This week was filled with teacher meetings and classroom prep.  The meetings rarely, if ever, started on time.  They also always ran longer than expected.  Pastor Tom told us that we may have to change our mindset on time.  He said that if a meeting is supposed to be an hour long that we should double that time and if it ends earlier than that it was a good meeting.  Hopefully by using this trick, I will become less frustrated as meetings run long.

Another thing I'm having a hard time getting used to is not having free access to a printer.  To make copies here is a process.  For instance, if I have something I want printed that I found online or had saved on my computer I first have to send it to the office to get printed and then if I want multiple copies I have to fill our a form and place it the copy box to get additional copies of it.  Therefore, the process of making a copy may take about 3 days to get accomplished. The people in the office are great though and I do appreciate all the work that they do for us.

While timing of things is still something I am getting used to, I will say that many positives came from this week. Here is one from each day.

Sunday:  We went over to Pastor Tom's house.  We spent some time cooling off in the pool, eating pizza, and watching Divergent.  It was nice to get out of our house and spend time with Ian, Pastor Tom, and Pastor Bram.

Monday: Tanya, Abby, and I enjoyed a nice cold glass of wine after a day full of meetings.

Tuesday: We had meetings at the local hotel.  It was nice to have a change in venue and we enjoyed being in air conditioning for the day!  We also had a GREAT snack and lunch at the hotel as well as dessert!

Wednesday and Thursday:  I got to meet some of my students during our 2 hour orientation! As of right now there are 29 Kindergartners that are split between 2 rooms and 3 teachers.  I am very thankful for my teaching partners and am excited to meet the rest of my students when school starts on Wednesday! :)

Friday:  Abby and I went to CIA (Christians in Action).  This is a group of people who are out of high school through mid 20's.  It was nice to meet some new people around our age and get to know them a bit better.  We had a bible study and played Taboo.

Saturday:  Abby and I woke up and went over to church to help clean.  Again we were able to interact with some of the people that we had met at CIA.  Later on Tanya, Abby, and I went to the mall and found some shops where we will be able to buy our Christmas gifts and souvenirs.

Sunday:  It was so nice to make it to church and worship with the people we have been building relationships with.  Now that I know more people, I am feeling more comfortable.  It's nice to see familiar faces and talk with them.  We made plans to go watch Insurgent at Pastor Tom's house that night, on Tuesday we are most likely going down Soufriere with Junior (a guys from church), and on Thursday we're going to the Landwehr's for supper.  We're excited to spend time with these people from church!

For those of you who have been wondering, Tropical Storm Erika that hit Dominica did not really affect us.  So far with these tropical storms, we have seen maybe a little extra rain and have noticed the humidity a bit more and lack of breeze.  We are keeping the people of Dominica in our prayers! From what we've been told, most hurricanes go north before hitting St. Lucia, however we are in hurricane season and there is always a chance that we could get hit by one.  I am not worried though, we have many people looking out for us on the island and even more so, God is watching over us!

Pastor Tom has one great view!

My huge plate of food from the hotel.