A year ago today March 27th I got to see my family for the first time in 18 months. I still remember how anxious I was as I watched that clock in the mission home wall slowly draggin its hands, showing every passing second. I had no idea that life after the mission would be so difficult or challenging. Ask anyone and they would probably tell you that I adjusted well and I believe that I did- at least on the outside. But I really struggled with finding meaning in the mundane tasks of "normal" life. Nothing could replace that feeling of sheer joy that came by giving up everything so that someone else could find peace and happiness too. School was just something to keep me busy, something I could put all of my effort into and feel like I was accomplishing something. I didn't realize how hard of a time I was still having until I came to New Zealand. No matter how cliche this sounds, I feel as though I've rediscovered myself again while living here.
New Zealand reawakened my love for the outdoors as well as my passion for teaching. True, I don't feel like I ever really lost my desire of becoming a teacher but I guess I forgot how much I really enjoyed it until I had a classroom full of eager students ready and waiting for me to guide them. I realized how much I love planning for what they need and then making it happen. No matter how crazy the day or how rambunctious the kids I still look forward to coming back again and again and again. There is no other feeling in the world (besides an investigator saying yes to baptism and then carrying through with it) that compares to a child looking at you with comprehension shinning through in their grin.
Today was one of those incredible teaching days. I had the experience of bringing some of my culture and background alive for my students through skype. My 13 year old brother graciously accepted the invitation to skype my year 6 class and to be interviewed by them so that they could compare schools/learning environments in the States to Pomaria Primary School. Yesterday we spent a reasonable chunk of time coming up with interview questions that could help us (my class) gain a better understanding at what schools in America are like.
Funny enough it is spring break at home right now so the family is actually off on holiday to Florida visiting my grandparents. There have been a series of pretty powerful thunderstorms that have caused power outages over the space of a few days. So they ended up skyping from McDonalds. We started off the experience by showing the students where we were on google maps and where my brother was skyping from. Their eyes got so big just thinking of how far away Florida really is. Afterwards I rang and we started our skyping session. Because of construction around the school we ended up taking the class to the conference room so that it would be a quieter environment.
It was so awesome! I introduced my brother to the class and they all got to wave hello. Then two class members acted as spokes people to ask him the questions from the class. It was an awesome exchange of knowledge, culture, and experiences. Although he is a few years older than my students they are preparing to move up to intermediate school next year. We skyped for 25 minutes! The class had a chance to meet my mom, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, aunt, and cousin. They also had the opportunity to introduce themselves and say hi. After I said goodbye we grabbed the ipads and used google earth to see exactly where my brother's school is, where my house is, where my university is, etc. Mrs. Rihari wrote down everything that my brother said in response to the questions and tomorrow we will make a list of comparisons. Such a great experience!
Katelyn, I am so enjoying going through your blog! I'm so happy that you had such an incredible experience and were able to rekindle the excitement you have for teaching, etc. You will always treasure this experience in your life. It has been 7 years since I returned from my 6 months adventure to Italy and I still think about it all the time. It was also an experience where I learned and discovered so much about myself and it has impacted the person I am in so many ways. It's amazing how learning about others and other cultures and parts of the world teaches us so much about ourselves! You are awesome.
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