Back in Canada

I can’t believe that it has been almost two weeks since I last walked the streets of Islamabad. I adjusted surprisingly very well back to Western culture considering I went from somewhere that I couldn’t look a man in the eye and always had to wear a scarf to being able to talk to people of the other gender and wear shorts and t-shirt! I did really love it there, don’t get me wrong. I met some amazing people and will never forget them.
As some of you know Pakistan is not in the greatest state right now. Infact I was in the cournty durring the Red Mosque seige and left just before the segie ended. It is hard to read the news and know that things are getting worse there. Some people are perdicting was against fundamentalists. This country is more then just a place on the map for me, it is a country close to my heart. The people there are not just part of the 6 billion people on this earth, they are faces with names. They are people like you and me, except that they live a life of fear and helplessness.

Teaching

Wow. Time flies, I am already halfway through my time here. I thought I would write what a normal day for me is like.

I normally wake up breifly at 5 everymorning with the sun and the sound of the Muslims 1st call to prayer but then fall back to sleep. I wake up at 8, eat breakfast, shower and read then go downstairs for my Dari lessons. After just 2 weeks I can introduce myself, ask and answer basic questions, count to 1000, say the colours and the days of week as well as barter in a shop. I still need a lot of work but its exciting to think the 2 weeks ago I only knew how to say hello.

My language lessons are just an hour everymorning. After these lessons I have an hour break before my first class. I teach three classes a day and am finished by 4:45. Every evening here is diffrent. For example tues night I went to one of my students houses for supper, wend evening I did some shopping then ate at this beautiful resturant on top of a mountian that over looks the whole city, thur evening I we went to Mc Donalds and then for a walk through the park and friday I went to a graduation at an Afghan school. One of my students is a teacher and she invited me to come. There were actually 5 of my students at this graduation.

So this is what a normal day in the life of Danielle is like. I hope I was able to give you just an idea of what I am doing here.

Islamabad

I can't believe that I have been in Pakistan for two weeks now! Time has just flown by. I will try and post some pictures later, I am just have a little problem figuring out this computer. I am borrowing one of the ladies computers at the school and its all in German...So back to what I have been doing. Yesterday was my last day at the little school in Rahim. They had a little appreciation assembly for me where students from each class presented either a story, song, or poem in English. (most of which I taught to them) It has been very exciting to see how much the students have learned but also the teachers willingness to let me into their class and teach a little differently. I have already seen some of the teachers change some of their teaching methods away from strict memorization to some application.

I flew into Islamabada thismorning and have met most of the teachers at the school. They are from everywhere around the world. I am still not to sure whats all going on. There is a girl arriving from the US tomarow and I am sure I will find out more information then. I know I will be teaching Afgahn refugee girls, which I am very exciting about.

May 15

I have been in Pakistan for almost a week now and have adjusted very well. Everyone keeps commenting on how well I have adjusted to the heat, which is nice to hear. It is very hot to be honest though reaching 40 some days.

Monday- Saturday I am in the classroom teaching kindergarten- grade 8, English. This is going very well. I have been able to use a lot of what I learned in university here. They teach children only through memorization so I find that the children often do not understand what they are learning. I am trying to show the teachers that there are other ways to teach children. Another thing that I am trying to encourage in the school is incorporating fun and variety into the classroom through having interactive lessons. Sometimes however the language barrier gets in the way and neither the teacher nor students fully understand what I am trying to explain. For example the other day in the kindergarten class I wanted to play bingo. I made the cards and asked the children to write one letter from the alphabet in each box. Some of the older children understood this and for the ones that didn’t I filled in the boxes. I then handed out 6 gummy bears to each student and tried explaining that they should put a gummy bear on the letter that I call. That did not work at all, what they did instead was make the shape of the letter with the gummy bears. They did have a lot of fun doing this however.

Yesterday night I ran a workshop for the teachers in the school. This also went very well; the teachers were very responsive and eager to learn some new ways of teaching. It’s very exciting to be using what I just learned in university to help people here.

Teaching

I have made it to Pakistan safely, after over 28 hours of travelling. It was such a blessing to have Rebecca travel with me to London. It made my 7 hour layover go by a lot faster. From London, England I flew to Islamabad where I had a 5 hour layover. My flight from Islamabad to Rahim was just 2 hours which was a nice break from the previous 7 hour flights. The last plane I flew on was very small, it only seated about 30 people and only half of the seats were filled. Before the flight took off, the captain said a little prayer to Allah. This really shocked me and made me aware of just how predominate Islam is in Pakistan. The man sitting beside me on the plane was very eager to talk to me and learn about myself and Canada. He kept telling me how brave I was to travel to Pakistan all alone and for such a long time. I met his wife at the airport once we landed and they invited me to come visit their home some time. I love how warm and welcoming the people here are. I have only been in the country 2 days and there has been numerous occasions where people have really reached out to me whether they invited me into their home for something cold to drink or have given me popsicle because they know I like ice cream.

Today is my second day in Pakistan and also my first day teaching. I am teaching English in a little 5 room school. The school is Christian but also has some Muslim students and teachers. There are 105 students that attend school this school, most of which are boys. The school day starts at 7:15 with an assembly where they sing some songs and go through announcements. The first class of the day is Bible, I sat in the 7-8 class where they sang some songs and read part of Proverbs 24. They asked me to sing a song, so I sang “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” because I thought they would like the actions, they just started at me. After Bible I started my 35 min rotation of teaching English. Because there are only 5 classrooms (one of which is a hallway) there are numerous grades in one room and it can get very loud. I worked with each grade sharing a little about myself and the country I came from and working on improving their English. Teaching was interesting, they memorize everything so when I tied asking the grade one class to sound out the word cat and they couldn’t. I worked with it though and played some word games with them and read some books to the different classes. I am really looking forward to spending more time in the school working with the students. On Monday and Thursday I will be running some teacher training sessions in the evening. I was a little intimidated with this at first but the teachers are so excited about learning some new ways of teaching. I already have a list of things I want to teach them.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for me, It has been very encouraging. I was really scared about coming over here alone but God has been so faithful in bringing people into my life that have encouraged me and really lifted me up in prayer. I am learning about what it really means to all be apart of Christ’s body.

5 days

The count down begins, 5 days from today I will be boarding a plane headed towards South Asia. I really am not sure what to expect, but I am excited to see all that God has in store for me.
I have spent the last couple days in Toronto going through some training to prepare me to go to the place God has called me to for this summer. Through this training orientation week, I have had the chance to meet the most amazing women....Yep, our group is made up of 8 ladies and we are having an amazing super terrific time! Learning, sharing, discovering and growing more and more with eachother's help, we have all been able to see God's hand at work in all our situations.
I would like to ask you all to pray for me as I undergo all the excitement and adjustments that God has in plan for me. Safety of travel and direction once I land are things that are really concerning me right now. God has answered part of my prayers in that regards by allowing for on of the girls from my training group to fly out with me. Rebecca and I will be flying out from Toronto straight to London and part ways there as she heads out to Angola.
Thank you for your prayers...I'll be in touch with you shortly!!!

thousands of miles away

Wow time flies. I can’t believe that I am done my fourth year of university, almost everyone has moved out of my house and in a week I am going to South Asia. Life changes so fast and in the blink of an eye your whole life changes. I am going to be teaching English to nationals and refugees while in South Asia and am very excited to using some of my education to help people over seas. Its scary not knowing what to expect when I step off that plane but I know that God has called me there for a reason and that he will protect me.

Volunteer

I recieved this letter from the special olympics and I thought I would share it with you. Its a really nice encouragment. So here it is:

V alued for your time and care
O pening your hear with all you share
L ending a hand whenever you're asked
U sing your talents to ease our tasks
N eeded for your contributions
T aking the time to find solutions
E steemed for your many thoughtful ways
E ver eager to brighten our days
R respected and treasured wherever you are
S hining your light, just like a star

Arizona

Febuary 24, 2007..wow time flys. I am sorry that I don't update by blog very often. I made it originally as a way for me to keep in contact with people when I go to Pakistan, so I don't really know what to write about now. I did go to Arizona this past week and I thought I would post some pictures. I went down the visit my dad, he has been out there since November so I thought it would be nice to visit him. So here are some pictures of Arizona, a Greek Orthadox Monastary (out in the middle of no where) and Sadona(which is a little town that has red rock).


So this is what Phoenix area looks like

this is the Greek Orthodox Monastary

Sadona

Following God

If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? If you could be doing anything right now what would you be doing? Honestly, I don’t know how I would answer these questions, I mean if we are a Christian and love God should we not be seeking his will in our life. If we are really seeking his will in our life then shouldn’t our desires become his desires and then if we are really seeking Gods will then the answer for these questions should be I want to be where God wants me to be and I want to do what God wants me to. But the problem is it is easy to say this but another thing to actually do it. Are we actually going to be prepared when God calls us to follow him?