A typical day as a Faith teacher.

I find it difficult blogging because I never know what people want to hear about and I don't feel like its my day to day life that makes it interesting....but as I was talking to someone the other day they reminded me that what is now "normal" to me was not just a few short months ago.  So I thought I would share what a normal day would look like for a teacher at Faith.  what now may seem normal to me may not be to you, so here we go....

5:30 am: wake up sweating, not too bad today, sheets weren't wet so I feel pretty clean.
5:35 am: turn on the Today show "live" from the previous US morning.
5:40 am: put the coffee on (make an extra cup for my friend Sharon who's coffee maker spontaneously stopped working earlier this quarter) but won't drink my cup til I'm in the air conditioned classroom.
5:45 am: wash the layer of grim that has formed on my face from the pollution coming in my open window...thought about doing my hair today..but realize my hair is starting to stick to my neck, time to pull it up.
6:20 am: Leave for school.
       *avoid the small herds of cows and the occasional chicken crossing the road, pass any slow moving  jeepneys
6:21 am: the minute I walk into my classroom I put on my beloved air con (I have even considered naming my first child air con, love it so much)
6:40 am: Out to morning duty, standing in the 90+ degree heat sweating already...
7:15 am: kids come up and the day begins
9:35 am: kids come back from merienda (means snack break) and tell me about their newest adventures...who's chasing who, and who got hurt, ask me what are we doing next.
11:00 am: send kids out to lunch and head over to the cafeteria to see what they're serving...usually kimbob, bicol, bulgogi, or some off color potato boat...when in doubt go with the Korean food (our cook is Korean)
2:00 pm: Kids are dismissed, first time you walked outside since lunch....seems more humid than you remember...feels like a wet blanket has been draped over me...maybe I'll stay in my air conditioned classroom to work a little longer.
4:00 pm: Finally leaving school cause I have to go "run" to the grocery store...traffic is bad of course...and even though the grocery store is 5 km away from my house it takes 20 minutes to get there...darn trikes
4:30 pm: finally found a place to park in the parking garage...now have to fight the crowds to the market...too bad most grocery stores are in the malls.
4:45 pm: don't have exactly what I'm looking for..so I guess I'll have to find a substitute...disappointing since they had it just last week.
5:00 pm: time to check out...but the bar code seems to have a small scratch on it, or the mangoes haven't been properly labeled so someone has to run back and find a new one...waiting waiting.  I'm finally noticing all the staring people, and kids giggling whispering to their moms, "americano mammi".  All while the annoying market's jingle is going on in the background, "Shop to til you drop at hypermarket, no matter where you turn there's another exciting adventure, the Hypermarket experience, lots of choices funs and prizes, for everyday living, everything you need all in one place that's the hypermarket....Happy to Serve!" the cashier and bag boy are asking me whole long I've been in the Philippines and why don't I have a boyfriend yet...don't know how to respond.
5:10 pm: As I'm walking out everyone stops to clap and chant "Happy to Serve" while calling out "Hello Mam' Sir"
5:15 pm: Finally out of there, now its time to stop by my sanctuary...Starbucks. Seriously love it here, they even remember my name and drink...Filipinos are excellent with names.
5:30 pm: Finally headed home.  My feet are very tired from standing around in flip flops all day.
6:00 pm: So happy to finally be home, my condo feels pretty good.  Turn on the TV to see what is on, mostly last seasons of So You Think You Can Dance, Live to Dance, ABDC, Criminal Minds or Glee....
6:30 pm: too hot to cook, so I guess it's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, but lucky for me I found Sunchips at the grocery store :) yum. and frozen mango for dessert.
8:00 pm: realize just how gross I feel so I think it's time for a shower...virtually no water pressure....and luke warm water...at least it's draining today.
8:30 pm: stand in front of the fan trying to dry my hair...but too hot to get the hair dryer out...oh well, I'll probably end up wearing a ponytail tomorrow again anyway.
9:00 pm: been a good day, start thinking, "what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"


My life is pretty exciting...

A very special visitor

A week with Mrs. and Miss Cosper?...what a treat!  The kids loved having my mom visit, and I loved spending the week with her!

After spending a few days in the classroom, we were able to drive out to Subic a beach about three hours out of Manila.  It was very relaxing, and gave us an excellent excuse to lay out in the sun while reading a good book.

When we got back to Manila we were welcomed by a tropical storm and I have seriously never hear rain and wind so loud.  It was so loud we couldn't even hear the thunder outside.  After three hours of restless sleep mom and I got back in the classroom. 

It was so fun having her hear, being able to meet all my friends here, my students, and spend some time in Manila my new home.  It was such a blessing having her here, but it made me realize how much I miss my dad and sisters.  Can't wait to see them again soon!

A few 4th Grade quotes

In our class we have a jar that has everyone's name on a popcicle stick and my kids now have named the jar "destiny" haha... today one of my kids said, "I love you Destiny..please pick me!"

"Miss Cosper I'm not going to college, cause I'm going to join the NBA!"


While talking to his plants that he's growing in science he started chanting, "Please grow panties grow panties...oh wait..thats not what I meant!"

When reading Hatchet one of my boys confessed to me, "Miss Cosper I know that the characters in my book aren't real, but I pray for them that they would become Christians so that they could pray for help."

Me: "What could I do to start getting myself excited for next year's fourth graders?"  4th grader: "You could imagine them with beards"... (what made this funnier was that he was totally serious)

"Miss Cosper, I've never been more embarrassed then when I was in church talking to two girls when I noticed my tucked in shirt was sticking out of my zipper and they saw it!"

"Can I go call my mudda?"....

"Mr. Rene, how much more do you weigh than Miss Cosper?"