I really
want to apologize to everyone for slacking on my writing, but I really have
been so busy. It truly is amazing how fast time flies when you get older, but
enough about this lets get to the good stuff.
So you heard about my crazy first week and now you are about
to hear about round two. I wasn’t as nervous to leave this week, and I was a
little excited to go back. I left again on Monday morning. I arrived there
around noon. When I had gotten there I wasn’t sure where anyone was at, but
Rose saw me and came running towards me. It was good to see her again. She
brought me back in to my room and helped me settle in. She had her father bring
me a mosquito net, and let me tell you it felt like Christmas. I was never so
happy to be able to use a net. She also had hung up new curtains that blocked
the holes from all the little creepy crawlers coming in. After we had hung everything
up I laid around for the rest of the day. I studied more creole and just had
time to gather my own thoughts. It felt good to sit in peace and have time to
myself, but I have to be honest it’s not something I enjoy every day. That
night I headed to bed pretty earlier because I was waking up around 6:00 am to
get around for the day. I slept perfect that night and the one main reason I
did was because I had that net surrounding me. I headed to the school around
7:30 and I was so nervous to go back to the school. I was nervous because I didn’t
want to run into some particular people. As I had said in my other blog there is some information that I wish to not
share. I don’t want you to think it was
a horrible situation or that I was harmed in anyway. Once I arrived at the school
I walked right into Robenson’s room and began assisting him with teaching his
kids. The kids were wonderful today. We played number games, sang songs, and we
did a lot of what they call “Sport” with them. Sport is what we would call gym
class on a lower level. One example of sport we did with the children was we
drew a bunch of different lines on the floor, and the children had to work on
their balance. It was so interesting to experience what they considered “sport”
was because back in the states it is so different. One think that really struck
me today was how Robenson interacted with his kids. We have a few preschoolers
who absolutely dread coming to school and all day they would cry. (When I say
cry all day I mean literally all day) Today though we had one specific boy who
just would not stop. So Robenson had picked the little guy up and tried to calm
him down as best as he could. It really melted my heart and showed me how much
he cares for his students. When I was in preschool I cried every day because I absolutely
did not want to be away from my parents, but at my school I had no one to pick
me up. I sat in a corner all day and just cried. It was miserable and I will
never forget those moments, and I wish I had someone to comfort me as Robenson
had done for that little boy. It’s moments like this that make you realize how
some people love their job, and truly care about their students. This situation
really struck my heart in a good way. Another situation I will share with you
is about one specific teacher at the school. I am not going to share his real
name with you all , but I will refer to him as Michael. Michael has a little
girl who is in the preschool at the school. She is one of the most beautiful little
girls I have ever seen, and she is so down to earth. She took to me pretty fast
when I had first arrived at the school. She would always sit in my lap and want
me to swing her around. Michael would always tell me “That’s my little girl!”
He would say it so proudly and you could see how much he loved her. I had asked
Rose if Michael was raising the little girl with the mother, but no surprise to
me she wasn’t. Rose told me that the little girl that Michael was raising was
not even his. The mother of the child just left her with him because she knew
he would care for her. She knew this because Michael is madly in love with her.
It broke my heart to hear this story because it shows how far Michael will go
to do anything to be with this women. I mean how could he just raise her child
for her? He pays for her to eat, to cloth her, and most importantly he loves
that little girl unconditionally. How can that women just walk away from first
off the girl that is her responsibility and secondly a man who would literally
do anything to be with her. It blows my mind and it really broke my heart to
hear that story. I hope Michael one day will find someone that loves him more than
anything. The day had ended around noon
because there was another parent teacher meeting. So I had decided to head back
home. Once I had arrived at the house I showered and laid down. I was pretty
exhausted and I wasn’t feeling to well again. Then all of a sudden I had a
knock at my door, and well let’s just say I really had no privacy in the house
I was staying at. I told the person to come in and it was my motto driver from
the first trip. He was coming up to visit the garden at the school because he
helped run it with Ottobear. Now, this is where things got a little awkward and
uncomfortable for me, and I am just going to leave it at that. Again NOTHING
HORRIBLE HAPPENED, but I just wish not to share the full story. Later on that
night I really wasn’t feeling well at all and I had called back to Gros-Morne.
I talked to Brittany and she told me to just come home, but I wanted to push it
out as long as I could. I had tried to fall asleep, but I didn’t really sleep
at all the whole night. I woke up pretty early and spent most of the time running
back and forth to the bathroom. I called Brittany again and told her “I think
it’s time to for me to come home.” She agreed and told me to hop on a motto.
Now, I thought this would be an easy process, but by no means was it. I told
Rose I needed a motto to go home today, but she said I couldn’t leave because
the rivers had flooded from the storm we had. I told her no it was fine, and
that I was leaving. Well then Ottobear had called me and told me there was no
way a motto could come and get me. I told him I talked to Sister Pat and that I
was just going to walk back to Gros-Morne. (I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING) Sister
Pat didn’t think it was a good idea for me to go by myself so I had paid Rose
to walk with me.
(Goodbye Grand Plane)
We gathered up my things and headed off. Now keep in mind the
motto road from Gros-Morne to Grand Plane was over an hour, so walking was
going to take me double the time. When we were walking everyone was asking
where we were going. I told them back to Gros-Morne, and then said “No you can’t
the rivers are way too high!” I just nodded my head and kept on walking. I felt
my phone going off all of sudden in my pocket. I took it out and Sister Pat had
been calling me. She told me that there was a mass in Dervey, and that the priest
was going to send a motto up for me. I kept walking and sure enough a motto
came to my rescue. I was so nervous though to even be on a motto because the
roads were so slick. I thought for sure I was going to crash. I held on as
tight as I could to the motto and closed my eyes for most of the ride. Finally
we had the first river to cross, and OH DEAR LORD let me tell you it was beyond
flooded. The motto driver took my things and grabbed my arm. I thought for sure
I was going to just get swept away, but he held on to me tight. We walked
across the river slowly and the water had just filled up my shorts to my waist.
It was pretty uncomfortable, but I was just happy to be heading home. We had
made it across the river safe and sound. They had a motto there waiting for me,
so I had hoped on. Well the chaos of this trip didn’t stop here. A man started
screaming at my motto driver, and I am pretty sure it was because he had been
waiting for someone to take him. So to no surprise he hoped on with us. I was
stuck in the middle between my driver and this random man. I wasn’t happy by
any means, but I knew we would be back in Gros-Morne soon. Well at least I
thought we would be, but that didn’t happen either. Since the rivers were
flooded this guy took us all over the place. I thought again to myself that I
was going to die I really did. I had no idea where I was and I was just
trusting these people with my life, but finally I had noticed a town that we
were passing. I instantly felt a sign of relief come over me. The motto had
reached my drive way and I had never been so happy to see my house. I walked in
and went straight to bed. I was so exhausted and I just wanted to sleep. I
slept the whole night and I started taking antibiotics for whatever my body had
picked up.
The next morning since I was the only back I had decided to start
working at the school. I felt better so I headed on down. Pat wanted me to work
with Sony in our new computer lab. I was so excited to take on this project. I
sat in with Sony and he taught me what I needed to know first. He taught me all
the parts in Creole and how to use the computer. I got to work with a few
classes today, but not too many. I loved being back at the school and with the
kids. I felt at home. The day went pretty fast and after school was finished I
just headed back home. It was a pretty lazy day because I was still taking my
time to feel a 100 percent again. I had
gone to bed again pretty earlier and headed back to the school on Friday morning.
I worked with the computers again and then helped Sony keep track of the little
ones while they were waiting for their older brothers and sisters to be done.
It was a great way to end this crazy, dramatic week. I AM SO BEYOND HAPPY TO BE
BACK IN MY HOME IN GROS-MORNE!!!
( Look at all these little ones learning how to use a computer)
I want to apologize again for taking so long to post this,
but I am really so busy with work here. I will fill you all on that in a few
blogs!! I hope everyone is doing well.
Love always,
Beth
