Of 4th grade English and fried fat

Well, here I am. But where the heck am I?

The title of my freshly-created blog is an old Irish saying that I learned from a dear Irish friend three summers ago. The meaning of the phrase is a call to reflection: it's easy to understand where you are physically, but often difficult to ascertain where you are in your soul, to know where you're at on this spiritual journey that we're all traveling. Right now, I'm sitting in a comfortable living room of a house belonging to the Elizalde family, whose food I just ate and whose Internet I'm now taking advantage of. But where exactly am I?

My mind is carried back to the day that just passed: it began at 5:30 am, when I pulled myself out of bed to shower and get ready for a Monday full of teaching. David (Okada, my housemate, constant companion, and guide in this new country) and I walked out of the house after a hurried breakfast and brief scanning of Matthew 10 at 6:47 am, and arrived at our designated waiting place in front of the Parral Cinema at 6:53 am. Hugo and his wife Carolina picked us up and drove us to the school, as it is every school morning, and we arrived there at 5 minutes after 7:00. My dear friend and fellow teacher Kristen Olson arrived 20 minutes later, and we hastily prepared for our classes before the morning devotional time that the teachers have at 7:30 (or thereabouts). After the prayer time, we packed up our books, grabbed our dry-erase markers and CD players, and headed to class.

My 4th graders were pretty good today, but talkative and a little clueless as usual. Keep in mind that these are 4th grade Mexican children, and I'm not supposed to speak Spanish to them during class. Thus, there's a lot of confusion and communication issues, because they only speak a little English, and my American college student English is certainly not what they're used to. After two classes of this and a 10th grade class (with a typical 10th grade attitude toward learning) in the morning, I'm about bushed. But, then follows my glorious history class. I love my 12th grade history students. They understand most everything I say and they ACTUALLY WANT TO LEARN! I just eat up their correct answers, thoughtful questions, and willingness to listen to and laugh at my stupid jokes. Then I go to my 9th graders, of whom the girls are excellent students and wonderful direction-followers, and the boys are generally pretty clueless and not interested in what's going on.

After my classes, I'm so glad that school ends at 2:00. I'm really tired of talking, explaining, and telling my students to be quiet and pay attention. Thankfully, I was invited to go eat with Kristen's host family, the Elizaldes. We ate a great meal, but I have to be honest...the chicharron (fried pig fat--like pork rinds, only cooked instead of fried) was almost too much for me. And this brings me to the present: sitting on their couch, thinking about how much work I have to do for tomorrow.

This is a great sampling of a random day that passes casually by during this new life in Mexico. Things are very different...details and schedules are never final until the last minute, grade books don't arrive until the second week of classes, new rules and policies are suddenly revealed when it's very inconvenient to begin following them, time is fluid, promises are sometimes kept, and the people like to eat fried pig fat. Worse of all, I haven't had an honest-to-goodness salad since I left home. In response to all this, I grow impatient and irritated, exclaiming to my American compadres, "What are they thinking??? Why can't they be more American??"

Well, this is where I am: frustrated, incompetent, weary, and very short on love. But, it is in our weakness that Christ is presented as very strong. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that, in response to his weakness, the Lord pronounced that "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness". Thus, Paul boasted in his weakness. Honestly, I don't feel like boasting in my insufficiency right now. I want to fix it. But, that is not possible in this life. Onwards I walk in weakness, trusting in the ability and perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus.

Thanks for reading!