An early end

I found out earlier this week that the classes I've been teaching are over at the end of 2008. That leaves me less than two weeks before my visa trip, and then a few more weeks in December.

Then I got another message yesterday from our secretary with a list of requests. Keep in mind, today is Thursday:

"[Company where I teach] emailed me yesterday and they said that our planned hours with them run out this week.

They are asking you to please prepare an evaluation test for their students, which should include writing and speaking.

They want their test this Friday (November 14).

I emailed them back and said that it's more likely that the test will be ready only for Monday (November 17) due to this short notice on their part."

So my classes are, in effect, over already. I'm fairly surprised as they hadn't said anything to me about it and I still had several topics planned. And I hadn't talked to my students about it at all. So it seems a little sudden.

At least I won't have to find anyone to cover for me when I'm out of the country.

Laughing and coughing

I had fun at the orphanage yesterday. It was Mary's last day and she had brought some treats. I decided it would be a good day to do a little etiquette lesson so the kids could earn their treats. :) They know "please," "thank you," and "give me," but they don't know complete, polite sentences. So we practiced, "May I have...?", "Here you go," "Thank you," and "You're welcome" in the proper order.

Other than "Thank you," the other three phrases can be represented by one word in Russian. The kids just wanted to say "please" all the time, so we had to practice several times to get them used to using "here you go" and "you're welcome" as well. It was fine, though. I think the counselor was even impressed because they were speaking and learning something useful.

The group gave Mary a craft they had made, and they all signed it and wrote their address.

Today I woke up with a cold, and I was glad I had a busy day so I wouldn't have to think about it. My lessons all went pretty well. I was regretting having planned listening activities since I was losing my voice, but I think it was good practice for the students to fine-tune their listening skills.

My beginners made me laugh today. One middle-aged woman has trouble keeping up with her younger colleague, but she really tries. I don't laugh at her mistakes, but sometimes she laughs at herself and then I laugh too. Today she said something weird like "play the bills" instead of "pay the bills." I was just going to correct her when she was finished with the sentence, but the girl next to her was already giggling, and pretty soon we were all laughing until we were crying. It was good comic relief.

Real life

So what's going on amidst reading and movie screenings?

Yesterday: Prepared 9 lesson plans, taught 4 of them.
Today: Prayer meeting, orphanage, Bible study.
Tomorrow: Teach 6 lessons.

Etc.

In other news, my visa is already reaching its end. I'm going back to the States in a few weeks. These 3-month visas are so strange!

I don't know yet how I'm going to get back in. No news on the new visa.

I also found out yesterday that our contract at the company where I'm teaching is up at the end of 2008. So where am I going to teach after that? Hmmmm. My momentum suddenly took a nose-dive.

Seeking blessings

I recently got reacquainted with the movie, "Fiddler on the Roof." I hadn't seen it for a long time, at least not since I was old enough to understand what was going on. I did see the play about 5 years ago, I think. But my memory of that is blurred as well.

There are many powerful moments in the movie, but towards the end (or at least into the third hour), one scene stood out to me.

Daughter Hodel and her fiance approach her father and ask for his congratulations on their engagement. He protests the engagement, but they reply, "We are not asking for your permission. Only for your blessing. We are going to get married."

You can feel Tevye's shock and disappointment as his fatherly role is challenged. Of course it is the matchmaker's task to make a match, but the daughter's hand still belongs to her father. This should have been his moment to shine and make the decision that he had the right to make for each of his daughters. But instead, he is offered only the opportunity to bless a decision that had already been made.

But at that moment, I thought, isn't that how we approach God sometimes? "Lord, bless me." We want Him to bless our plans that we have made without consulting His guidance. We want Him to purify us though we haven't yet confessed our sin. We want Him to fix our mistakes that we made because we went wandering about the world without His counsel. We hurry along, thinking how independent we are. And then we come timidly back with a supplication. "Lord, could you help me out a little here?"

And He is merciful.