Well, by this Saturday (February 19) I’ve lived here in the jungle 4 weeks now and with the spring semester at the school off to a good start, I’ve acquired a few new responsibilities…
- High school and middle school study hall monitor two nights a week
- Second grade art teacher
-Preschool Sunday school class
- Drama class helper/actress – something like 30 lines in the high school play
-Giving piano lessons
(For those of you who didn’t know that I’m into drama and piano, I’m actually not… they needed help so I’m giving both a try. Pray for me and my students :)
-My newest and favorite job is CLEANING TEETH! Yes, a local Brazilian dentist came to the school last Wednesday to check the kids with braces and naturally I went to the school dental “clinic” to watch, so he found out that I’m a dental assistant and going to college to be a hygienist. Later he called me out of work in the dining hall to give me a lesson in Portuguese on cleaning teeth (basically just polishing) and wants me to work on the kids’ teeth to help with their oral hygiene between his visits to the school. I had my first 2 patients on Monday and they survived the experience, so since I’m off duty in the dining hall all Mondays, it has now become my official dental clinic day.
Some other new things for me include…
-Language lessons with the school Portuguese teacher, umm I’m not going to be fluent anytime soon…
-Wearing flip flops ALL the time… even for cooking in the dining hall and teaching school. I haven’t worn shoes since I got here four weeks ago and everyone here does the same except for sports. I guess because flip flops are easier to keep clean with all the mud and rain, are cooler of course, and provide more protection than going barefoot all the time… mosquitoes don’t seem to notice the difference though. The dental clinic is my only exception, I wear my hiking sandals there and that works since it is one of the only air-conditioned rooms on campus.
-No facebook for the past 4 weeks and next 3 months… it’s definitely suffering for the cause – email me your status updates please! LOL :)
-Body surfing on what they call river rapids in the Amazon jungle and in the pouring rain… it was at a school outing destination last week and the students were having lots of fun so I had to join them, although I think I may have broken a toe… thankfully my toe feels much better now and the experience was well worth it.
Anyway, I’ve been keeping busy, loving life in Brazil, and thanking God for the opportunity to be here :)
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