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Thursday, August 28, 2003 ( 2:50 PM ) iggry Assalamu Alaikum! Alhumdulillah!!! I have survived my first week teaching and am getting organized, but I have too much homework! The staff here is delightful, and most of the students are also wonderful. (Fourth grade is the most challenging for me because I am not use to working with that active of an age group. Turn my back for one second, and at least three peole are our of their seats and talking to their neighbors! On the plus side, i am learning how to write on the chalk board while facing the class :D ) MashaAllah, my newest son has doubled his weight this past three months and is starting to coo and laugh with us when we talk to him. Alhumdulillah everyone is healthy and hopefully getting wiser. My kids are behaving themselves in my classroom (My sons get to attend the Islamic madressa at reduced tuition since I am working here so they are getting an islamic education now). So please make dua for me that I am an effective teacher and don't torture the kids (students) too much! # Thursday, August 14, 2003 ( 12:08 PM ) iggry Assalamu alaikum Alhumdulillah, I took my kids, and two extra boys camping last weekend. It is like my final free weekend before school starts! We went to Mark Twain National Forest, and the whole weekend was a mishap of events! (well, for me anyway, the everyone else still enjoyed it) When I was in university, a group of us use to go to this cliff and rappell and climb, so the original intent was to climb and camp. Unfortunately, they moved the roads around, and the cliff is on the other side of a farmers field which is posted no trespassing. We drove around back roads for almost 2 hours trying to verify that that was the correct spot, and got stuck in a creek bed. The gravel bed was loose enough that my tires sunk down, and the bottom of my car was resting on the rocks! I flagged down a passing truck and he pulled us out. Then we started looking for a camp site... My favorite site in has been turned into someone's house. It was a wonderful site with a natural spring on one side, and a creek on the other side, so plenty of running water to wash and play in. Next, the camp ground alternative that I use to go to is closed and abandoned. The road s barred by a gate, and all the camp sites have been returned to the forest. Finally we found a really nice pull-off to camp at, but it was without water, so we had to go to a nearby cartisean well to make Wudu. But Alhumdulillah aside form all this, the weekend went well. We hiked to a natural bridge near the campsite, and along another trail to another cave. (Missouri is the cave state, with over 6500 caves ranging from a couple of meters deep to several Kilometers deep). We roasted Halal marshmellows and hotdogs over a campfire, and swam in nearby rivers. ARGH!! School starts next thursday, and I am behind already! I have to start reading textbooks so I present the material in a similar fashion. Teacher workshops start this Monday for me to attend, so this weekend I am going to be writing lesson plans, and figuring out what I am going to do this first week of school. One really exciting aspect, since I am a full time teacher here, my kids get a discount so they are going to have a Islamic education this year including classes in Deen, Quran, and Arabic! Baby is doing well, and is starting to smile at us when we talk to him, and coo back to us. He is slowly becoming mobile, and started rolling over last week. # |
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