Over the past few days I have enjoyed seeing my friends at my old stomping grounds Vejlefjordskolen. I was surprised how many people I still know. But two years has also brought a lot of new faces, a few times I noticed curious eyes peeking into a room or around a corner, no doubt wondering who this random American was, why he could understand them and why he knew where everything was. I only met a few new students during this visit but I'm sure I'll meet more. I just found out last night that I'll be back next weekend for a soccer tournament, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
In my communication with the people I would be working with here in Denmark we had decided that I would be teaching English and Math, and that my limited Danish fluency would be sufficient to deal with the classes I would have. However I have spoken with enough missionaries in other fields to expect more than those two. So I did. Yesterday after church I met my coworker and principal for the first time and drove to their house out in the country. It is a very nice house and they made me feel welcome right away by giving me a room. Lunch was a bit quiet as I didn't know what to say, and neither did they. But soon after lunch we started to discuss what would happen in the next few months and how to prepare for it. She handed me my schedule and I about passed out. I saw words like "Biologi" and "Geografi" and grades like "1-3". So this is what all those other missionaries meant when they said, "Expect more." Now, if this were an English speaking school I would have no problem teaching all the classes to any grade level, but I suddenly began to realize that they think I know more Danish than I do. And they are expecting me to teach things in Danish. Having everyday conversations in Danish is one thing that I can get by with, but the words you run into when dealing with Biology for example, are a bit more difficult.
I stared at that schedule for a good long while and slowly remembered that I wanted this and it was...is going to be a challenging experience. I don't know if "challenging" even begins to approach the intensity of the task before me.
Tomorrow is my first day at the school and I imagine I will have a good time getting to know the students and other teachers. As for now I better go look through my textbooks and maybe brush up on a little more Danish.
1 comment:
Thank you for the update. I can't wait to see pictures. See your email from us. We will pray that God will be with you and give you the words you need. This is a challenge but you will grow and you will also be a blessing to this school. Get your blog address out to your friends on you FB page. Looking forward to the next update or your next email. m
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