As Tim busily adds the finishing touches to his presentation for the surgery residents tomorrow, I'm reflecting on last weeks' classes in English 12. My lesson plans said that we would be reading, discussing and analyzing more of Beowulf last week.....but, after watching the stressed out, worried faces of my students as they discussed college applications, I decided that Beowulf could wait, and that we would devote five days of class to facing those college app fears head on. Since most of my students are boarding students, these kids don't have the benefit of parents at home with them each night, helping and advising and guiding them through the college application process. And since I've already watched two of my own endure this tedious task, I couldn't sit back and not help these precious senior students, all so motivated yet mostly all so scared of the daunting process before them.
College Resumes, Essays, Common App forms, Texas Common App forms (Can someone please explain to me why Texas feels we need our own separate common app?) -- you name it, we did it.
Honestly, I shake my head and sigh when I see all the additional hoops colleges have invented for these tired, nervous high school students to jump through since I was a high school senior applying to college. My goodness! College Admission people deflate all the air out of the ""Where am I going to go to college?" fun balloon, don't they? I keep asking myself, "Do they really need to make it this difficult to apply to their school?"
Hopefully, those 5 class days were well spent, and now, I pray, some or all of those seniors can breathe a little easier at night, as most have moved much closer to being able to hit "send" on all those applications.
Meanwhile, we started week 3 of senior year, and are back to watching (reading) Beowulf kill the evil Grendel, and (soon, very soon), destroy Grendel's mama, too -- along with that pesky dragon that comes to ruin Beowulf's retirement plans years later. As you know doubt remember, Beowulf is legendary in its ability to bore high school seniors across the Western Hemisphere to tears, and to cause them all to ask, "What in the world difference does this make to me?" So, I take it as my personal mission, my personal goal, to find a way to make this epic poem interesting and - dare I say it? - enjoyable for my students. Perhaps I'll let you know later if I think I accomplished this feat of teaching...or not.
Besides teaching and doctoring, we are enjoying being with the 3/5 of the kids we have left at home, and trying not to be too sad about missing the older two who are away at college. (Thank goodness for facetime and skype! It always makes me feel so much better when I can see my Wheatie girl or my Aggie son on my computer or phone screen!) Ruthie is a senior in high school this year. I keep feeling like Steve Martin in the first "Father of the Bride" remake movie, looking at his grown daughter, but "seeing", in his mind's eye, a little girl with braided pigtails and bows. I can't believe my little Ruthie is really going to graduate high school this year. It just doesn't seem possible. I'm enjoying getting to know the kids in her class - such sweet kids! And, I'm also enjoying having Ruthie as a student! What an honor.
Sam is just behind her as a junior. He continues to revel in hanging out with his 10 or so best buds in his class. Of all our kids, Sam definitely has enjoyed RVA the most, and I believe that is because of the wonderful young men in his class. They have a bond like no other! Sam is taking a videography class this year, and he loves it so far. I'm thankful that RVA has so many great Art classes for Sam, as that is his passion.
Little Desté grows more and more each day - he currently is making strides towards conquering his overwhelming fear of dogs. His goal is to be able to go to his friends' homes - the ones who have dogs - by Christmas. We'll see. He's working on it! Desté felt nervous about starting 1st grade - quite nervous. But, he's taken to first grade like a fish to water. He loves his teacher, absolutely adores her, in fact! And, he is friends with every kid in class - they all get along so well together! Tim and I are so thankful that Desté has adjusted so well to our family and his life here after all he's been through. He does miss his Aunt Jeanne and his brother and sister on Idjwi - a lot. Just the other day, he burst into tears, out of the blue, and said how much he missed them and wanted to go see them. I'd love to be able to surprise him with a visit during a break this year - but it is kind of difficult for Americans to obtain visitor visas into Congo. So, we'll be praying and working towards that.
So, nothing really insightful or deep this blog post, but wanted to at least write an update. I'm trying to begin writing in here more regularly again - whether I feel inspired to say something profound or not. Tonight was "not" - but at least now you have a picture of what's up here these days.
Feel free to comment or send us an email with your updates. We love to hear from friends back home. (bergfamilyafrica@gmail.com)
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