Early to Rise 11/08/2009
 
At the buzz of our alarm in the morning, it almost seems that Cambodia wakes up right along with us. Josh and I get up at 5am and it's not long before we hear the rooster crowing. Cambodia as a culture, enjoys getting up early.  Someone even told me that if you're not out sweeping your porch by 6am, your neighbors will think you're lazy.

 As Josh prepares his coffee and I pour myself a green tea, sounds of the open market chime outside our window; the clinks, clanks, laughs and hollers of people setting down bowls of fish, laying out fruit, gathering up eggs and scraping out rice. The internet is on until 7am, and we use this morning time to read the Bible, plan our English lessons and do any extra tasks on the computer.

 
So that you may have more of a tangible idea of what we do, this is our schedule from Tuesday to Saturday:

 7-8am - we both conduct speaking tests for students who want to enroll in our English school. Students rarely come at this time though.

8-10am- we each teach a class where we train the English teachers. These teachers are graduates from a Bible college in here in Cambodia so they lead Bible studies as well as each teach a class in the English school. So in the class we teach them more English and pretty much teach them how to teach.

10:15-11am-we each go a class and teach English to the children. I am going to be teaching the 2nd and third graders (alternating on different days) and Josh will teach the first and fourth graders.

11am-4pm-is our free time. We use this generous portion of time to practice Khmer, read the Bible, plan lessons, go out and get supplies, etc.

4-5pm- speaking tests

5:30-6:30pm- we each teach an English class.

 
I've always enjoyed morning, but sometimes 5am does come too early, and it's the cold shower that must snap me awake. I'd like to say that the sounds of Cambodia lure me on, but even the uniqueness of a different culture can over time become not to so endearing, and the sounds just become noise. But this is good, because I want even more to say that it is knowing Jesus, that makes my hands turn the pages of the English text book. It is my conviction of His calling that makes me practice the Khmer alphabet and struggle over and over again on the same letter. It is the satisfaction of being able to invest spiritually into others, and the desire to see them do well, that makes me stand in front of my students and try to teach grammar. What we do is a result of what is in our heart, or even more so, who is in our heart.

When I look at my schedule and life from this perspective, although I may feel tired, 5am doesn't come soon enough.
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Comments

Air Jordan link
03/04/2011 06:14

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

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