5 year olds

so im trying to be a productive part of society this summer and im teaching summer school. i have 8 precious heads for 2 hours a day which does not seem like a lot, but at the end of the day, it feels like i had 100 kids for 30 hours. it is my first adventure as a real teacher and i have learned that 5 year olds don't get my jokes and sarcasm usually flies way over there heads. today a class of 3rd graders adopted me as one of their own and i was their source of entertainment for an hour or 2. at the end of each day, im so drained but God gives me the strength and energy to do it day after day. two more days then im free!

muzungu mulalu

in my travels i have tried my best to really invest in the lives of the locals. sometimes that means chasing a bunch of ugandans around an open field and other times it means having strawberry hot chocolate over scrabble with indonesians and others it means playing soccer with ecuadorians. i have found once you really set aside preconceptions of my new surrounds and its people, that is when i learn the most. it was so cool to see the eyes of children light up when they see the muzungu mulalu (crazy white person) came back to play with them another day. in situations like that is where i find my joy.

my life as a professional volunteer

my title as a professional volunteer first started out as a joke among the people i worked with at church. at the time i was working with both the high school and young adult ministries so i was in the office pretty much on a daily basis. i was never one to turn down an opportunity to help wherever there was a need.at that time, i was also helping in my mom's first grade classroom on days i wasn't substitute teaching. it was in those times of volunteering that i really cultivated my passion for people and having extra time to travel didn't hurt either. 

the past 3 years as a professional volunteer has set me up to take on my next great adventure. i will be going to india to do what i love: love people and learn language and culture from them. yes as a volunteer. along with volunteering to live along the poorest of the poor, i am also volunteering to get all kinds of fun vaccines including yellow fever, typhoid fever and rabies along with taking malaria pills. it seems like such a small price to pay in order to do what i love. 

stay tuned for more fun tales from the professional volunteer.