Johnson

Johnson

Friday, May 30, 2008

Yearbook

I have had the privilege of teaching the yearbook class this year at MICA. Although it was a little stressful there for a little bit, the yearbook came together quite nicely. It came in on time and the quality was very good! Overall I would say that it was a success. My students did a great job! It was fun to see their creativity through their page design! I was very impressed with them. Most of them enjoyed it so much, they want to be in yearbook again next year! Here are some pictures of the class and our yearbook signing party. Helping one of my students edit one of her pages.
Two of the students getting their first glance at the yearbook during the signing party. Most students seemed to be very pleased with how it turned out!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

The School Year is Coming to an End...

It seems that our last days here are getting busier and busier. This weekend was full of wonderful, exciting events. Friday night there was the "End of the school year Ceremony/ 8th grade graduation" for Faith Academy Davao. Rob (amongst a few other teachers) was recognized for his teaching, and serving through being the maintenance manager. It was a fun night watching a video filled with pictures taken through out the school year, and watching the 8th graders give speeches and graduate! We are so proud of them and have really enjoyed getting to know them and love them over the past 10 months!
Saturday was the MICA Awards Night! Awards were given for Student Council, Sports, Academic, and Character Recognitions. I had the privilege of giving out the student council awards, technology award (to one of my yearbook students!), the leadership award (to our student council president), and the service award (to another student on student council). Our students have grown so much this year, it was really neat to recognise them for all they have accomplished!
Sunday was filled with church, lunch with one of the high schoolers, and our very last bible study with our small group here. There are so many "lasts" happening right now, it's pretty sad. I can't believe we leave in 8 days. Oh how time flies...
This week we will have to: Do a yearbook signing party! Go to a Student Council Party. Go to a high schoolers b-day party. Go to the MICA graduation. Finish all our grading. Pack! Say good-bye to all those we have grown to love here! It's going to be a pretty emotional, busy, sad, but fun week!
Recognising this year's Student Council! I LOVED being the Student Council Advisor this year. These students are great!
Making a little speech about one of the students before giving out the award.
with one of my yearbook students and her technology award. (It's so weird, usually all the pictures are of Rob, but he did not give an awards that night, so he was the one behind the camera)
The FAD 8th grade class singing a song before they graduated. Don't they look good! they clean-up well.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Teacher's Appreciation...

Well, the school year is coming to a close. There are only 2 more days left of classes, and then students start their exams. Wow! We will be leaving the Philippines in 13 days! I can't believe it! How time flies... It's so bitter/sweet, as is most transitions in life...
On Saturday the students prepared a teacher's appreciation dinner for all the MICA teachers and their spouses. The weird part is that the student council was in charge of organizing it, and I, being the student council advisor, am in charge to oversee their events. Well, this is the one event I did not know anything about. They wanted it to be a surprise for me. They really did a great job! I was very impressed! We had it at the SIL office building, which is right next to MICA. They had decorated one of the rooms and it looked great! They served us finger foods through out the night, gave each of us a card from all the students and then the teachers and students played a game together. It was a great night!
The decorated the whole room with paintings, messages, couches, lamps, rugs... It looked great!
The students served us finger foods.. there were about 8 different courses! We were stuffed by the end.
Enjoying the game!
We played a game called Mexican charades. Basically where you act out a scene and someone has to guess what you are acting... Here Rob is being a student in class who really has to go to the bathroom. It was really funny! (He's going to LOVE that I posted this picture of him!)
Here are the teachers (plus their spouses)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Trip to the Market

The first time I went to the market here, I only had my little camera. I have been wanting to go back just to take pictures with my SLR camera and yesterday I got the opportunity. Since we have a friend in town from NOLA, we asked if he would like the cultural experience and he did! Here are some pics I took:

The Meat section, oh the smell... yes, these are pigs feet hanging!
Of course we are quite the specticle, especially a white person with a camera. These two cute guys wanted me to take their pictures with their ducklings! So cute!
Dried Fish!
Of course, lots of fresh veggies!
This is how they sell soy sauce, cooking oil, etc.

Monday, May 05, 2008

A Familiar Face

Some of you might recognise this face! Yes, Dan is here in Davao! For those of you who don't know, Dan is a friend of ours from church back in NOLA. It is so weird to have someone here from "our other life" in the States. It is fun to show him around a little and have him meet some of our students! Last week, the student council organized a water day (the reason Rob is wet in the picture) and Dan was able to join us for awhile and meet some of our students. Dan is here with a group of people teaching Christian doctors how to take care of the "whole person": Taking care of not just their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs.
Last night we were able to join his group at a local hospital where they visited the patients, shared the gospel, and prayed with them. It was really neat to be a part of their ministry for an evening. I appreciate someone like Dan going into the medical field to be a light to hurting people! I have never really thought about the impact a doctor can have in someone's life until we went to the hospital with his group. There is something about ministering to people who are hurting physically, which makes them open and vulnerable. As a doctor, to be a pillar of strength and pray with your patients truly ministers to them in a time of great tribulation in their lives. What a great impact a doctor can have for the glory of God!
We look forward to spending some more time with our friend this week!

Thursday, May 01, 2008

What's for Dinner?

Crystal, this is for you...

Yes, that's right we had corn on the cob for dinner! One night this week I really didn't feel like cooking dinner. I had just gone to the grocery store and bought corn on the cob ( I had to buy a pack of 5). Produce here in the Philippines does not last that long, so I thought I might as well make all 5 of them in one meal.

For those of you who don't know, when Doug and Crystal first got married she told us that her family had meals where they ate corn on the cob. Of course, we all asked, "Is that all?" When I met Rob, being the Nebraska boy that he is, he said that his family use to have nights when all they ate was corn on the cob. Well, if you can't beat them, join 'em!!!