Bollywood Night!

One of the perks of teaching at an international school is being able to learn about hundreds of different cultures around the world.  My knowledge of geography has definitely increased :).  A fellow teacher calculated that the students that attend our school represent about 1/4 of the world's nations.  It is amazing to see so many different cultures interact and develop strong friendships.  Some of these friendships stem from countries that do not necessarily get along.  In addition, when we hear about the famines in Somalia, the torture of the untouchables in India and the typhoons in the Philippines it really hits home to many of our students and these terrible events are made very real.  Many of our students have left their home countries to escape famines, difficult living conditions due to government restrictions, persecutions and even torture.  Many of these students experience more pain and loss in one year than some of us will every experience in a lifetime.

ICSV has created such a warm and welcoming environment for these students.  In addition, there are many outside events that the school puts on in order to allow the students to feel more welcome.  This past Friday night the seniors put on a Bollywood event!  Many of our Indian students wore their sari's and cooked us delicious Indian food.  There were even 3 students painting Henna tattoos on people.  It was a real neat event!  I got to see many of my students outside the classroom and even deepen some friendships with them.  I am learning that sharing the love of Jesus Christ is so much about building relationships with people.  It's so important to build a trust and close bond in order to go deep with people.  Many of these students have deep pain and it can take years to break down those walls.  Thankfully we serve a patient and loving God who can break down any walls!

See some pictures below of the Bollywood night!  

Welcome to Bollywood!  

One of our senior girls who helped make the food

Getting some Henna

Fun Henna tattoos

One of my Spanish students 

Yikes!

Some of my volleyball girls enjoying the night

Staff Retreat

This past weekend our entire staff went to a beautiful little city tucked away in the mountains outside the city of Vienna.  It was wonderful to be outside and to get to know more of the people that I am working with on a daily basis.  I was very encouraged by our administration this weekend.  The international Christian School of Vienna is led by men and women that earnestly love the Lord and have such a heart for the school.  Throughout the weekend we attended sessions that were led by our school leaders on the topics of Respect, Unity, Trust and Identity.  I love it when people take such simple topics and go so deep with it.  I also thought it was so wise to talk to teachers and co-workers about these issues.  Many times we can forget how to treat each others in the work place.  We were reminded that we are all bodies of Christ's temple and when mistreating someone, we are mistreating the temple of God (Ephesians 4:25-32).

All in all it was a very enriching, refreshing and laughter filled weekend.  Take a look below to see some of the pictures of the weekend.

PS.  I also popped my shoulder out of its socket twice!  Needless to say, I've been in a bit of pain this week and would appreciate the prayers :).

Pretty mountains welcoming us 

new friends =)

 A little airplane fun to take up time

The gymnasts of the group

Roomies

Cows in the pasture!

Beautiful sunset followed by a starry night

Fun talent show at night!  Our emcees theme:  UK vs America

My lovely prayer partner 

Blast from the past

A couple weeks ago the secretary from Wheaton Christian Grammar School contacted Becca and I asking to do an article on us and our adventures in Austria.  We were excited to have been contacted by the old Alma Mater and answered her questions.  If you'd like to check out the article, click HERE!

I actually first met Becca at WCGS in the 6th grade.  Ironically the first school musical we did was The Sound of Music.  We formed a fast friendship and kept in touch while at different High Schools and Colleges.  When we returned from college we reconnected, joined a bible study together and now are here teaching in Vienna.  I love how God uses old friendships to full-fill His will for our lives.  It is such a joy to be here in Vienna with Becca.

Check out some of the pictures that Becca brought :).  

Graduation!  

In costume for Sound of Music Musical

Late night shaving cream fight... with food coloring

The end of my band career.  Probably a good thing!

GOooOoO Eagles!

Along with teaching Spanish and ELL, I have the privilege of coaching the JV High School volleyball team.  I was very excited to be able to help out with the team and get to know more students in the school.  I have 9 freshman and sophomores on my volleyball team and they are a joy to coach.  The girls come from all over the world including North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  It's definitely a global team.

Since our school does not have a gym, we go to three different gyms every week around the city of Vienna.  At times it can take us up to 30 minutes to get to some of these gyms.  While the traveling seemed cumbersome at first, I soon came to realize what a blessing it was to have time with these girls on the subway.  It was an extra 30 minutes to get to know them personally and build relationships with them.  I do not know where a lot of them are spiritually, but I hope that this season I can be an example of Christ to them.

This past Monday we had our first volleyball game.  We learned of this game only about a week after we had starting practicing.  I had no idea how our team would do.  Some of these girls had never even touched a ball before!  However they played so well and ended up winning the game!  Please keep these girls in your prayers.

My spunky little team

Girls in action!

Setter tipping it over

Winners! Yay!

Love these girls

For you fellow volleyball lovers out there you might like to know some of the differences between American and European volleyball rules:

1.  The coach has a specific area where he/she can only stay
2.  Each player is only allowed two substitutions!
3.  If serving underhand, you must toss the ball into the air before hitting it
4.  Most high school games are played best out of 5

It's a global classroom after all!

Today I brought my camera to school and had so much fun taking pictures of my students.  For some reason kids love having their picture taken and then acting silly in all of them.  Here is a little taste of what I get to experience in one of my classrooms!

A little video of the kids

Everyone got an A!

I love this picture and that he has this binder

Cutie

I like silly faces too!

I had my kids differentiate between God and man

... and I taught them the word "okedoke"

Bible class

My ELL class

Looking smart

*Names and countries not used for privacy reasons

Grüß Gott

The past two weeks have been quite the experience.  I knew that teaching in an international school would be different, I just did not realize how different it would be.  It has been really neat being surrounded by so many people from all over the world.  If you counted all the nationalities in the school, it would represent 1/4 of the world!  I am definitely learning a lot about different cultures, languages, mannerisms and life by teaching in this school.

I am currently teaching Spanish 1 to High School and Middle School students, ELL Content (English to language learners) and coaching volleyball.  All of my classes are so unique in their own way.  In the States, I was used to teaching Spanish to students who only knew one language, English.  Now I am teaching Spanish to Austrians, Koreans, Germans, Japanese, Africans and even Mexicans.  I can no longer use English as my foundation language but need to research other methods of teaching.  My ELL class represents every continent on the earth.  I have a lot of fun in that class teaching through drawing, acting and pictures.  Let's just say I was not meant for broadway nor the art world.  The students have a lot of fun trying to figure out my pictures!  Last week I taught my students how to say, "See ya later gator" and "In a while crocodile".  Now I am being called gator and crocodile every day :).  I truly enjoy teaching these kids Spanish and English and learning more about their culture.

The best thing to teach these students is about Jesus Christ.  In my ELL Content class I have the opportunity to teach bible.  My students had never owned a bible let alone knew how to read one.  This past week I gave them each a picture bible and taught them about the books of the bible, chapters and verses.  While we were practicing looking up verses, one of my Asian students came across a picture of Jesus on the Cross.  He put his hands over his face and squirmed in his desk for about 10 seconds.  Then the other students ran over to see why he was acting this way and ended up doing the same thing.  They looked at me and asked, "Why teacher?".  I was able to share with them why Jesus died on the cross and what that meant for us as sinners.  I do not know if they fully understood the concept, but fortunately we serve a God that speaks every language and can communicate to these kids when I cannot.  God is doing some mighty works in this school and I feel so privileged to be apart of it.  I thank you once again for all the support and encouragement I have received from you!  

The Hall of Flags

Every flag represents a student's passport country

**Pictures and videos of students and classroom are coming!

Living Conditions

Upon arriving in Vienna I had no idea what to expect when it came to our living conditions.  All I knew was that I would be living in an apartment about 20 mins away from the school.  The two previous tenants had worked at the school and were looking to sell most of their furniture, appliances and utensils.   Therefore, Becca and I decided to purchase everything and ended up coming to fully furnished apartment.  In addition, our school has become our landlord for our apartment which is very convenient in case something were to break!  It was amazing how God had provided most of our living needs within the first week.  We only had to buy a few things before truly feeling settled in our apartment.  We are so thankful for God's timing.  In addition, a few families and staff members from the school live in our same apartment complex and have been such a huge help when we needed something fixed or set-up.  Here are some before and after shots of our apartments!


This is what our apartment looked like when we first walked in!

Living room

Bathroom/Laundry room

Toilet room

Becca's room

My room

Kitchen

 After a month of unpacking, cleaning and decorating

 Living room

Living room different angle

Bathroom/laundry room

Toilet room

My room

Becca's room

Kitchen

Putting the groceries away in our tiny refrigerator 

 View from our balcony

 Becca and I went to middle school together :)