Summer life - Resting up for Fall
Although it was not the summer I planned on having it has been the rest I have needed. When plans to return to Canada for a visit fell through I took on a house/pet sitting gig for the summer. The flat is located next to the river and has been a lovely summer home. I get to hang out with two cuddly creatures and enjoy a little rest as I prepare for the upcoming school year.
English Camp
Summer is a time when many churches host English camps. These camps are an opportunity to not only teach English but build relationships with Czechs in the community. Often these camps are run by local churches by missionaries and teams from North America. Usually during the summers I'm not available to take on summer English camps, however this year due to the challenges of Covid restrictions I was available to help. I have friends whose mission hosts a camp every year and with borders being tight their team from the USA was unable to come. So I signed up for a week of reading stories to a group of children at an English Family Camp hosted in Orlické hory (Eagle Mountains). It was a fun week of hikes in the hills, listening to a lot of Czech, singing and sharing stories in English.
Happy Birthday - So often my birthday has fallen during a week at camp and this year was no exception. My friends Curt and Vicky made a wonderful cake for my birthday making it a memorable day.
Prayers and Petitions
We still have many mountains that need to be moved before school starts. Our need for elementary teachers is still a top priority. We have a plan Z to make it through to December but it is not ideal. We have been blessed with a very willing and flexible staff that will take on teaching assignments they have never planned on - like teaching grade five classes. We have a teacher who will be in the country until December who will take on grade 3 and our principal who hopefully be in the country by the end of the week is able to do grade 4 if we have no one else. This is not an ideal situation but we trust the Lord in his provision and his timing and continue to pray for teachers. We are still in need of elementary teachers as it is best to have a teacher who is teaching the class full time and not trying to split their time between administrative duties and teaching.
There are many things to pray for
Provision of elementary teachers and art teacher
Visas for our new staff
Housing for our new staff
Challenges with changes in Czech law regarding Health insurance requirements for foreigners
Challenges with Covid 19 restrictions and rules returning back to school
Covid-19
The pandemic has brought about many changes and challenges. Czech Republic is currently making changes to their requirements for health care requiring all foreigners to have a particular health care provider which will directly impact foreigners living in the country. So often here the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing so getting the right information can be tricky and frustrating at times. Please pray for our administration and mission teams as they work to navigate these new rules.
August has started off with a bang and I have hit the ground running. I am excited to welcome a large group of new TeachBeyond members to our team and it has kept me very busy. The plan is for me to teach a 1/2 split this year and help lead our elementary team as I slowly hand off duties to our new principal.
With changes in numbers and class sizes we played musical classrooms again and so have once again relocated the grade 5 classroom. I spent this week putting it in order and making it look more like a classroom and less like a pile of supplies and books. I need to learn to take more before pictures.
Next I need to tackle my own room!
There are many, many new changes and challenges we will face this year as we navigate the ever changing pandemic and its rules. Pray for health, and wisdom as we go into this new school year.
