The Teaching Experience

We have seen so many wonderful places in the almost two months that we have been here but I would have to say that my favorite so far was the FaHaiSi Temple this past Saturday. We had spent the day visiting tourist sites and had lunch at McDonald's in a busy mall and we drove for quite a long time out of the busy city. We were still on a 4 lane highway and saw much commercial area and then we pulled into a street that seemed more like the villages that we visited in the Minority area. There were little shops and people out in front and walking up and down the street. We turned off the main street and there was the gate to the temple. It was beautiful there and we saw many beautiful things but the true beauty was the people. You could feel the peace. Another BYU teacher and I were talking about it on the bus on our way home from church yesterday and we agreed that you could feel the Spirit there. The love of those people will be a lasting memory and one that I want to pass in the same way.

It has been interesting to find out more about our students as time has gone on. They live away from family in dorms during high school and study 7 days a week from early morning until 10 PM with three half hour breaks for meals. They do this for three years. Entrance into University depends upon scores on tests so they work and study very hard.

Although the poetry class is very difficult for the reason that it is a new subject to me, the junior attitude and the attitude of a particular female student is also more difficult. The freshmen are the opposite.

The difference between higher education our two countries is that in the US, the student will eventually fail out if he doesn't study or come to class. Here, most are passed no matter. Gaining the knowledge seems to be incidental. Of course, there are many are very interested in learning, too.

The freshmen are so excited to be at the University. They come to class excited to learn. The room was packed for the club on Thursday night and 4 of them asked if they could walk us home. The thank you note that I got from the student leader said, "All I can say is 'WOW'". They loved what we had to share (we talked about Halloween and did some stories and songs with them.) All evening one little girl kept coming up and asking if I needed anything. She handed me a kleenex to wipe my moist forehead. She asked if I needed water. One said, "Mrs. Ellington, you are such a happy person. You are always happy. Every time I see you, you are smiling." I believe that it was the same girl that called me on Saturday night and asked if I would be willing to just talk to a group of the girls. She basically said that this was the first time away from home and they want to know about living a good life. They are going to let me know when they have a time and place. I love to go and teach them. We are happy to see each other when I arrive and our goodbyes are pointed to the future. I am lucky to have three groups of them.