The end of a long week

It has definitely been a long week. After achieving only a fraction of what I set out to last weekend, although I'm sure most of the things I did do were important, I had much to do to get the report cards finished on time. That meant some very late nights, and by Wednesday I was physically exhausted. I took a half day to catch up, and OK, I didn't get them done on time, but they were done in time for the students to take them home on Friday afternoon.

One highlight this week was receiving an acknowledgement of a preliminary application to the other main Christian International School here in Phnom Penh. This school has many more Aussies on staff than Logos (that wouldn't be hard) and teaches a different curriculum, which is more compatible with the Australian/NZ/British systems. They are looking for Elementary and Secondary school teachers, and so I put in a preliminary application last week. In the covering e-mail, I was very honest about why I'm leaving Logos, and was subsequently warned (not by anyone at that school) that maybe that wasn't a good idea. Despite the advice, I'm still glad I was open and honest about it, and I believe God has rewarded my honesty. My application and my honesty were acknowledged, and I was given the opportunity to submit a formal application if I believed that God led me to do so. I decided this was appropriate, and I'm now waiting to see what happens next. Hopefully an interview. I've also been invited to put in the second stage of an application to an organisation which recruits teachers for Christian schools in a number of countries around the world. It's an on-line application, and it will have to be done in one sitting, so I'm holding off until I've got a little more planning and preparation done for the coming week before I get down to doing that one.

One thing about having to write job applications is it really makes you think about where your priorities lie, and why you do what you do. This job may not pay a lot, but the non-financial rewards can be amazing. I'm continuing to work through issues, and this will take some time, but I know that God is in control, and that He is working in my life. He is breaking me, molding me, and making me into the person that He wants me to be. I pray that I will not forget the lessons of the last five weeks, but will grow as a result of them, and that I will continue to surrender daily, and even hourly to Him. I love you Lord!


Friday afternoon I decided that I'd done enough work this week, and invited two friends over to watch a movie with me. We shared fried rice, and then watched "Old Dogs". If you are looking for a great comedy movie that you can show to your teenagers (and even pre-teens) then this one is definitely OK. We laughed and laughed. I'm not going to tell you any more. You'll just have to get hold of it and watch it! Tonight I watched another movie (on my own this time) called "my sister's keeper", and while I won't say I enjoyed it, it was definitely a good movie. For teachers who are looking for a movie for high school students that raises moral and ethical issues, this one is definitely worth having a look at.

The weather here is hot and humid, and the rainy season hasn't started yet! We have been watching the slow progress of the installation of the transformer necessary to get an adequate electricity supply in to the school. It's definitely happening. Let's hope things keep progressing. It would be good to be able to teach in air-conditioned comfort again (although until Cambodia has enough power in it's grid there will still be load-sheddng at times).

The other major progress on the new campus this weekend has been the installation of rubber tiles under our playground equipment (swings, slides and climbing frames). We (several of the elementary teachers & definitely some of the parents) are praising God that this has happened. We're not sure whether it was going to happen this weekend anyway, or whether an accident after school one afternoon this week (which could have been a lot worse than it was - and it was definitely bad enough - praise God that He kept his hand on our student and that the injury that occurred wasn't worse) has resulted in it being fast-tracked. Whatever the reason, we are very happy that it is happening.