Fuzine Youth Festival

Today was the first day of the Fuzine Youth Festival. My co-teacher is Maja, and we have 3rd and 4th graders. Today was basically a getting-to-know-each-other day, but I think the kids learned a little English and had some fun (they got to plant flowers!). There were, of course, a few kids who weren't too into it, but the majority of them were really excited and seemed to be eager to participate. The cool thing is that in our class we have two children of one of our students from the Fuzine Community School of English - and also they're our neighbors! Brajna and Esy have a couple FCSE kids, too. I love that we are getting to know whole families! I think that the best part of today was how funny the kids in our class thought it was when I pronounced their names or tried to speak Croatian. But I am glad that I can provide comic relief. :) I entertain my fellow team members, too. Hmm. I have learned some new phrases in the past month: "evo ga!" "jel da" and "ima puno stepenica" come to mind. That last one means, "we have a lot of stairs," and was said to me and Maja by an older gentleman as we were walking back from the school today, up the long flight of stairs from the lake. We must have looked tired - but in our defense, it was partially from spending a couple hours with kids, not just from walking up the stairs! Actually, it turned out to be a fun day with them, though. I was a bit hesitant because I never think I am very good with kids - especially when there is a language barrier. But these kids didn't mind me, and I was surprised to find myself saying things in Croatian that I didn't realize I knew! It's amazing how well you can communicate using just a bit of broken English and a bit of broken Croatian! The theme of the week is "Kindness," and each day we have a different focus. Today was "being kind to our environment," tomorrow is "being kind to our friends and family," Wednesday is "being kind to the disadvantaged," and Thursday is "being kind to the world" (e.g. people from different countries). I think it's a great theme. Tea worked really hard on preparing materials and curriculum outline, and then each set of teachers just tweaks it depending on the day and grade level. The other teachers have been fun to get to know. There are, of course, me, Tea, and Brajna, and our friend Maja who came to ROM last summer, our friend Zima who is our neighbor and was a student in FCSE, two of Brajna's friends, Sanyesz and Esy, who are Hungarian but living in Vukovar, and three other Americans: Jeff and his son Austin, and daughter Emily, who are from New York. They are a pretty fun group of people. Yesterday, we went to the coast and just spent time enjoying the beach and each other's company. What a way to start the week! We came home feeling both exhausted and refreshed at the same time. Please pray that God would give us all energy through this week, and that this will be a great experience for the kids from Fuzine, Lic, and Vrata.