Classes start for Brin and the girls in a little over a week. We've had a crazy, but memorable summer with over 20 visitors spending time with our family. Our latest visitors, Josh's parents Tom and Connie are leaving today. In the midst of our activities blogging has not been at the top of our list, but that doesn't mean we haven't anything to share. We've decided to take advantage of another guest blogger, this time Tom. The following is a note he posted to his Facebook page...
One of the sure signs you're in a developing country is that, even in the middle of a city, you're going to be awakened by roosters crowing, anticipating the new day. We spent a couple days this week in a town near the waterfalls a couple hours north of Manaus, where the morning greetings were so close and so piercing that we joked the hotel guy had hired his own personal rooster.
PQQ has its own signature night sounds, far less predictable and varied and untamed, at least to us as visitors. I'm not jungle-wise enough to identity the hysterical cackling and chattering outside my window, but we are reminded early most mornings that we are not in Hazelwood anymore.
There is a pleasant rhythm of life at PQQ. The heat and discomfort of the day mostly subsides during the night, and by morning we have pulled the sheet over us. Even here, almost on the equator, there are sort of seasons--the relentless heat of October and November, the rainy season from December to May--and the rise and fall of the Amazon by 50-60 vertical feet through the year.
We are learning to read the signs and to anticipate what will happen next. A gentle breeze blows suddenly through the house, and you know a rain shower is imminent and run to see if you have clothes on the line. A barge steams by out in the middle of the river, and you know in five minutes you will have ocean-like waves breaking on your shore. Better make sure your boat is securely tied.
Everyone here is anticipating the opening of school. The girls are excited to have new tote bags, made by Grandma and Abi, which they have already filled with school supplies. They are all talking about the classes and teachers they will have. It's inevitable that sometimes they will be taught by their own parent. This year Gabriella will take Biology with her mom.
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| Abi (our niece who is living with us for a semester), Gabriella, Ava and Sarah (a short-termer from St. Louis) showing off the bulletin board they helped make for Brin's science class. |
Gabriella does not seem disappointed by this turn of events. The Biology textbook, like most of the textbooks here are sadly out of date, but with jungle all around them and the availability of the Internet, this promises to be a rich experience. Brin loves to lead visitors on long hikes in the jungle, pointing out unusual plants and signs of animal life. We have seen deer, monkeys, sloth, and snakes in the wild, and discussed how the Indians made needles from thorns and transmitted messages by beating on the hollow flanges at the bases of rainforest trees.
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| Brin leading a jungle hike with Caleb and Dave, two of our visitors from earlier this summer. |
It's an unorthodox school, to be sure. Brin says last year the Terra Nova test, the seven-hour, standardized, school-wide test, which provides a significant measurement each year for both students and the school itself, was interrupted last year on one day by torrential rains and water leaking into classrooms and a second day by a snake loose in the school. But, she says, the students just put aside their answer sheets for a few minutes to move buckets under the dripping places and to help corner and capture the snake, and then got back to their testing.
This is truly an international school, home to missionary kids whose parents come from all over the world, this year including Korea, Peru, and The Netherlands. Many of them have also lived part of their lives in the villages where their parents are working and speak the tribal language of the indigenous people who live there. They have witnessed the Gospel imperative in action in their own parents.
The level of sacrifice some of these parents make is sobering. I am thinking especially about a six year old boy who will live in the dorm and attend school here this year. His parents work in a tribe where it's culturally acceptable for children to touch each other inappropriately. They do not want him to grow up thinking that's normal and have come to the difficult decision that, at least at this point, it's not healthy for him to remain with them in the tribe.
Tomorrow we will awaken to jungle sounds in the cool of the morning for the last time. We'll say goodbye to our kids and grandkids and head back to our air-conditioned home in the suburbs, where roosters do not crow and where my life is considerably more pampered. But the memories and impressions of this community will stay with me for a long time, as we continue to try to understand and to anticipate what God is doing in the world to draw people from every tribe and nation and tongue to himself.
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| Tom building a TV cart that will be used in a classroom. |
The following are some other notes Tom posted on Facebook:
july-24-2013-winning-state
july-30-2013-generational-tension
