3 weeks left!

I just can not seem to get my mind off of that. I am building sucha bond with my co workers and the kids here that I cant believe that I actually have to leave soon. Anyways, last week ended with a little stress. Our scheduled trip to the aquarium last friday almost did not happen. The bus never showed up, and the kids had worked so hard to earn this trip so I had to make sure that it happened. In the end everything worked it self out and the trip was great. Now thta was friday and I am going to skip to monday. It was a great day, in my music class we were doing a unit on gospel music. I was very skeptical about doing it because I am used to not being able to mention anything that has to do with God in the classroom setting. My co teacher, Tawain, is from New Orleans and she assured me that everything would be fine, so she led off the first part of the lesson. To my surprise every kid in the class had grown up in the church, was apart of the choir, or they were very strong in the gospel genre. That made the class go by easy, they could recite different songs, and the different lyrics while also deciphering the meanings. Today I was also able to monitor two of the older kids, Tawain and Jarron, who I had requested be bumped up to Junior counselor status. I dont know if I mentioned this before but I see a maturity in these two that I have not seen in the other kids. THey do all of their work in a timely fashion, they pay attention very well, but also the kids look up to them even the kids in their classes. I bumped them up to the positions and in the classes with the younger kids who are the most hyper active the behavior has made a positive change. Tawain and Jarron have both admitted that they were apart of gangs, but they are so responsible in their everyday actions that I have been talking to them about life, violence and many other aspects of their lives. THey are very open with me and they speak to me in a mature fashion about everything. I am trying to implement the ability to help them be leaders in a more positive way instead of being a follower in a gang. They are responding so well, in the last week they have stopped talking about gang life and are asking me more questions about my life and even college. They are looking at life past the south, and what could be possible for them. I am not teaching these boys how to be leaders, they already know I am just a resource for them. ANything they ever want to know or if they want someone to listen I am here, I do not have the answers for them, I can just be present.

TOny