Day 11: All Good Things Must Come to an End

My heart is so FULL.

Day 11 was absolutely incredible and heartbreaking at the same time.

Let's start with the incredible: I got to teach my art integrated lesson and it went so much better than I could have ever imagined.

The lesson: Had students creating Picasso looking faces in which the features can look discombobulated as long as they are around the correct spot in the face. Students were given squares and instructed to draw one feature on each. For example, we started with the eyes and worked our way down the face. The students then got to put them together (with a little teacher help on the gluing portion) on a piece of construction paper.

There was so much more that I saw I could incorporate as I was teaching it. A lesson that started off simply being parts of the body and art turned into a lesson on math, colors, parts of the body, and art all rolled up into one hands-on lesson. It was so apparent as I was teaching it that the students never got to do lessons like this and they were so enthusiastic with every part of the lesson. It was also apparent that the teachers had

never seen certain teaching methods that were used throughout the lesson. One of

these methods included saying the wrong answer and letting the students correct you with the right answer. For example, I would say a phrase along the lines of "So your eyes go here, right?" and put two pictures of eyes over my ears. The students caught on right away and shouted "Nooooo". I then asked them where the eyes would go and allowed a student to come up and show me where the eyes actually go. This was great for the students because not only did it make sure they were paying attention, but it also showed me whether or not they were understanding the meaning behind what they were learning.

Now onto the heartbreaking: I had to leave some of the most loving and caring kids I have even been around. I took bulleted notes on my phone so that I could remember and one of the phrases on today was: "My face hurts from smiling". This is honestly so true and I have never felt so much love concentrated into one place than I did on that last day that we had at this school. It was filled with laughter, joy, dancing, and tears.

Before we left, I went back into my classroom to grab my things when I noticed one of the little boys in my class working on something at his desk. I saw him putting bits of

paper on his tongue and sticking it down onto paper. I was curious as to what he was doing so I walked over to his desk and what I saw make my heart actually hurt because I had never been so touched. He was recreating the lesson that we did in class on his own during his recess time. He held up the paper and gave me the biggest grin I had ever seen and my face mirrored his. I was filled with warmth and ran back to ask him to take a picture of him and his beautiful artwork. I was so conflicted because I was beaming, but also wanted to burst into tears at the same time. My emotions were all over the place. It takes a special place to hold so much love and beauty, yet somehow, Ethiopia pulls it off effortlessly.

I will end my Ethopian blog journey with a quote from our main man and guide, Zac:

"I am with my guests, my sweet family."

And after just two short weeks in the beautiful country of Ethiopia, that is exactly what the people around us had become: family.