Frustration is the best word to describe this past week. For the fifth time since January, I fell ill. In an ironic statement, I have grown very sick of being sick. I really love working with the children of No. 9, and because I became sick I had to not come in to teach English class on Thursday. I did, however, push through on Thursday to teach my jazz dance class in the evening because I really love working with my class on dance and I want to finish teaching them the dance for the performance in the next couple weeks.
The students are working so hard in my dance class and I love seeing how the few boys in my class are really starting to love it! It’s been extremely hot outside so I’ve been giving my students a couple of water breaks so they stay hydrated. During a water break, the boys were working on the dance together– making corrections on each other and going over the steps. The inspired some of the girls to go over the dance as well! I was really tickled and impressed with their dedication to learning the dance.
I have also been noticing that the kids are opening up more! A lot of the students who originally were shy or nervous to talk to us have really opened up. I also have become good friends with a ninth grade student named Lyra. She is so incredibly sweet and it’s so cool that she made friends with Duke students from previous years. I hope we can go get lunch more often and get to know each other even better.
I also have love spending time with my host sister Amy. I felt really bad that I was super boring and couldn’t do anything fun while I was sick, but hopefully now that I am getting better we can do activities together when we both have the time. We are going to try and see Wonder Woman today which is a movie I have been excited about being released for a couple of years.