BMA Breakfast Surprise!

I love BMA! This school has such a unique atmosphere and this week we did something special. I think this event shows two awesome things about BMA.
The students at BMA travel from really far away by train to come to this school. Some of them walk, then take a bus, then a train, then another train and then walk to school. They spend two hours riding the trains to school and two hours riding home..every single day! I think this really shows how excited the kids are about going to BMA. They sacrifice so much time in order to get a great education at BMA.
So one morning this week the three American teachers, a German teacher and myself woke up at 4:00am and rode the trains out to where the students live. We brought with us dozens and dozens of pastries and boxes of strawberries. Then we got on the same trains that the students take to get to school. Their faces when they saw their teachers were priceless! They were so pleasantly surprised to get a treat on their ride into school. This is the second year that BMA has done the Breakfast Surprise and I think it's such a unique and fun tradition. It really shows how much the teachers care about their students. They made such an effort to go out to where they live and say thank you. I love the passion and creativity found at BMA. Below are some pictures from the rainy Breakfast Surprise morning. :)

Prayer Requests!

Hello! I have a few prayer requests..these next couple of days are very busy and I would really appreciate your support through prayer.
1) This is my last full week here so that means that I will be attending my last Fusion (music club). Each week I really look forward to Thursday evenings. I love singing and dancing and spending time with fun friends. Because it's my last one, I've been asked to do the devotional. Please pray that God would speak through me and that I would feel confident (public speaking always makes me a bit nervous). Also please pray that the kids hearts would be open and that the scripture I read would bless them in some way. Finally please pray for the translator: that the transition between us speaking would be smooth and that he would provide an accurate Czech translation.
2) Over these past couple of months I have spent a lot of time in the classrooms at Beskydy Mountain Academy. I've joined in on some conversation activities, helped with some games, read out loud in a British accent and passed out and collected papers. But this week I have a huge opportunity.. I am going to teach a real high school class! I am really excited but also a bit nervous. It is completely my responsibility to come up with the lesson plan and conduct the full class. I really appreciate prayer for a few aspects of this. First, please pray that God would guide me as I am preparing for the class. I would like to come up with an interesting topic and a creative yet informative way to teach it. I only have two days to prepare my lesson so pray that God would 'get my creative juices flowing'. Also, please pray that the class itself will run smoothly. I'm a bit anxious about teaching kids that are just a couple years younger than me, but I hope that they will be respectful and participate. And most of all, I really want the kids to enjoy the hour but also leave with some new knowledge.
Thank you so much for your support! I will definitely let you know how both of these things go.
God bless,
Florin :)

Sports Day!

This week BMA had Sports Day! Each year the school rents out a gym and has a big volleyball tournament. Each year (grade) puts together a team, the first year class asked me to join their team! Their class only has four boys in it and they all play football and don't really enjoy volleyball.. so we had the only all girls team! Plus, to make it fun they chose to all play in silly pajamas. So when I showed up they handed me a onesie and we started warming up. Although we came in last place, we had a blast! :)

Learning Czech!

I've never been in a country that speaks a language other than English for this long of a time and I must say that it is a unique experience. Before I arrived here I knew how to say hello, good-day, please and thank you. Because I am only here for three months and the school that I am working at focuses on teaching English, I really am fine not knowing any Czech. Not only is Czech a very complicated language to learn but also each student here knows English very well so talking with them isn't hard. The only place that I really need Czech is when I am at a restaurant or store. I am VERY glad that the first phrase that I learned is, "Hello! I'm sorry, I don't speak Czech!". I can also add, "but I'm learning". :) This comes in handy when I arrive at a store and greet somebody in Czech and then they start speaking really quickly! I just say, "Omlouvám se. Nemluvím česky.". Most people nod and smile and hopefully they appreciate my effort. :)

BMA Family!

My favorite thing about BMA is the family atmosphere. Each of the teachers and staff really make an effort to make the school environment unique and more like a family than just a school. The picture below features three of my friends from first year who spent part of their math class one day with their teacher making flower crowns. After class all of the students went outside with their teacher and took pictures together. :) I love my job!