Baha'i Education in State Schools

I went to a BESS class today- Baha'i Education in State Schools- and how it works, as far as I know, in each public school scriptures of different Faith's are offered and the parents have the option as to which class they want their kids to take. I learned from the lady that I went with that there are no Baha'i children in these classes, which was a big surprise to me for some reason. We started with the 6th and 5th graders, then the 4th and 3rd graders, then finished up with the 1st, 2nd and kindergarten kinds. Each class was 30 minutes....wow, you cannot teach anything in 30 minutes!! It flew by and the whole time we could hardly hear what we were talking about let alone make sure the kids were learning! Chaos... that's the best way to describe it. Some of the kids were really impressive! Shelling out prayers and Writings left and right, very enthusiastic to show off what they learned. Other kids were just kids being kids. Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience in 1 and 1/2 hours :)

Work has been good so far. This week I'm in the Membership Office all week! I'm very excited to be in one place for the whole week. We're printing new membership cards for the whole of Australia...that's like 30,000 cards. Other than that, life is pretty normal. People are coming and going, it's really weird to be the one that's been here the longest....and it's so wird how MUCH I miss the people who have left! I haven't known them too long but the spirit they have and what they brought into my life was just so uplifting....I miss them a lot. I miss those who haven't even left yet! My heart aches a little when I think of their future departure, but I have to start thinking forward and see that the friendships that I've made over a short time have become (hopefully) life long friendships. And I'll be able to travel the world and have amazing tour guides and free accommodation :) Next step for me is to be pro-active in getting into cluster and community events, no matter how weird it is to put myself out there to meet new people. Fake it till you make it baby.

Beautiful, beautiful people, inside and out, heart and spirit.