February 1st Blog

February 1, 2010

 

This has by far been the busiest I have felt since we have been here. Now that I’m teaching full time I am doing a lot more homework and a lot more planning. It’s fun to be the full time teacher though, especially when Ms. Patricia isn’t in the classroom. When she’s not there I really get to have fun with the students and teach my own way. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a long time. I am getting observed for the last time on Thursday and I am really hoping that my professor will come during my language arts lesson.

Thursday night there was a huge storm here in PG. I understand now why this is called the rainforest. It’s the most intense rain that I have ever witnessed in my life. The rain will come down so hard that you can’t even see. It’s like a white out except with rain. It’s so loud here too! It’s the worst at the school because we have a tin roof and the only way to get air flow is to keep the windows open. It was really hard to teach with all the noise. Also, we only had 22 students there out of 31 because many students have no way to get to school unless they walk and students that arrive wet are lashed by their teachers.

That night all 8 of us that are on this trip from UMD together decided to hang out at our house. We were sitting around with the lightening, rain and thunder and I thought it would be fun if we all told ghost stories. Out of the 8 of us, 6 had really scary, personal ghost stories. Of course I believe in spirits and ghosts so I was completely terrified. As we are telling the stories, the power goes off. I screamed. Everyone was huddled together. None of us knew where the candles were kept and the only light we had was a tiny light from Ty’s watch. We found 2 candles but we all were super scared.

Friday us girls took a half day because we were heading back to Placencia for the weekend. I honestly think I could move there someday. It is the most gorgeous place. Alli Moore and I should live there together. She would love it here. There are all these cool little shops and restaurants there that are just her style. The cool new place that we found is called, “The Secret Garden”. There is a little bridge that is has a cloth ceiling that hangs down creating the entrance. Then there is a menu and a little outdoor restaurant. The sink is all rocks and there is a spigot like a hose that comes out of an old teakettle. The bar inside has handmade jewelry for sale and behind the restaurant they had a spa. Perfect.

Friday night we all went out to eat, got ready together, and went out to the Purple Space Monkey to listen to some live music. We also discovered a gelato shop that we visited 4 times in two days. J I had chocolate and peanut butter and banana and chocolate chip… So delicious. Definitely not coming home skinny.

We spent the rest of our time there relaxing in the hammocks under the hut, kayaking, swimming, playing volleyball on the beach, and walking around to different shops around the town. It was so amazing there. One fun thing that Mackenzie and I did was go back on Sunday morning at 9 to get massages. It was a couples massage haha, but it was really fun. We got to go back to the secret garden and go into this little hut. The ladies came and gave us massages with the lights off, the best smell possible, and they massaged every inch of our bodies. They massaged our butts, our stomachs, around our eyes… It felt so good. That was the best hour of my life.

We thought again that the boys would have a crazier weekend than us, and this time we were right. Not to our surprise they didn’t make it to Guatemala as they had planned. In fact, they almost came to see us in Placencia. When we got back Ty had left me a little note and stopped by which made the day that much better. I was anxious to go over to his house and see him.

We had to hurry home on the bus because Elena was singing with the women’s choir at the church Sunday night. As soon as we got home we got dresses on and headed to the church. Elena was so gorgeous. She was wearing all her jewelry, she worse a new dress, and Mackenzie put makeup on her. Mackenzie and I, on the other hand, were still covered in grease from our massage. Elena sang beautifully. She wants Mackenzie, Jess and I to sing with her next weekend and we most likely will. Mackenzie and I got up this week and talked about how much we love it here, how much we are learning from this experience and how much we value Elena and the love that she has shown us. We struggled to get up for that speech though. Not because we were nervous, but because this Spanish family refused to stop singing a million songs. The father always gets up and sings. Then, he calls his daughters up. Then, his daughters remain up there to sings. In addition to the usual menu, the father and mother sang a little duet this week. Mackenzie and I tried to get up before them, but we were harshly rejected. Then, we thought they were done so we started walking up, realized they weren’t coming off the stage, sat awkwardly in the second row and were literally laughed at by everyone in the church. I couldn’t stop laughing enough to even move in to let Mackenzie’s other butt cheek onto the pew.

I really miss everyone and wish that everyone could be here experiencing everything that we are seeing here. It’s amazing. I will come back to Placencia someday and I would LOVE if everyone and anyone could come with.