My Mis-Match.....

We are having a "Spirit Week" this week during our Read-a-thon. Each day the students get to dress up or dress differently. Yesterday was hat day, and a majority of the students came wearing hats or crazy wigs.

Today is Mis-Match Day and to be honest, I couldn't be happier. Many of the students look hilarious in their outfits (except for the ones that are, "too cool" to participte....they still have to come in their uniforms).

To go along with the fun, I have dressed up as well. I tried to dress like a famous picture that is on Dustin and Sara's fridge.....hopefully I'm close!

Dios te bendiga!

My Busy Upcoming Two Weeks......

Wow....I can't believe it's been two weeks....I was doing so well too!

So today was the start of a two week run that is going to really take it's tool on me, both physically, mentally and maybe even a bit emotionally (although I'm not really that emo....I have no heart after working with kids for so long.....).

Today was the first day of High School soccer practice. Believe it or not, I was extremely nervous last night and this morning. In fact, I've been thinking of this day for the past two weeks....trying to get prepared, mentally more than anything else.

See, we have some issues with our Secondary students and without going into any details, there have been some problems with respect, which is a big problem for me. This is one of the qualities that Larry and Agnes instilled in me at a young age and one that I continue to try and pass on to my students, daily.

I was nervous because I didn't know if there would be problems with this during practice. However, I told them first thing, "It's either my way, or the door is right there. All I ask is that you try hard, respect myself and your teammates and we'll get along just fine."

Turns out, it went over pretty well. The few that showed up (another problem) were great and we ran....a lot (I'm sore!). But I think we had a good time and I'm excited for Wednesday.

One of the other things I had/have to address is a lack of commitment. We've had problems with kids showing up for practices and thinking that it's just okay to show up at the tourneys. To me, that's unacceptable and will not be tolerated. I told them today and will repeat it on Wednesday, "If we don't practice or show up for practice.....we will not have a team. Period." Hopefully I don't have to follow-through on that, but I'm willing if things take a wrong turn.

On top of this I have been preparing the Elementary Football team for their tournament on March 8th (although we're still not exactly sure where it is yet!). This has been a bit more difficult because while the tournament is for Grades 3-6, I've allowed the 1st and 2nd Graders to come out and kick the ball around with us a bit.....just for fun and to work on their basic skills.

I'm having a tougher time with the youngsters, only because I find that I'm asking them to do to much, or think outside the box if you will. Some are still at the age of "Bumblebee Soccer", where you chase the ball around and completely ignore things like positioning and space. Hopefully in the next two weeks, we can figure that out!

Other than that, things continue to go well. I'm still searching for a job for the fall and I hope some things will develop soon. I'm also continuing to battle the mosquitoes in my house (one day I actually killed 10 in the bathroom, at one time.....wow).

Dios te bendiga

My Lost in Translation.....

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie, Lost in Translation, but I had a similar experience just last night. In the movie, Bill Murray is an older actor that goes to Japan to do a commercial for some big bucks. However, he does not speak any Japanese and therefore is utterly lost in many of the conversations......while yes, there is more to it than this (and a good performance by Scarlett Johanson), I recommend checking it out if you're really curious.

Anyways....I had a similar experience at Subway, just last night. I told the gentleman behind the counter the type of sub I wanted, and what type of cheese (which isn't really an option here, even if you don't want the cheese, they throw it on anyways).

He then asked me, "Salsa?" (sauce? meaning Mayo or any other sauce they had)

I replied, "Mayonesa, porfa" (mayo please).

The man then picked up a yellow bottle and I thought to myself, "hmmm....must be doing things a bit differently, or the bottles are all dirty."

No.

He then shoots mustard all over my club sandwich. For those of you unaware, I really, really dislike mustartd.

So I started saying in a raised voice....."NO, NO! Mayonesa! Mayonesa!"

He says, "Oh," and then points to the white bottle. "Si" I respond.

Then he grabs the red bottle and shoots ketchup all over my sandwich!

NO, NO, NO, NO!! NO MAS!! MAYONESA!

He stops and looks at me quizically. "Huh?"

"No mas salsa," I respond. I think looked at the gentleman to my right in line and he was laughing....so I know I said it right.

Luckily the rest of the sandwich was without any problems, but I was not pleased. I ate the sandwich because, to be honest, I don't know what he would have done! He may have given me crab or something!

(sigh)

Dios te bendiga

My Sudden Surprise....

So I know that I'm supposed to blog about some pups....but as I'm sitting in my class, talking to my kids about weather.....I heard this noise from the ceiling....like something was walking above us.

I looked up and saw what looked like something putting pressure down upon our tiles. Then suddenly:

CRASH!

THUMP!!

MEOW!!!

Turns out a cat was walking across our ceiling tiles, fell through one of the tiles and slammed its head on the desk, then hit the floor. It was amazing! (although I was worried that with the force of the blow to the head, I was going to have a dead cat on my hands).

Suddenly the cat jumped up and ran to the corner...attempted to jump onto our bookcase (failed attempt and fell to the floor again). Then it ran to another corner and sat on top of our shelf, attmepting to figure out how to make the 7 foot jump back up to the ceiling tiles.

Shocked (and giggling on the inside while my students lauged hysterically), I opened the classroom door and used a meter stick to guide the startled cat out of our room and it then sprinted back outside.

Only in Venezuela.

(seriously....this just happened 10 minutes ago)

(seriously)

My Long Weekend at Home.....

This is Carnaval, a Latin American tradition that celebrates.....well, I'm not quite certain what! From what I can tell, there are parades, drinking and dancing....but everyone seems to enjoy themselves!

I had wanted to travel over this long weekend, but to be honest, I was a bit late in trying to plan it out and having just returned from Valencia last weekend (a 9.5 hour bus ride there and 7 hours returning), I was a bit tired and could use a break. I was really looking forward to a weekend here in Anaco (did I really just say that??) and possibly getting a chance to do some grading, work on my resume and maybe start applying for a job in the Fall.

Well, then the water problems started. We have essentially been on water-rations over the past five days, including today. Guys were supposed to come and fix it yesterday, but it's Carnaval and obviously, no one was going to come (I mean seriously, working on a holiday? Did we really expect that?). Luckily they are here today and I managed to get a shower in this morning during one of our "on" periods.

I was really hoping to do a lot of sleeping and resting over this break, but to be honest, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Don't get me wrong, I've been staying up late, it's just that I can't sleep in.....at all. I volunteered to take care of our campus puppies (don't worry, pics and another post to follow soon) and their mom, Asabatchi, has a feeding schedule that starts at around 7:30 am (though I usually made it by 8). I know, I know, this doesn't seem to early, but when their last feeding time is 5 pm at night....you start to feel bad around 7 am and it weighs on the mind and doesn't allow me to sleep any later.

Aside from this, we have also had some electricity problems, because the city is working on the power lines on this side of town. On Saturday we had no electricity for most of the day. Luckily things were okay on Sunday and Monday, but again, it's a Sunday AND Carnaval, who's really going to work?

So today I'm crunching in everything that I meant to do over the past four days. I've just graded some tests and now I have to do some research on renewable energy sources for some reports that we are writing this week.

Good Times.

Dios te bendiga

My Rough Thursday.....

Basically put, yesterday was a difficult day. It was a tough day. It was a rough day.

I should have known that something was up when I awoke and found that I didn't have any water in my shower. I thought maybe it was just here, but I tried the sink in the bathroom--no love. I tried the kitchen sink and the other bathroom....no love there either. No worries, I figured. I took a washcloth style shower with the drinking water I had and called it good. A little extra deodorant, little cologne and I'll be good to go.

All was well until first period ended. I started creating a math test when suddenly....the power goes out. Now I'm sitting in the dark, creating a test. This happens quite frequently, so I didn't think much of it. I figured that in a couple of minutes, the power would be back on....no worries.

By the time 3rd Period started....no power. Now I'm teaching out in the cafeteria because my room doesn't have any direct sunlight (lots of trees outside the window and a gym as well).

So for the rest of the day, I taught my classes outside in the cafeteria. No power also means no A/C and no fans....so by the end of the day I was sweating like crazy (in my dress shirt, dress pants and shoes).

At the end of the day we had soccer practice, which isn't too bad, but our field is basically dirt and a few weeds....which gets one extremely dirty. I figured I was in for another wonderful wash-cloth shower....but I waited and waited.

I was talking with Susan and Shaun when suddenly...the lights came back on! Score! Now I can sit in the A/C and at least I'll be comfortable while I'm dirty. We had ordered pizza, so I was able to sit and eat my pizza with the A/C and the TV....excellent.....then I had a knock at my door. To my surprise it was my boss....who had yet to visit me since I arrived in August. After commenting on my amazing interior design (think bachelor-pad), he told me that we had purchased a tank of water and that I should get a shower in while I could. SWEET!!!!

The shower was nice and I finally felt clean (after a sweaty and gross soccer practice). However the bad news came today.....the pump on our well can't be fixed until Monday at the earliest. This means that we have to continue to purchase tanks of water until then. Luckily most of the school is leaving for Carnaval this weekend, so it will only be myself and a few other teachers here.....hopefully we can make it last!

Dios te bendiga