yielding

As I sat at a stop sign this morning waiting for the other person to go it dawned on me why driving here(in the US) is odd to me. Two things. They are "yielding" and the "right of way"; both of which have become quite foreign to me. I guess it's about time I assimilate back into US law:)

pretzels are good...

I really do think that it is harder to return to one's "home" culture than it is to leave. I find this to be true in lots of little things...
I walked into Verizon Wireless, window shopped for 15 minutes, THEN discovered you have to "sign in" to be helped! And there are all these "new fangled" things you can do with your phone, who knew?
This morning after church there was a graduation celebration for the high school grads. I stood in line to get some snacks...there were pretzels!!!! I was beside myself. I hadn't eatten real pretzels in a LONG time.
I have searched the counter top for eggs only to discover them in the refrigerator.
I have enjoyed a tall glass of real 2% milk and eatten at Panera Bread.
I made rosa de jamaica...watched one friend gulp it down...and another barely even swallow.
I have been craving dobladas and wondering why I didn't actually get my last platanos at 4:00am the day I left:(
I haven't exactly come to terms with the fact that I actually need to stop at those big red signs that say stop.
Every time I get in a car to drive I need to remind myself how an automatic works.
I successfully drove my car(with very minimal braking action due to lack of braking capabilitiy) down the highway with my flashers on:)
I have accidently thrown my toilet paper in the garbage can 3 or 4 times already-hopefully I get over that sooner rather than later!
The little "-isms"...I'm sure there will be more!

El Salvador

Annette(one of my roommates) and I hit the road over the week for a really quick trip to the beach in El Salvador. It was WONDERFUL!!! Sadly the sun wasn't really out but just sitting on an empty beach listening to the waves crash on the shore was phenominal. We ended hanging out with a couple guys who have been traveling all over Central America for the last couple months. It was fun to hear their stories and about all the places they'd been and frankly to talk to guys our age in English...outside the CAG/Union Church bubble:)

High School Uth Retreat

How can one go wrong when they climb on a bus with high school students? Actually I can think of a tons of ways that could go wrong BUT that didn't happen this Uth retreat. This weekend was great. There were 16 students and 5 adults. It wasn't nearly as 'big' as last year but in some ways I feel it was was way more productive. There was some great bonding that happened over the course of 48 hours that will hopefully become the foundation of Uth next year. It makes me sad to leave...but on the other hand I know that wherever I end up I will start over with a new group of teens to drive crazy:) I guess that's the joy of never growing up!

Walls

Some days I leave school thinking "why on earth did I ever want to be a teacher?" Today will not be one of them. Right now I am reminded why I did and why I now know that being a teacher is not my calling.
People have walls...mental walls, physical walls, emotional walls...walls that take a long time to tear down whether that be from the inside or outside. I remember adoring some of my teachers; not only were they good at what they did but they made me feel "safe" enough to make mistakes and "safe" enough to ask for help when I needed it. Some of my students felt comfortable with me very quickly and I knew that they knew I would always be there to help or just listen. Today I sat and talked with a student for 35 minutes about real life. He "let me in" just a little. I know he needs to verbalize what he's thinking and I know he wants to...but he's scared...scared of adults who appear like their out to get him, scared of failing in school, scared friends who run their mouths, scared of losing the control he has worked so hard to gain, and scared of himself. I can't say I blame him...nor can I say I have any answers...just ears.
It's days like this when I realize it is time for the "trees to stand still". It is time for me to find a home so that I am not constantly walking in and out of kids lives. I have spent this entire school year trying to tear walls down and now 6 weeks before I am leaving there is a glimmer of hope. And seems like that has happened everywhere I have lived.
Anyway...that's what I am thinking.

Adventures with Aaron

Having Aaron around for a couple weeks was suberb! Especially the part about him catching the mouse:) We did get to take a nice little trip outside the city to Coban and Semuc Champey...which means nothing to you if you don't know Guate...in a nutshell we hiked, swam, jumped off 30ft cliffs, "explored" a cave, ate good food, bought cheap avocados, found an amazing orchid nursery, celebrated Aaron's birthday twice and even sang to him British style.

Mouse-capades

This was our "pet" mouse. I named him/her Betty. It lived in our cupboards on and off for almost three weeks. I think it was Latino because its favorite thing to nibble on was avacados. We tried everything we could think of to kill it but it was too smart. Then Aaron came to the rescue. He moved something in the cupboards and Betty fell face first in between cans of soup. I wanted Aaron to kill it but he felt bad so he caught it in a butter container, we walked a good distance down my street and let it go. We haven't seen it since.