My umbrella has once again become a permanent part of me these days. Rainy season is here and seemingly to stay. As I write this, it sounds like buckets of water are being dumped from the sky. I don't mind the sound so much, but am thankful to be inside at this point. A few days ago on our walk to school with umbrellas in use, we had to off-road it a little bit as the sidewalk seemed to be blocked by some fallen treeage. Not only were 2 huge palm trees resting side by side on the ground, they seemed to have fallen right atop a little 4-door vehicle. As I was attempting to keep my toes dry, I looked up to see who I presumed to be the owner of the vehicle. By the expression on his face, it looked as though he was seeing the damage for the first time. (note to self - i hope my face never needs to mirror his distraught and shocked one).
So beyond the umbrella re-entering my life, we are now at the 2 week countdown. Yes, I am still teaching. And yes, our last day of school is June 27th. Is this slightly ridiculous? Si (yes). But, being that I am the teacher and am supposed to sport the positive attitude, I try not to let my disdain creep out from behind my smiles.
The lizards that live on the wall with the orange flowers welcoming us home everyday have returned. Whether they like the rain or got sick of their vacation, they are back. One day, Marin and I hope to catch one. Somehow I think a lizard would be an easier pet than a dog. :) Oh I finally made it to the notorious Guadalajara Zoo last week. And it was worth the trip, even with 25 kids in tow. :) My favorite part may have been feeding the giraffes, being my animal of choice and all.
If I was at all superstitous, which I am not, I may have been even more nervous for the 4th grade spelling bee on Friday, June 13th, 2008. We put on our first-ever 4th grade spelling bee. And let's be honest, I couldn't have been more nervous. Standing at the front of the chapel with the microphone in my hand feeding kids the words they had to spell into their microphone on a stand, I was sweating it out for each and every one of them. I suddenly felt like I was the nervous mom watching her child "show their stuff" for all the world to see.
And it killed me every time I had to say, "I'm sorry, that is incorrect." I LOATHED telling the children who accidently added or missed a letter that they were "incorrect" only to see their faces fall with disappointment. Thankfully the kids and I made it through ok. Hopefully they are not too hard on themselves and hopefully they don't linger too long on their misspelled word. (although I will always remember how to spell "elephant" even though my 4th grade spelling bee was 13 years ago.)There is something about the icecream (nieve) or popsicles (paletas) here in Mexico that make having seconds or thirds only necessary. Maybe growing up in a family that had a vehicle programmed to turn into nearly every Dairy Queen we passed makes me enjoy cold treats that much more. But seriously, people ought to take a trip down here just to experience a fruity or vanilla-y spread of nieve, paletas and bolis. Yummy.
Well, that's all the random tidbits I got for now and my nieve de fresa is starting to melt, so until next time,
Dommers
p.s. One of my fourth graders was trying to say one of our memory verses today and it came out like this: "All those who are wiggly and burnt, come to Me and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (i laughed as most of the class could probably relate to the wiggly part and a couple of us to the sun-burnt part.....)
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