late january, early february

It has been a long time since I wrote anything, and I think that is mostly because things don’t seem so exciting anymore. Things are starting to repeat themselves more and more which means life is more predictable and less outrageous.

School is going along as well as can be expected. There are daily hurdles to overcome; simple things that shouldn’t be problems at all. I am learning to curb my particularity and accept that the order I need in my life will not be realized at La Orquidea. I still love the little beasts of the second grade quite a lot. They make everything worthwhile….most of the time anyway. A couple weeks ago it was report card day and I needed to record a couple grades still so I took the kids outside to play “science”. They were told to collect living things in a plastic bag, specifically animals. With the help of Mr. Saul (the fearless bus driver) they spent an hour in the grass catching grasshoppers and stick bugs. For me to have a chance to sit back and observe them actively learning was pretty cool. What I thought was just something to distract them turned into the most legit science we have done all year. Thank you Mr. Saul! Last week we made Valentine mailboxes so we can begin exchanging Valentine Cards this week. The kids spent the later half of the week writing little love letters to each other and delivering them to their mailboxes. Some of the things they wrote to each other were quite darling!

I started teaching adult English classes at a school in town. The class meets twice a week from 6-8pm. The curriculum is written along with all the lesson plans. The tests are done for me, the students have text books and work books and audio CDs. All I have to do is deliver the information to the class and with the extra time I have, come up with creative ways to reinforce the information. I really like teaching these classes and don’t really feel like it is too much extra work. And it doesn’t pay half bad either. And some of the students in the class seem like they are really great people.

We got a grill from Khalila a month or so ago. There is something festive about cooking on the grill. It turns making dinner into a little party. The night of the democratic debates we decided to grill. Quinton and I drank a couple bottles of wine, while Charles and Dan sipped their rum drinks. We watched the debates, debated a bit ourselves and hung out late into the night (except Quinton who passed out at 7:30pm). School wasn’t extremely pleasant the next day, but it was worth it to hang out over tasty BBQ and political conversation.

I took some pictures of my living quarters, as you can see. I figured it was about time to show it off to the world. It’s really not much to write home about, but it is home and is about a billion times better than it was when I arrived six months ago.

The biggest news I have is that Memo the cat has been neutered. Finding a Vet was a bit of a process, but it turned out there was a secret Vet who splits his time between Sigua and Comayagua. Memo wasn’t thrilled about leaving the compound, but he did alright. When I brought him home and the anesthetics began to wear off he was pretty entertaining. I had to give him a couple shots that the Vet sent home with me….and actually Dan’s girlfriend who is visiting and Quinton did all the shooting….I just held onto him. He is recovering beautifully. And now I don’t have to worry about his girlfriend jumping in through my bedroom window looking for a booty call.

Being away from home again makes me realize my home really is Portland, Oregon. I love that place a whole lot, and it makes me glad to know that it will still be good old Portland when I finally come back home. With that said, I will be home eventually. Don’t wait around and instead I will see y’all when I see y’all! love. love. love.