First day of school tomorrow!

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I’m sitting in my classroom, and just finished doing the final preparations for tomorrow- the first day of school! The room is still a bit bare, compared to a typical American elementary classroom, but I’m proud of it anyway. When I got here the room was completely empty with literally nothing in it, and it took a lot of work to get it where it is now. It’s amazing how fast I’ve started to think of things like bulletin boards and decorative posters as a luxury. Two of the other elementary teachers and I had about a 10 minute discussion today about how it would be so great to have those giant rolls of paper. Being here makes me realize how many resources I took for granted in the States.

To the side is a picture of my classroom. Included in the picture is a blue table, which I stripped and painted myself, and a bulletin board made out of a fabric sheet and a border, half of which was given to me and half of which I had to cut out of a poster board. Also, this “board” was then laboriously stapled to a hard wood wall where (I'm convinced) staples go to die: defeated, crumpled, and definitely not sticking into the wall.

Speaking of taking things for granted, I just want to say that electricity is awesome. Last week on Thursday and Friday, we lost power (and water) for a few hrs in the evening. The first night it happened we ended up just sitting around in the dark (and I mean DARK), but when it happened again the next night we just went out, since it was Friday. Of course, we all literally got dressed in the dark so when we got into town we made sure we were all wearing matching shoes and didn’t have shirts inside-out or anything.

Okay, time for another list because I'm too lazy to try and pretend that my thoughts actually relate to each other at all:

I'm convinced that one of Dante's circles of hell just had lots of mosquitoes, creating a cycle of bites, scratching, and open wounds. Also, if he's really mean, he tempts people with beautiful salt water seas. Nothing like literally rubbing salt in wounds. (Hey, I couldn't have a post without something mosquito-related, right? On the bright side I don't think I look as diseased anymore, but I have more scabs).

Tonight at sunset I sat out on the palapa in my backyard, seeing just forest and water surrounding me, and had one of my "I can't believe I live here" moments. Of course, I had that same thought this morning when I stepped into my cold shower, but there were slightly different connotations.

I kinda hate laundry, except for the fact that it results in clean clothing. But my options are: wash stuff by hand, which is a huge pain, or lug my laundry somewhere to get it done. And let me tell you, lugging 13 pounds of laundry down a hot dirt road is not exactly fun. To be precise, I was pouring sweat and because my laundry was against my back, I'm worried it's now dirty again.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I think the sea water here is extra salty. It's kind of glorious, being able to just lay in the cool water and float without even trying. Usually that's when I have another "I can't believe I live here" moment.


Alright, I'm tired. Tomorrow is sure to be hectic, with it not only being the first day of school, but the first day in the new location. Wish me luck!

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