It's strange to be here. The mystery never leaves you. John O'Donohue
It's certainly a unique experience living here but even when things feel tough, I still want to be here more than anywhere else. (Not that I don't miss you! Especially my little sis!) Sometimes I'll be sitting in the kitchen feeling so content and at home. Then I remember where I am and what I'm doing and marvel at how completely different my life is now and yet how completely normal it feels already. (Yes I've even gotten used to the cold showers!) It's interesting to think back on my expectations and what I imagined my life might be like this year. And now here I am and it's not nearly as strange as I thought and at least 5 times more wonderful. It does wonders for the spirit to walk through these majestic green mountains. When you don't fall down that is!
As some of you know I finally took a spill down the hill. I say finally because honestly, it was only a matter of time. It's a dirt road and a pretty steep incline so when I'm walking home from school (i.e. predominantly downhill) I always make a point to tell myself to pay attention. But the fates were against me this day. I got a pretty big gash on the front of my ankle and another on my knee. After limping around on Thursday with some gauze and scotch/masking tape on my leg I decided it was too painful to ignore and I went to the hospital in San Jose to get it check out. They cleaned it up (ow), gave me some antibiotics and put this special bandage/pad thingy on it to help it heal. But I can't take it off for a week and therefore can't get it wet. I've been showering standing on one foot with the other one sticking out of the shower with two plastic bags wrapped around it. Pretty hilarious if you ask me. Unfortunately the antibiotics are doing a number on my stomach despite my regular consumption of pro-biotics. Funny how the thing that's making me sick here is the medicine. I think really strong antibiotics are cheaper, more readily available and more frequently prescribed than in the States.
Things have gotten awfully busy now that school has started. I'm about to give my first test EVER this week. I've never had to give assessments before or keep track of grades so this is a new and interesting challenge of its own. I'm used to dealing with behavioral issues but those are pretty minimal (thankfully). Still it's a lot of work coming up with 6 forty-minute lesson plans a day!
We have a week vacation coming up before Easter and I'm planning to do some serious relaxing at the beach. After vacation, I'm looking forward to starting a knitting group and some adult English class. I'm settling in a bit and getting more comfortable with Spanish. Not sure if it's actually improving. I definitely still have conversations where I feel pretty confused and don't know what's going on but it's getting better bit by bit. It probably would help if I found some time to study. I'm currently reading a Junie B. Jones book in Spanish. It's a series of books for the second/third grade level so it's pretty manageable. We'll see if it helps. The volunteer who taught here 4 years ago visited this week and her Spanish is amazing so that gives me hope. It was nice to have her visit. Gave me some perspective.
