Lesson 9: How to Keep Up

Hello, World! It's been a while...
These last few weeks have been a lesson in staying on top of things when life gets really busy.
I can officially say that I have made it through the first quarter of school! This is an impressive accomplishment on its own, but you should also understand that the end of the quarter means report cards and grades and alot more assignments in these last few weeks to give the students chances to raise their grades.  This weekend I spent many hours in various places with a stack of papers to grade.  One of the places was the attic/loft of my house, which has been unused until now. It made a nice fort/nest/study lounge for the weekend!

The view of the city from
the Jesus statue

Well, I haven't done a post in a while, so it's time for a rapid-fire update on all sorts of things.  Two weeks ago, some friends went to see an opera downtown in the city, which was quite cultural and muy interestante! The words were in Italian, but Spanish subtitles were provided. I was having a good time trying to keep up with reading the Spanish words while also hearing the Italian, and trying to understand what it means in English.  It was a fun performance, great acting and music!

Chismol - fresh veggies mixed with cilantro
and lime juice. Great for dipping!

There are always interesting things happening here over the weekends, and it's fun to fit in goofy random things between the grading and work.  Some teachers live downtown in the city, so a few of them hosted a Dessert Party (when you get an email that says, "we want to try making some new desserts, who wants to come eat them?", you don't say no!) Another day, we had some people to our house for Thai/tie night, in which my roommate made Thai food and everyone wore a necktie, and we had a tie-tying tutorial for those unfamiliar with the process.  The food was great, the ties were snazzy, and the night was alot of fun!
Oh, and I've been having some adventures as well! A few weeks ago we went in to the city to see The Lion King in 3D! It was also all in Spanish, with no subtitles, so it was a good thing I know most of the lines and songs, or else I would have gotten a little confused.  I was actually able to pick up on a few times that they changed the wording for it to make more sense (mostly in the jokes, like when Pumbaa says, "I gravel at your feet" and Timon corrects him that it should be "grovel", the Spanish version changed it to "postre/postra" which is the difference between bow down and pastry.)
We also took a day trip to a park called El Picacho (not to be confused with El Pikachu).  There is a great overlook of the whole city, as well as a few little parks to walk in, a small zoo, and a giant statue of Jesus looking out over the city.  The statue is up on the mountainside and can be seen from almost any part of the city (along with a giant Coca-Cola sign, the other most-universal symbol in the city).  We saw the sights, walked around Jesus, ate lunch in an Asian garden maze, and went to the zoo.  The zoo was small and the cages were kind of old and looked too small for the amount of animals for each one (in my professional opinion as a former Zoo Tycoon player, which of course makes me an expert) But it was fun to see the animals, including a tapir and a bunch of monkeys, as well as white-tailed deer (how rare!)

The October door design (I didn't draw it - it was
done by the friend of the dad of a boy in my class)

The adventures continue at the school and around the houses where we live (which are right next to the school).  The Spiritual Life Director of the school is a really interesting guy named Harold, who lives here with his wife and five of his eight kids (the other three are in college).  The whole family is very hospitable and always invites people over for meals and whatever else is going on.  One week we had lunch with them, then it was pouring rain so Harold starting taking off his shoes and said, "looks like a good day to play in the rain!" and invited his kids to come, after which he invited me, an offer which I simply couldn't resist. So Harold and I and his four youngest kids went puddle stomping in the pouring rain! It was tons of fun!  Then a few nights ago, Harold was apparently in a Christmas mood, so he and the kids got out the Santa hats and the Christmas tree, and they invited me and my roommate Josh and a few other teachers over to go Christmas caroling!

A pile of meat at a restaurant we went
to for George's 50th birthday!

We sang to the guards and gave them hot chocolate, then we went back to their house and watched The Santa Clause! It was a little earlier than I'm used to to break out the Season's Greetings, but it was a bunch of fun!

In other news, I will be coming back to the States for Christmas! I wasn't sure until now, but I bought a ticket and I'll be there... just so you know...

Enjoy the pictures scattered throughout, depicting various events and adventures from the last few weeks.

For more pictures, see: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos