Okay, a glimpse into my life.

Mood- on a definate high, still thinking about how it was great to see Auntie and Mom
Current music- Patty Griffin and Shakira
Current addiction- Friends, I bought all 10 seasons
Health- Great, just finished my pills for bacterial infection in my stomache and once again feeling on top of the world
Book recently finished- Let my people surf- business manual written by owner of Pantagonia

ummmmm.yeah.. what else

Right now, I am teaching English in an elementary that is an hour walk from Batan Grande. IT is a combination english class and self-esteem workshop. An abnormaly high percentage of these kids come from an abusive family and it can be seen by interacting with them that there self -esteem is pretty low- I am suppose to do "I am special" activities with them, but honestly I think that that is kind of lame, so I am doing a little bit of that, and then cool stuff like throwing them birthday parties and emphasizing friendship and positivity in the class. If all else fails, I guess what I am hoping is that they can just forget about life for an hour and get lost in the fun that they are having in that moment.
The walk to the elementary school is my favorite part of the day. I walk on this gravel road through sugarcane fields. I love it, because when I am walking I am not thinking about anything. I am just content in the moment looking at the beautiful view and smelling the smells of nature, which yes, consist of more then cow dung. The view is awesome because the sugarcane fields are yellow, like the color of corn and they contrast perfectly with the far off blue foothills of the Andes. The smells are of whatever flower is pollinating at the time. I arrive at this school that has no running water or electicity, filled with kids that most likely have never watched tv in their life, and I enter the classroom. This is the part that I find amazing. More then half the time the principal cancels the class due to lack of organization. The kids refuse to leave. They tell me to come anyways, and they sit in their desks, in a now empty school waiting for their english class. I love these kids so much. I don't know what happens but once I enter the classroom, I just feel like I am in my element, like everything in the world makes sense. I love teaching them, and seeing their smiling faces, and trying to talk to the really shy ones. It just feels real. Anyways today we had a vocab contest, which is kind of like a spelling bee but with vocab words, and it was down to two kids. They were in front of the class. It was intense, at least in thier minds, I am sure the other kids were goofing off at this point, but you could sense level of nervousness and the adrenalin running. The winner was this little munchkin of a kid named Joel. It was funny because the first day that I was with them, I made them make nametags, that said mr. or ms.(according to their sex) and then there name. Ask mom because she was there. I can say, ask mom, because I am pretty sure the only people that read this are family. Anyways, Joel, the winner came today sporting his nametag. I was surprised, because I planned it as an activity to teach them about titles and never really expected them to wear them again, and yet 2nd week in he still comes in with his nametag. I think all the other kids are on the same page as me, because he is the only kid who has returned with it. Well as I was congratulating him on his win, I looked closely at his nametag and was surprised to see that it said Ms. Joel. I guess that this is a testament of my teaching or maybe their complete newness at learning the language, that the winner of the contest, thinks that he is a Ms. ummmmm.out of time.