Rowdy children, half birthdays, baby showers

Well, I haven't blogged in over a week...it feels like a lot longer. Not because things have been bad here, they haven't at all-- but time moves a lot slower here. My pace of life is just so slow. I love it. Anyway, we are back in the swing of things, finally. It's hard to believe, but we finished our second nine weeks and have moved into the third quarter.

Things in general have been good in school, but I don't know what's going on with my students. Maybe it's mid-year jitters, but I have had such a hard time controlling them these last couple of weeks. It seems like they just want to talk and talk. Today I was really hard on them, and at the end of the day I actually made them write lines (I remember doing that in elementary school and haaaating teachers for it) because they just would not listen. I hope things start to get better, or it's going to make for a really tiring year for me.

Other than the rowdy children, I've had a very relaxing couple of days. Last weekend was pretty great, and this upcoming weekend should be awesome also. After Tad moved up here, he, Julia, Rachel and I have started playing Euchre pretty regularly. I've never really known how to play Euchre (despite various attempts from Alex to teach me), but I think I finally have an understanding of the rules. And it turns out, I really enjoy playing cards! So that's been a lot of fun.

On Saturday, I decided to head to town in the morning with Tad and Mr. Bran. On our way down there, we ran into some doctors who are visiting from Michigan and running a clinic in Gracias. It was awesome... they showed us around the clinic, which was really impressive, and asked us to come help out if we can. I really want to try! We don't have a lot of ways to get down to town during the week, but they said that we could help out with surgeries if we want to! Dude... I want to scrub in on a surgery, that would be crazy. I kind of doubt it will happen at this point, but maybe. Anyway, they also said they needed some translators and asked if I'd be willing to help out with that. I guess since the clinic only runs for a few weeks, they get inundated with people and need help figuring out what everyone's problems are. I really hope I get a chance to help them.

That same day, the girl teachers went to a baby shower for one of the teachers at the school. It was actually the first baby shower I've ever been to, and it wasn't nearly as painful as I expected it to be. I think that's in large part to the lack of gifts- the principal asked us all to just donate money to the mom, so there wasn't much to open. We played some games and ate some food... it was an experience. haha

And that's about it! This weekend a few of us are going to Santa Rosa to celebrate (get ready for this) my HALF birthday! I have never had a half birthday celebration before, but apparently I'm going to turn 23 and a half in a big way. So that should be fun!

Even though time moves slowly here, I can't believe January's over. The weather has turned warm so I keep forgetting what month it is. February's around the corner (and Mathew's visit is quickly approaching!!), and the end of the year really feels like it's looming over me. I'm starting to hear back from law schools and figure out my plans for next year... it's hard to think about. So for now, I'm still just hanging out in the clouds.