Happy Birthday to the best brother in the world!

First of all, Happy Birthday Matt! I'm sad that I can't be with you today, but hey, just another excuse to party when I get back to the States, right? For those of you who don't know him, my "little" brother is three years younger than me and about 7 inches taller...so he can definitely pay me back now for ordering him around like he was my personal slave when we were little. Of course, if you do know him than you know he's really a "gentle giant" who wouldn't hurt a flea (although I bet he'd kill a giant cockroach for me if I asked him to). Here's a great shot of us the Christmas before last (taken with my brand new digital camera).

So, remember those pictures I was going to take of my student teacher? I finally got around to taking some. She's been full-time for two weeks now, with just seven more days to go. It's been fun having a break from teaching, but I'm really looking forward to getting my class back! Of course Denise is going to be a tough act to follow. Last week she did a unit on cookies, and come on, how do you top that? She even made cookie dough with them during center time, and sent them home with cookies on Friday! I feel sorry for the kids, having to go back to boring ol' Miss Sterling again. I am doing a farm unit, so maybe that will hold their interest. I actually got really ambitious (I blame it on all my free time) and drew a barn for our bulletin board! I'm going to let the kids decorate it with torn tissue paper, so we'll see how it turns out.

Here's Miss Johnson, holding the kids in rapt attention (well, except for Federico)

The number one reason why kindergarten is so much fun...you get to bake cookies!

In other news...my housemate Dovanna and I had a ball (no pun intended) shopping for formals this weekend. Why in the world would I need a formal dress in Bolivia you may ask? Well, SCCLC is, after all, an American high school, and what would April be without prom (well, Junior/Senior banquet, since we do have a strict no dancing policy)? Actually it's not even Jr/Sr because grades 7-12 are invited, along with all faculty, staff, and family members! Oh well, the more the merrier, right? Hans surprised all of us by asking Dovanna to go with him, so she's in on it too. I'm not going to describe our dresses...I'll just say that, according to Dovanna, mine is "elegant and graceful," while hers is "wild and crazy." The big day is April 14th...don't worry, I'll have tons of pictures. =)

The beginning of the end

Thursday was a very sad day for me. I said goodbye to my first student, Jonathon, who is moving to the States for the rest of the school year. Jonathon is a great student, always eager to help out or give an answer. We sent him off with a pile of homemade cards and a cup of ice cream.

One last picture of my "whole class" (The other teacher is Miss Johnson, my student teacher)

Being your typical boy, the last thing Jonathon did before leaving was find a huge walking stick (bug) to share with me.

I've lost students before in the middle of the school year, and while it's always hard, for some reason this time it was especially heartwrenching. I think maybe because I know there is very little chance that I'll ever see him again, or maybe because it kind of marks the beginning of the end of my time here. After all, this is the first week of our last quarter. Nine more weeks and it will be over! I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that I'm leaving, but focus instead on the time I have left.

I'm starting to brainstorm for kinder graduation (something else I was definitely not prepared for!). In the past the teachers really went all out, putting on a play with memorized lines and everything. Since I value my sanity, I've decided we'll just sing some of our favorite songs and recite some Bible verses. Then we'll end the program with a slideshow that I'll put together with the pictures I've taken throughout the year. Hopefully that will be a little less work and a lot less stress!

I've still got so much more I want to do before I leave...I think I need to make a list so I don't leave anything out. Let's see:

- travel to some of the other towns outside Santa Cruz

- take a ride in one of SAM Air's planes

- see the waterfalls near Samipata

- visit the orphanage that my housemate Dovanna works at

- See the sand dunes (hopefully on a day that's not too windy)

- visit Elliott in San Javier

- go to the butterfly park for photo ops with the amazing insect life

hmm...how many more weekends do I have? See, the trouble is you can't really make plans in Bolivia. You can have ideas of what you'd like to do, but actual plans just do not always happen the way you, uh, plan. Oh well, God knows what I'm really supposed to do and see before I leave, right? So what am I worried about?

Free time?

So you know how I've mentioned that I have a student teacher? Well, she just started her first week of full-time teaching, so I thought I'd have some extra time on my hands. I have this whole "to-do" list written up and everything. But I just looked at the clock, and realized that I only have 45 minutes left before it's time to go home! Did I mention that I don't think I've done even one thing on my list yet? Oh well, there's always tomorrow...

Thank you, thank you for your prayers regarding our electrical problems. As of today, our transformer is fixed and the a/c is back on! Praise God! Of course today is kind of cool so we don't really need it so much...but who cares?

Okay, here's a special note to my exercise buddies (you know who you are). Exercising in Bolivia is quite a challenge. The Curves chain hasn't made it here yet, and neither has Gold's Gym or Bally's Total Fitness. There are a few privately owned gyms, but none of them are easy to get to or very...um, nice? Anyway, consequently I have not done any regular exercising since...oh, September? I do a lot of walking, so I guess that's helped some, but it doesn't really get the heart rate up the same way a good run does. Well, Saturday my housemate Dovanna and I decided to go for a walk. Actually Andre wanted Dovanna to run with him, but she wasn't up for that so I volunteered to walk with her while he ran circles around us (literally). We took off around the block. Mind you, these are dirt roads and not smoothest surface ever made. Fortunately we had had a big rainstorm the night before and so it wasn't dusty, just muddy. A couple of laps into it I suggested that we run the next one. Dovanna set the pace, and it wasn't long before I was doing some serious huffing and puffing. Did I mention that Dovanna is 5'1"? Yeah, a little embarrassing I know, but the girl did walk 200 miles of the Appalachian trail last summer. We ran a couple more laps before stopping, and even though I stretched when I was finished I'm still a bit sore today! I hope my running buddies did better this past year than I did keeping up with the workouts!

I know this was a very rambling post, and I'm sorry I don't have any pictures. My plan was to take some of my student teacher in my "free time", but yeah, see above for why that didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow...

creepy crawlers

I realized that I haven't told much about the local wildlife lately. Let me just say that due to the rains (that is, floods) the insect population has exploded. When they say bugs grow bigger in tropical climates they are NOT kidding! Not only are they bigger, but there are about ten times as many kinds of each insect.

I've enjoyed photographing different specimens as I've come upon them, so I thought I'd post a few of the better shots.

I'm pretty sure this is one of those hissing cockroaches they eat on Fear Factor. I've only run into three so far, all in or around my bedroom. This one was perched above our sink in the bathroom. I couldn't (that is wouldn't) get close enough to put my finger in the shot to show you how big it was, but I'd say it was about the length and thickness of a pro-basketball player's thumb.

Here's Lidia, proving that she loves all creatures great and small. This "little" bugger was clattering loudly in the curtains upstairs. It sounded like a cross between a cicada and one of those noisemakers you hear on New Year's Eve.

Andre found this slow mover sliming its way across the front walk. It is - you guessed it, a giant snail. Actually they told me this is really just a little one. They've found some that are the size of a salad plate.

This aerodynamic fellow was perched on one of my window bars when I got to school this morning. Looks like something the Air Force should use to pattern its next stealth fighter after. I think I'll submit it to the Department of Defense.

Lest you think all Bolivia's creatures are creepy, slimy, or strange looking, here's a look at just one of the butterflies I see every day. This one was hanging out on the pillar by the parking lot, and I spotted it right as we were leaving school. Aren't the colors amazing? I think it looks kind of like a stained glass window. Have you ever visited a butterfly garden (like the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver, CO)? Walking outside here is like stepping into a butterfly garden - they're everywhere, all shapes and sizes, and all amazingly beautiful. How could anyone not believe in a Creator after seeing some of His amazing creatures?