Deep Breath

Here I am, back in Guatemala, finding myself having to stop and take a deep breath now and then. It has been a non-stop whirlwind since returning August 11. Wow, just about two weeks, it feels like about two months! Which is strangely enough about the time elapsed since my last blog entry! I have so much to say, so many pictures to share, yet so little time and energy to do it! So my summer in a recap, which hopefully I will get some pictures up soon to show you what I did.

Summer 2009, probably one of the best so far:

*Spent two weeks at home getting to see old friends, new nephew, three other precious niece and nephews, sisters, parents, shopping, eating American food, "enjoying" heat indexes of over 100 degrees, "enjoying" Missori humidity in the summer.

*Left for Madrid, Spain June 30. Had a 10 hour layover in Atlanta, so I spent the day in downtown Atlanta, touring the World of Coke, the CNN headquarters, walking through Olympic Park. Fun times. Made a new friend on the plane who kept me entertained. He was going to Pamplona to be a tour guide during the running of the bulls. Interesting guy.

*Arrived in Madrid on July 1 in the morning. Took the subway to meet up with Laurie (colleague, neighbor, and friend here in Guatemala) at her daughter's apartment in Madrid. Spent about 24 hours with them. We walked around, Maggie introduced me to some really great Spanish food, which I really enjoyed.

*Left for Rome on July 2. Spent two days getting spoiled by Rebekah and Jared with amazing pasta and pizza, Italian style. Really amazing. I am usually not one to go on and on about the food in a place, as I am a really picky eater. I usually prefer to find the McDonalds in foreign countries. Rebekah's lasagna was AMAZING. I am not even usually a huge lasagna fan. I like it but would never brag about it. This was AMAZING. It was so fun getting to hang out with her kids, read books to them, spend the day just chatting with Rebekah and really enjoy my time with her and her beautiful family.

*Left for Kenya on July 4. Connected in Cairo and really want to go there for a visit. Arrived in Nairobi about 4 am. Made a German friend on this flight. He was visiting his brother who worked for the German embassy there. His English wasn't great but he was cute as a button, as this was his first time flying. He looked like he was in his early 20s. He asked me if it was safe to leave his bag under the seat. Spent a week in Kenya visiting my friend Wendy from college. It was so fun to see her there and to experience Africa. WOW. I got to see the campus where she teaches, hang out with some babies at the local orphange, see lots of animals, go on a walking safari on Crescent Island, go to an elephant orphanage, to the giraffe center, drive to a game park, experience a car breaking down, visit a tea farm, and do some shopping at the Masai market. Wow, what a full, fun week.

*Flew back to Rome with Wendy on July 12. We spent three full days touring Rome in full tourist style. Rome was incredible. There was nothing that I did not like about Rome, except maybe the heat. :) I mean, it was just so cool. Saw the Coliseum, the Pantheon, went to the beach, sat on the Spanish Steps, walked down the Via del Corso, ate pasta, ate pizza, ate lots of amazing gelato, saw the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City museum, St. Peter's Basilica, hung out in some piazzas, threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain so I can return one day!

*Went from Rome to Belgium on July 16 and got to see Laura and Ian for a week!!!! This was such a relaxing part of my trip, getting to catch up with Laura (it had been over a year), enjoy time with Ian, and seeing this beautiful country I had heard so much about from Laura! Belgium is an absolutely beautiful country with some amazing waffles, frits (fries), and chocolate of course! While there, I took a day trip to Paris, we took a cruise down the Rhine River in Germany, went to Brussels for a day, went to the town of Brugges for a day (a beautiful preserved medieval cities, saw cows in Laura's backyard. This was a wonderful week of my trip.

*Left Belgium July 25 to head back to Madrid. Spent three days seeing the sights of Madrid, spent some time with Laurie and Maggie, met some of their friends, drank the best sangria I've ever tasted, enjoyed thee last few days of my vacation.

*Left Spain on July 28 to come back to Missouri. Got upgraded to First Class and it was absolutely amazing. I've never gotten upgraded on a long flight like that before. I slept so good, ate some good food (for an airline) - New York Strip, ice cream sundae, fresh bread, fruit plates. I watched a few movies and enjoyed being all stretched out! It was the best news I could have gotten getting onto the plane!

*Spent two more weeks at home, shopping, time with family and friends.

*Came back to Guatemala August 11 and have hit the ground running! I played in my slowpitch softball game the evening I arrived. My plane touched down at 7 pm, I was on the field playing at 9:30 pm! I had one day without work, hung out with some friends, got unpacked. The next day I was back at work, as the new 7th grade coordinator. I had five days at work before the kids came. I was so not ready for the first day! I had coordinator meetings, then trying to get everything ready for our team for the beginning of school, my classroom preparations were a little on the lacking side.

Ready or not, the first day of school came and went. It was so fun to see all the faces from last year returning and knowing the 8th graders this year. I loved seeing them all again. We have a great group of new 7th graders this year and I am really excited about getting to know them and teaching them this year.

We just finished day 6 of class and tomorrow is Friday!!!!! Woo hoo. I am awake at almost 1 am, due to falling asleep around 7:30 tonight and not making it through the night! I tried to stay awake but I couldn't! I will post pictures soon, maybe this weekend I will muster up some energy! I am starting to get things a little more well planned in my classes. We do have Open House to get ready for next week!