Remember, Remember...November!

Well another month has come and gone. Some of my students' jaws dropped when I told them it was November. I think part of the reason is because then they realize how close they are getting to exams. For me, it's more disbelief at how soon the semester will end. We just keep rolling along, stunned at how quickly 24 hours disappears. But just because I've had a long exhausting day doesn't mean I have to get all philosophical on you.

Honestly this past week was so packed and moved so slowly that I don't remember much of the everyday things that went down. It seems that this week is the exact opposite, flying by so quickly that I don't know what to do with myself except keep working. But let's not get ahead of myself.

A couple of highlights I'll cover:
1. I didn't have a retreat to plan, so I could actually get other work done. I forgot I had a life outside of retreat planner! But that's over for now because the 2nd Form boys have their retreat this Friday. Please pray for them! They definitely need it. This retreat is a little different from the others since some of these boys are my students, so I actually know them! There's also 50 of them, so I'm really hoping that all the teachers that I want to go are able to.

2. On Halloween, we all got to have some Reese's Pumpkins because my mom is the best and sent 2 bags. I only opened one bag though, so the 2nd is still in our fridge waiting to be opened in a moment of desperation to escape retreat planning chaos. That may or may not have happened last night.

3. Friday was eventful! First, it was the feast of All Saints and Fr. Scott gave a killer homily. One of my music classes was also in charge of the music for Mass and they all sang loud and well. After that though, I was one of 4 chaperones to go on a bus with 45 students to Cayo for a "Rally for Jesus". Now the Caribbean culture mixed with the fact that this was aimed for high schoolers made it a rather...interesting event. You know how at rallies and events they have music playing from speakers as they transition from one thing to the next? They did that, but since it was a Jesus rally, it was praise and worship music. With heavy bass. That was turned up way too loud. But instead of dwelling on all the things I would change about the rally, my favorite part was hanging with some of my favorite students and getting to hear 2 of them sing! Each school had some entertainment piece they had to present and Mount Carmel sang 2 songs. One of the students was in my music class and the other is just one of my favorite kids.

Edwin on the left, Rolman on the right.

Yep, I was that proud mom in the front row taking pictures.

4. Friday night we had a Halloween party for the staff at the boys' house, costumes necessary. They were  mostly hilarious probably due to the fact that it's always funny to see your principal or that one teacher you can't picture out of school dressed up. As ridiculous as some of them are, I don't really think there is any interest on my side or yours of explaining every single one, so I'll just show a group picture instead.

The scary man with the machete on the far right is our Academic Dean. This is the man that disciplines our children. See? It makes it so much funnier!

There is one costume I do have to showcase because the planning and execution of it was very involved. I also know that Joe won't read/see this, so he can't get mad at me for posting this picture. But Monica and Joe had the best costume. They were Oompa Loompas.

In case you can't tell, they have green paint in their hair and orange/pink eye shadow smeared all over their faces to get the orange effect. We have limited resources here in Belize, but we don't let it stop us! Oh man, this picture gets me every time. 

5. Saturday was boring. It was perfect. I got a ton of work done all by myself in the staff room which meant I could plan and dance to my heart's content. So I did.

6. Sunday was so much fun! Well, it's always good because after Mass we have rolls at lunch! This doesn't seem like a big deal, but literally the only time we get rolls is on Sundays. Anyway, after lunch we went to the border to spend the afternoon in Melchor, Guatemala with some of our students! Who doesn't want to hang out with their teachers on a weekend? No, they were great, some of my favorite kids at school. We saw a lot of students all around Melchor, but Rolman (the same kid that sang) and Patricia were our main tour guides. Here are some pictures from our small adventures, complements of Kelley.

We went to the park there which was awesome because they had these random giant animals.

Naturally, Jack had to tame the giraffe.

With Patricia and Rolman. They both look much shyer than they actually are. Trust me, they're not in the least.

In Melchor, the common mode of transportation is by motorcycle, so Rolman was a champ taking us one by one back to the border. We just love this kid so much!

Ok well that's a lot and it's definitely dinnertime, so I'm ending this now! Again, say some prayers for the 2nd Form boys!

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Totus Tuus, Maria.