Since 2 weeks ago, Kelley has left which of course sucked. The only enjoyable part was the I was the only one to drive her to the airport which means we had 2 hours in a car with just us and good music. I hated bringing her though and when there was about a half hour left in our drive, I suddenly said, "Wait, what am I doing? I don't agree with any of this! Why am I bringing you to the airport??" Kelley just laughed at me of course because we both realized how funny/ironic it was the person who wants her to stay the most is the person shipping her off. But such is life. So that was Friday.
Oh yeah! Then Saturday was the day Tim and Jamie, the British med students left. None of us could believe they had been here for 4 weeks already and it was very sweet to see that they were sad to leave us and Benque. But we all had our typical French toast Saturday breakfast with them before they headed out. But Saturday was in fact a great day because I had not one but TWO skype dates. One with the one and only Lana and the other with Katherine Furness and both of them were so wonderfully long! I just miss having each of them in my life so much. Plus it's also really annoying to be like, "Ok let me catch you up on like the past 3 months of my life."
Sunday was a super great adventure day! Monica, Joe, Jack, Eric, Jeremy, and myself hitched a ride with Fr. Scott to a spot on the river not far from us that you can rent tubes from and we went tubing! (Katie, Elisabeth, and Michael each had other things they already committed to). I don't how far of a distance it was, but it was about a 1.5-2 hour float which was a perfect amount of time. At the end, we met back up with Fr. Scott who needed to visit a family in that village, so we all went over and, in typical Belizean fashion, were fed a super delicious late lunch. Can you guess what it was? Rice and beans with chicken and potato salad. But the chicken was flavored really scrumptiously and the rice and beans were by far the best I have had in the past 7 months. I wish my plate was just filled with the rice and beans! But I suppose it's a good thing it wasn't because they also had a cake they had made and served us. Overall, it was a perfect day, one that you wish could be every day of your life.
There are two things from last week that I wish to point out.
1) My futbolito team had their semifinals game last week and guess which team they played against? The teachers. It's the only time I betray my fellow teachers and root against them. And the score kept going back and forth, tied then a broken tie and eventually the time ended with the score tied again. And so they went to a sudden death penalty kick shoot out where they alternate one team kicks, then the other, and so on. And even those were tied! Up to the very end when Jack scored on my little Francis and won the game for the teachers by 1 goal. It was heartbreaking (for me anyway) and the boys were really disappointed. But it was a great game and they played really hard! I'm still proud of them. (Unlike yesterday when they had their 3rd place game and most of them weren't even there, but that's still sensitive)
2) Teacher evaluations have been going on and I was evaluated this past Tuesday. I was a little nervous leading up to it, but my HOD came into my best class (1st Form girls) and I think he scared them more than he scared me! Not that Victor is scary by any means, but the girls were extra good and attentive. I met with him a couple days later to go over the evaluation after my 2nd Form boys class. Now to understand everything about this, know that I love the 2nd Form boys. But they are incredibly immature and defiant and disrespectful to everyone. Their behavior has hit a new low this semester and very often my Thursdays end with me feeling super incompetent as a teacher and rather subhuman. So that's what I was going off of when I met with Victor and he had very few minor suggestions for me and overall was really impressed with my lesson, my method of teaching, and the relationship between me and the students. And as great as it was to have someone say "Oh you're good at teaching" what it really meant to me was "Look you're not a failure and wasting your time!" So praise God for that.
This weekend all the male teachers went camping from Friday after school to Saturday around 5:30 pm which meant Girls Weekend!! Friday night Brynne came over with baby Sophia and we ate box mac n cheese for dinner (which was super delicious) and we watched North and South, a British mini series based off a book by a Jane Austen contemporary. You know, it didn't seem stereotypically girly until I wrote it out just now. But haters gonna hate, it was a great 4 hours watching it from start to finish. Though it was only Monica, Brynne, and I who made it all the way to the end. The boys were still gone Saturday so I skyped with Laura, one of my best friends from college. I hadn't talked to her in way too long and I had almost forgotten how much she makes me laugh. Oh it was just so good talking to her! And then that night, it was almost like the boys were still gone because we didn't know what time they were getting back, so we made plans to go to dinner in Cayo with Mary and Berny (2 of Fr. John's sisters and fellow teachers) and man, they are so much fun! So we stayed out with them til about 11 just having a good time, trying to ignore the really strange Jesus concert that was happening in the main square right by the restaurant.
Sunday was uneventful on my end, but the boys were quite busy because they decided to be way super awesome and make dinner for us! And dang, was it nothing short of delicious. Us girls went upstairs on the veranda to get out of the way and while we were up there, we got our appetizer which was individual yogurt parfaits! Then for dinner they made a quiche with sausage, onions, peppers, and plenty of cheese!! And that wasn't even the end. For dessert, they made us a coffee cake with a cream cheese filling layer which was particularly exciting for me since I gave up cream cheese for Lent. Even if they hadn't cooked us this great dinner, them being gone for the weekend just gave us girls a renewed appreciation for these truly awesome men we have down here with us.
And so here we are, into another week, getting closer and closer to the start of our Easter break and all the Holy Week festivities. I'm very much looking forward to it all (no, not just because we have no school! Though that is a huge bonus). If you could please pray for my little ones preparing to receive their Sacraments at the Easter Vigil, I would really appreciate it! They're starting to get nervous, as they should, since this isn't just joining a club. But they're also excited which just makes me even more excited. Man, I'm just gonna be crying all during the Mass!
Well have a happy Tuesday! And to celebrate you being you, do something good for yourself, something like turning up a good song really loudly and singing just as loudly. Trust me, it's good for the soul.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
Totus Tuus, Maria.
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