2012
- August: I moved out of Betty's house and into an apartment with Megan, who taught 2nd grade for the past two years. She will be teaching kindergarten this next year! She is so fun, humble, and encouraging! I am excited to be living with her again! She is also quite the chef, so I hope to learn more from her! Not living with a Guatemalan family forced me to learn how to go grocery shopping, light a gas stove and oven, call the gas man to deliver a new tank of gas, and work with a landlady who is not always the friendliest. In the first month, I managed to catch a bag of beans and the shower (while I was in it!) on fire! I think Megan was a little scared of what she had gotten herself into by living with me!
- September: A group of teachers and I went to Antigua to hike Pacaya, an active volcano. It was beautiful, and we got to roast marshmallows from the volcano's heat to make smores! To celebrate Guatemalan Independence Day, a bunch of teachers and I returned to El Salvador to enjoy the beach. We stayed at the same little bed and breakfast from last year that is right on the beach.
- October: I honestly can't remember anything from this month! Some things just become routine.
- November: At school the PTA moms hosted the annual Thanksgiving feast, complete with turkey (quite the delicacy here!), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pink Waldorf/marshmallow salad (not my fav), and pie. Go figure, Megan and I ended up with a large container of the pink salad that leaked on the bus ride home. Since we were out of school for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving, Megan and I invited Betty's family over for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Then we went to IRTRA, a resort, to relax. We read by the pool and got massages, which was quite the treat!
- December: Some of the girl teachers and I led a Bible study for high school girls throughout the year. I taught most of these girls the year before, and it is even more fun to just be their "adult friend." We met as a group every other week. One weekend, we took the girls to Pana to host an event for the kids at an orphanage called Eagle's Nest. One of the girl's family has a house in Pana, so we got to stay there. The high school girls did great with all of the little kids as the teachers ran the different stations! Yasi, the school secretary, and her husband led songs and a Bible lesson. We finished with cookies and juice. I hope we get to do something like this again! As school started to wrap up for the semester, Meredith came to visit! She was such a good sport as I dragged her to the staff Christmas party, a quinceañera at IRTRA, and coffee shops to grade LOTS of papers. She also proctored and graded the middle school English exams. I felt bad that we didn't get to do more of the touristy things, but she definitely got to see the day to day stuff! We flew back to Dallas together.
- January: We got back into the swing of things after enjoying Christmas break!
- February: As a teacher, Valentine's Day is not my favorite, because the kids eat a lot of candy and are hyper all day long. However, I did receive lots of candy and treats that day!
- March: After a long week of Spiritual Emphasis Week, Megan and I hosted a bachelorette party for the fifth grade teacher. We had great food and fun games! For Semana Santa, three teachers and I went to Pana for the Bible teacher's wedding and then to Rio Dulce! We had such a great adventure full of castles, dolphins, white sand beaches, hot springs, waterfalls, American boat cruisers, and floating docks.
- April: I flew to Dallas for Mer's wedding. The next weekend, I went to Antigua for the fifth grade teacher's wedding. I also celebrated turning 24 with ice cream sundaes on Sunday.
- May: Megan and I hosted a baby shower for Kendra, who should be having the baby any day now! At the end of May, all 12 seniors graduated. I am really going to miss this class!
The second semester was full of celebrations!
