The End of January is Upon Us

At this time last year, it was still rather cold, but it appears that December and January have swapped places this school year, though December never got as cold as last January. Now, the heat is upon us and my students are already antsy in the afternoon hours of the school day. The difficult part about this, is that I know it will only get worse, much worse, before the end of the school year. As things wind down, I do see the things that I will miss about my life here and I am thankful that the heat and the dust will be sending me off. It will make it a little easier to say goodbye.

The dirt gets so dry, that as I walk, the dusty ground will billow out and consume my feet. It's pretty entertaining, except that the dust makes the rocks slippery. I've witnessed a few giant trucks going up into the mountains, toward Llanitios. They have been carrying giant spools of something. I know that the resources in these remote communities must get there something, but I find myself in awe that these trucks can manage the mountains.

Several of the oddities in my life here revolve around the bathroom. Whenever I am not in my own home, I find that I check the back of the commode before using a toilet to make sure it already has water. The frequency in which I discover that the commode does not have water is pretty high. I then either find another bathroom, or fill it myself from the sink. In my home, I've had to rig up a rubber band to the lever that pulls the stop up when you flush, because the plastic that had been doing the job snapped, and so while my toilet fills with water, I had to lift it by hand every time I flushed. Too much hassle, if you ask me. Which you didn't, but there's my spiel on bathrooms anyway.

After living in Latin America for a year and a half, I still don't really know any of the traditional dances, but I have finally been getting into the dancing mood. The only real trouble with this is most of the people I'm around don't want to start dancing until much later in an evening and I'm a sleepy person later. I've been looking for a balance. We shall see.

I also find that I've gotten more comfortable with other things I used to not be so okay with. For example, I have “crazy ants” just like every other house in the area, and generally they are harmless and out of the way. You just learn to coexist with them, and on occasion one will tickle when it finds itself accidentally on your arm. However, on occasion the crazy ants will get thirsty and they will attack one of my drink supplies. This usually doesn't happen for long periods of time, nor is it a constant. More often than not, what happens is that I pour myself a glass of water, realize I have poured in a few ants, shrug it off, and drink it anyway. What? They're small.

My six week improvements are going well. I'm now in my second week of flossing and haven't missed a day yet. I can already feel a big difference. I've also mapped out the whole rest of the year, which happens to end with December 31, just by chance. I get really excited when I think about the changes I'm going to make over the course of the next year. I feel it is very manageable, but that by the end of this year, I will be a much healthier, happier, well informed individual.

In the theme of self improvement, I've been doing lots of research/having conversations on topics like protein consumption, minimalism, and over population. I have a variety of friends here who have read “The China Study” and I'm hoping to borrow “The World Without Us” soon. I find that I really enjoy these as thought exercises. There's so much to learn about the world, and I want to know it all! I wish that could happen.

Yesterday I went to a student's birthday party. He has a pet bunny, Boxy, who was also present at the party. Halfway through the party, I confiscated the poor over-stimulated, terrified bunny. I let them pet her, but only from my arms. Once she calmed down a bit, she kept licking my arm. My students mocked me because I, not even realizing it, coddled the animal and cooed at her to calm her down like she was a baby. But she was a scared little baby!

On a turtlier note, I've discovered that Dulcinea recognizes her food bottle and will follow it around the tank trying to get at it when I move it from it's normal location.