Well tonight marks a night I’ve been anticipating for hmmm….
10 years? The night before my first day of teaching! I’ve had the weekend to
take a few last minute adventures, prep for my week and reflect on all that’s
allowed me to get to this point. I’m so so grateful for everyone out there,
hopefully reading this blog, who has contributed to my growth and development
as a person and teacher. My greatest hope is to motivate and empower these
students as you all have done for me.
A letter I've written to my students (inspired by Pinterest) hung in my classroom
Here are a few pictures of the hike I took on Saturday. I
finally made my way down streets I’d only passed by, and in an instant,
Panajachel opened up into a land unknown! It was actually quite refreshing, as
I’ve really been traveling the same few streets among my daily routines, but in
just 10 minutes my world grew and it was humbling to, again, be exploring new
land. It’s very Christopher Columbus-esque in the sense that it’s beauty, which has been explored and
appreciated by oh so many already, is so new and fresh to me. But I get to be
the middle man, relaying my discoveries and the beauty of this “until now
undiscovered land!” with all of you! We made our way up a winding street for
incredible views, and dropped down to the river that leads into the lake. My
friend claimed the river was basically bone dry a few days ago, but due to the
buckets of rain these past few days, it truly was raging! We had an audience as
we attempted to scramble up the side of the rock mounds to dodge the inevitable
sewage water. But after many failed attempts we surrendered to weaving our way
across the man made 2x4 fragmented….bridge? (if you can even call it that.).
Some kids that had been watching our rock scramble attempt, motioned to us to their
plank set up. How kind, we thought, they’ve set up these planks for the foot
traffic. Oh no no no, not so fast! They wanted us to pay to walk across
their 2x4 contraption, and that was just the first of 6 plywood sections to
cross this river! We laughed and gave high 5s, thinking they’d giggle it off,
and move aside, but no….these 3 children held their ground, like guards of the
moat over this raging sewage river. So we resorted to small talk, and as soon
as we said we were teachers at AMA, the eldest boy’s mouth dropped and he
quickly pushed his siblings aside and escorted us over his mechanism! See you on Monday, he blushed and sent
us on our way. Smart kid…knows how to work those tourists over...and construct
quite a draw bridge mechanism if I may say so myself…. I’m proud to call him
one of ours!
Hand cranked snow cones...so hardcore!
With that, I am off to bed. I’ll post first day updates as
soon as I can. But again, I want to thank you all for your continuous support!
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