January 2007

Above: Good friends Elizabeth, Eva, and Opal

Well, January, believe it or not is quite cold. While July and August are our hottest months, January is our coldest. I'm not sure it got below 35 degrees, but when there is no place to get warm (or thaw out) the cold seems more extreme. My clothing consisted of 2 shirt layers and a coat, leggings, normal socks, knee socks over the regular socks and the leggings, pants, gloves and a tobogan. That was both indoor and outdoor attire. :) During this month I found a new best friend....my electric blanket...I became so attached to it I almost named it...but then I realized that would just be weird.
My nightly routine was to blowdry my feet then quickly jump into my nice warm bed, courtesy of my BFF. I tried to enjoy every moment of the cold, knowing that the scorching heat would soon come and would last more than 2-3 weeks like the cold.
Here I am with Elizabeth and Eva inside our building.

Also during January the groups continued to come. Here is a picture of the kids with the ukaleles a group from Missouri gave them. That was one noisy room.

Another very exciting thing that happened in January!!.....I moved into my apartment! I now live at the school. The classrooms and kitchen are on the first floor, and the teacher's apartments are on the 2nd. I have a large room with a bathroom. It is nice to finally unpack my boxes, stop living out of suitcases (which I did for 6 months), and finally have a "home." It is really nice and perfect for my needs and comfort. Don't be decieved. I'm not exactly "sufferin' for Jesus." It will be nice to have a little more separation from the kids in order to better establish the "teacher/student relationship." The main thing I will miss is living with Eva, Miriam, Elizabeth, and Opal. We had so crazy times. Now they will just have to come to my house.

Here are some pictures of Eva and Eli helping me move in. It was exhausting.

I quickly became known as "the girl with a lot of stuff." I think I might agree with them.

These are my precious neighbors Mundo, Came, and daughter Abril Cruz. Mundo teaches 6th grade at the school and Came teaches and directs her own kindergarten. (Eva teaches there as well). They are crazy, fun, godly, and determined to help me experience as much Mexican culture as possible. :) I am so blessed to have them. They often feel more like roomates than neighbors because they live next door and we share a kitchen and washing machine. :)