beach, sun, pool, margaritas and more sun

Ah finally some beautiful weather! Exactly what I needed!

So we discovered this all inclusive resort that we could go to over night. Only an hour and a half out of the city. We left bright and early on Saturday morning and spent the day lounging in the sun and cooling off in the po

ol! Sipping the odd margarita and reading books! LUXURY!!!!

On Saturday night there was a Karaoke competition which we totally lost-- but to our defence, we didn't know it was a competition and were NOT taking it very seriously!

SUnday we were back by the pool by 9 am after a WONDERFUL breakfast! Elisa, Graeme and I braved the ocean and fake surfed a little. A few waves made us scream due to their HuGENESS! But we survived. Hopefully we will get to try real surfing some time soon. Now it is back to school...and we were wishing we had a holiday tomorrow! But no such luck! the rain has started to fall again and the kids are just plain crazy! But it is all ok, because I spent 2 days soaking in vitamin D!

That's it for now!

oxoxox

costumes, markets, hotels and closed roads

So today is a national holiday here in Guatemala and this mid week break has been nice!

13 of us went to Antigua last night and had a great time. We stayed in a really nice little hotel with beautiful grounds and a great breakfast this morning!

We went out to dinner and then to bar. I left in the second wave of sleepers around midnight, which is great because the last group was out until past 3 they tell me! Today we had breakfast and some people lounged by the pool. I went back to bed. We were supposed to go see parades and such but there weren't any, and it started to pour rain so we just hung out then had lunch. At lunch we heard that the road home was closed due to a shooting at a mall-- it was 100% drug related. So we left right away and took the back road home to insure we did indeed get home. Though another day off wouldn't be the worst thing! haha.

On Tuesday, at school, we got to dress up in Traditional Guatemalan CLothing (the picture). So I went to the market last weekend and 4 of the teachers (me, Laura, Katie and Keiko-left to right) bought these outfits.

It was pretty cute! A bunch of my kids came dressed up too- photo included. It was prety cute. The parents put on a market in our cafetorium for the elementary school. So the kids got to buy things and eat typical food etc. It was great fun but made for a CRAZY day at school. A write off basically. The kids were nuts. Hopefully they are better tomorrow.

It is the time of year of parent meetings. We are just over a month in so I have something like 5 parent meetings this this and next week about student's progress...yeah fun..YUCK!

That is about it I think.

As you can see from the pictures we have had some sunny days! It is quite beautiful here when it is warm! Hopefully this weekend is nice, since it is take 2 of beach get away. I think 9 of us are headed that way on Saturday morning! Should be fun! On that note, I think I will go to the gym now.

oxox

thinking of buying a canoe...

hello everyone.

In case you have been following any Guatemala news, I thought I would let you know that I am alive and well...though a tad bit soggy!

Today was pandaemonium at the school...buses were cancelled due to road closures and mud slides. I had to explain to my little boys that soccer practice was cancelled because they had to leave on the first buses... they were NOT happy campers. I was a little worried there would be a revolt. Instead they chose to completely ignore me and acted very surprised when I walked them all to the buses and not to ECA. Poor souls.

The school has an emergency phone tree that was put into affect...but I am not too sure how well it works. Hopefully everyone got home safe and sound.

With buses still cancelled tomorrow, I will be missing lots of kids, what can I teach?

Anyway, just letting you know we are all safe and sound, but I may need a boat to get to and from school from here on out.

oxo

rain, rain, tropical storms, rain

Well it has been a busy week!

French Club started on Wednesday and had about 13 kids. It went very well and they all seem pretty eager. We learnt some classroom vocabulary and the alphabet and numbers. I thought they would think it was kind of lame, but they were really into it and now there are big kids that say hi to me in the halls!!!

The rest of the week flew by and it is already Friday night. WE were supposed to go to the beach this weekend, but there is a 50% chance of tropical stormage, so we called that off! Which is lame, but also the safer choice. Instead, we are having a game night at Laura's! THis should be fun!! Unfortunately I don't have Catch Phrase here...urgh! SO much fun! But we have a good variety, including the Monopoly game Laura and Colin bought in China..haha.

Tonight, since our beach extravaganza was cancelled, Makenzie, Jessica and I went to a spa for massages. Before you gawk at the lush lifestyle I seem to be leading, the whole think put me back 20$. So basically cheaper than going out to dinner, which was the other option for tonight.

I am now hanging out in my apartment, waiting to Skype my Trent friends who are away at our now annual Labour Day weekend cottage party! I wish I was there, but, well...life. RIght?

Hope all is well with everyone, and that you aren't dying of the heat... but if you are, I have no sympathy because the rain is driving me insane! But I am told to hold on for one more month!

So some funny question I was asked about Canada this week: when you buy things, is the price written in USD? like do you have dollars?...no, we write our prices on rocks and exchange livestock for it...bah!

Do you vote in Canada? Like are you a democratic country? No..the Prime Minister is chosen at random based on who builds the best igloo!

I tell you... some people! haha.

anyway. hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!!! oxo