the power of positive thinking

when i returned home from the beach sunday night, i was greeted by a new roommmate. nicole is here from germany for 2 months--which works out to be the rest of the time i'm here too. nicole reminds me a lot of my brother's girlfriend marguerite--she's really sweet and she's petite with a little red-haired bob. she obviously speaks german and is still working on her english. she understands most of what i say but sometimes i have to find different ways to explain myself. the first month she is here, she is only learning spanish and then she'll be doing a volunteer project for the month of march.

this week we decided to be adventurous and try a spinning class in san pedro. i had only done spinning once before and knew how difficult it is but then putting the whole spanish twist on exercising definately made it interesting! i was trying to understand what the instructor was yelling over the music but most of the time i just watched others to figure out what to do. it was hard but definately worth the $1500 colones (about $3) for a good workout. our "mom" told us of another gym that's not too far from where we live, which we were able to find on our walk to the city yesterday. this gym offers all kinds of classes plus the regular gym area so nicole and i are thinking getting a membership here might be our next adventurous move!

this week we also changed the structure of our volunteer project. the whole time i've beenhere, the kids have been on summer vacation so they had been serving lunch at 11am. next week marks the start of the new school year, so the soup kitchen staff is helping to prepare the kids for their new schedule and they've changed lunch to 2pm. the kids in public schools here only go to school for 2-3 hours a day, with the kids going either in the morning or the afternoon. i'm guessing this is due to space and maybe the cost of teachers as well? so adam, kristy, and i now go in the afternoon to volunteer, from about 1:30-5pm.

someone was apparently listening about me and my frustrations last week because this week is so much better! we've been trying to really focus on colors and numbers- incorporating them into color by numbers, card games, i spy, etc. there were also some "newcomers" this week that i hadn't seen in the soup kitchen in the past few weeks--including three 12 year old girls that are very interested in learning english. we started working with some picture flashcards and english/spanish workbooks and all the girls wanted theirown piece of paper so they could make themselves a vocabulary list. their enthusiasm and excitement made ME excited to be working with them! so many kids have such negative attitudes towards learning and that makes it very difficult to work with them and actually want to help them. but then there are students like these little girls that make it all worth while. they are so excited and curious and want to listen, learn, and take in as much as they possibly can. as a teacher, you can't ask for anything more.

kids really are amazing to work with. every day with them is something new and exciting. being here has made me realize how much i enjoy teaching and working with kids---and it has helped me see clearly that this is what i'm supposed to be doing.

we're all waiting for our lives to "begin", like figuring we'll be someone else one day...but what are we waiting for?