last friday night.

Actually, it wasn't just last Friday night, Katy Perry. It was last Thursday, Friday AND Saturday night. What happened exactly? The much-anticipated trip of five best friends. Mark, Sam, Erika, Nathan, and I headed to the lake for a long weekend of cooking, eating, relaxing, joking, dancing, and photo snapping. Aka our kind of fun!

We stayed at a beautiful home right on the water. It was complete with bean bag chairs, an extra-hot shower, Hercules bedsheets, an adorable kitchen, and it's very own dock. Jack pot! We couldn't help but kill three iPod batteries while laughing 'til we cried and feasting like presidents (they were very American meals).

"two" little time.

Like every other day, I started off English class asking my students, "What's today?" Like every other day, they responded. Unlike every other day, I realized that only two months remain here in Guatemala. Two months. With Lisa visiting soon (weeee!), leaving the country with Sam again, and summer vacation for the school, that means even less time physically at NPH. Aka this chapter of my life is very quickly coming to a close.

Buuut I'm not on the last page just yet. I still have plenty of adventures coming my way. Look out next two months.. Kristi is gonna make the best of these last few pages :)

emerson!

Who's he? Oh, just THE happiest pequeño of all pequeños. Emerson is one of our fourteen with disabilities. But that does not, by any means, limit his happiness level. Whether at a school assembly or a dance competition on the weekend, he is always right up front.. throwing his hand in the air out of excitement.

Since January, he has been receiving library classes with me. Due to this weekly interaction, he has come to recognize me all around the home. All I have to do is say "Emersonnn!" and he can't seem to wipe that cute smile off his face.

I'm usually able to bank on three things during our Tuesday morning class: Being greeted by a great big Emerson hug. This is followed by him packing everyone tightly on the bench so that a space remains for me. Conveniently at his side. Finally, we color together. But there's something about the way Emerson colors. He is just too excited about watching my reaction to stay focused on where he is coloring. The crayon goes every which way, while his smile goes only one way.. upward!

pick me up.

Sometimes, on a gorgeously sunny day, your boss asks you if you want a lift.

In the back of his pick-up truck.

Along with a dozen other volunteers.

To go the three minutes into town.

Sometimes, just sometimes..

universitarios.

Hanging out with our university boys, three pizza pies, a deck of Uno, and the "Top 40" radio station?  Yup, that sounds like the perfect Saturday to us!

We promised Rudy, Jonathan, Eduardo, Ludwin, Oscar, and Felipe a visit to their capital house way back when. So, basically, we were all thrilled when it finally happened. Those hard-working boys make us proud AND keep us constantly laughing :)

my beloved passport.

I never thought I would be so excited to have my passport beside me on my bed. But, then again, I never thought it would require multiple attempts, a handful of phone calls, 2.5 days of missed work, and lunch dates at Taco Bell and McDonald's. I know, I know, that last one's really a kicker..

A while back, I was due for a visa passport renewal. Fellow English teacher, Janelle, ever-so-sweetly brought mine along with hers to drop it off. No problem. The issue came along when it was time to pick up our passports. The first day, the immigration office had decided to take it's own personal vacation. The second time, we called beforehand to a) make sure they were open and b) make sure the employee who stamps the passports was in. Yes and yes. Welllll, they failed to mention that he wouldn't be in until 3:30pm. We found that out when we arrived at 10:30am. Cool. So we hung around, only to realize that his arrival ever-so-coincidentally left just an hour de trabajo for him. So, we hung around the capital all day just to be told to "come back Monday" when he couldn't get to ours? Yup. Well, Janelle and I were feeling a bit generous and decided to go in on Tuesday instead of Monday. Sadly, the transport for yesterday was cancelled. Cue today's transport. We walked into immigration and were swiftly handed our passports! Por fin!


I guess if I'm craving an American fast food chain over these next few months, I know what card to pull, right? :)

baptized beauties.

A handful of our littles ones were baptized this morning (this includes above cutey siblings, Yordi and Marisol). Sporting everything from freshly-ironed Oxford shirts, to sparkly white dresses, to delicate veils, to springy hats.. they looked absolutely adorable. It was a beautiful ceremony attended by the entire house. It's just one of those many moments in which I am reminded of the family feel we have here :)

a momentous moment.

Excuse me.. I'm having a moment.

Every class has it's challenging child. It's typical to have a sour grape or two. In the case of the 3rd grade class here, there are a few going-sour grapes and one well-on-her-way-to-wine sour grape. The other librarian and I have tried to not let their negative attitudes get to our optimistic ones. But we hadn't been giving it our all. That's why, for this week's class, I tried something totally different. Why don't we read a story about a worm? And then channel our inner-crafty-sides by making our own worms! With egg cartons and pipe cleaners!

The 3rd graders came into library today and, like usual, asked what we were doing. I didn't want to spill the beans just yet, so I responded, "We'll read a story and then we'll do an activity." Once done, they came up to the counter to ask what was next. I pulled out my example worm to excited squeals. In just a few seconds, the counter became covered with markers, pipe cleaner dust, scissors, colored pencil shavings, and hard-at-work kids. Everyone seemed to be into it!

Now, cue Linda. She's that sour grape. I don't particularly blame her; she's been held back a time or two. Yet, when I looked over to where she was working, I happened to catch the most incredible string of words come out of her mouth, "Eso es bien chilero! Me gusta estar acá en la biblioteca cuando hacemos actividades asi." Linda was loving up on my idea?! Music to my ears. Needless to say, I can now die a happy volunteer :)