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 :)

birthdays galore.

This weekend has been the weekend of birthdays. Sam's was on Friday, while Liz's was today. That means we saw everything from Ghiradelli brownies (thanks Mamma and Papa Osterbur!), cookies n' cream ice cream, a night out on the town, silly Nathan attempting to rap, lots and lots of dancing, a lopsided pizza, Liz's delicious Texas sheet cake, and just all-around fun. I sure will miss nights like these with the ones I love <3

kermes: round five.

It's sunny. It's hot. It's summer. Entonces, do you blame us volunteers for putting on a Kermes that involved water games? I didn't think so.

"Juegos del Agua" commenced right before noon on Sunday. There was everything from splish splish splash, to a water balloon toss, to bobbing for apples, to even a makeshift slip n' slide! Needless to say, by the end, the kids were soaked and satisfied.

"tu camisa me llega!"

Remember that one time I donned a Chelsea jersey before heading into the comedor? I do!

I was curious to see the kind of reaction I'd receive, especially as the Championship League heats up AND after Chelsea won 1-0 over Barsa. At first, when nothing happened, I thought maybe no one was gonna say anything. But, little by little, the boys started noticing and calling me over. First they'd ask if I was for Chelsea. "Of course! It's my team." Then they'd do one of two things. They'd respond, "Ah, come on!" if they were Barsa fans. Or they'd say, "Yeah, me too!" if they wanted to see Barsa hurt (as Real Madrid fans). Needless to say, I either was able to laugh in their faces after the win OR receive a fist pound and a huge smile. I loved it.

earth lodge.

This past weekend was our salida to Earth Lodge. It is a high-up-in-the-hills getaway perfect for 20 volunteers to find rest and relaxation. Our weekend was filled with stunning views, casual reading, hikes, delicious vegetarian meals, Bananagrams, and our fair share of girl talk (seeing as there are only three male volunteers hah).

We even lucked out because there was a barbecue and a free outdoor concert on Sunday! It felt very summery to enjoy the sounds of acoustic guitar and the company of friends under the skin-freckling sun :)