School Starts

This past week has been super busy! On Saturday, our seventh (that's right, seventh) roommate got here. Jessie is going to be student teaching first semester and is living with us. Fortunately, she's really cool and fun, so that's good. We were worried.... Haha :) So, Jackie and I took Jessie around a little last Saturday when she got here, showed her The Monument and Calle del Sol.

On Sunday, Kaitlyn and I went to church in Moca. I absolutely love it there. Pastor Alex is really nice and gives really good sermons. They are in Spanish obviously, but he speaks very clearly and is easy to understand. His family is really nice too. They are in the process of moving, but he told us once they get settled in, they will have us all over for dinner. For the most part, Moca is going to be our "home" church when we are here.

Then on Monday, we had an open house during which students and parents could come in and meet the teachers. Since I don't have a classroom, I kind of wandered around and met as many of the high schoolers as I could. Then, the rest of the week, the students were at school for half days for "Orientation Week." It was kind of a nice way to get to meet the kids, play some getting to know you and team building games with them, and start getting into the school routine without having to teach. I think I am going to have some really good days and some really challenging ones. The students seem like typical high schoolers. The ninth graders are super excited to be in high school but still very squirley and loud. (And there are about 25 of them!) The tenth graders think they are super cool, way too cool to participate voluntarily in stuff, but decent kids. The eleventh and twelfth graders seem like they will be the most fun to teach. They are old enough that they don't have to prove their coolness anymore, have their friendships established, and and also a good bunch of kids. A lot of the kids don't really have typical family situations, so that will be interesting to work with. A lot of them have parents that live in the States and are living down here with grandparents or aunts and uncles, stuff like that. So, it will be interesting to see how the year all pans out. I start real teaching on Monday with ALL six classes so say some prayers it goes well and wish me luck!

Last night, Jackie, Danielle, Jessie, and I went out with Keith, Rosanna, Lissette and her husband, and Gleyvis to a dance club. I really enjoy dancing merengue and bachata, probably because they are pretty easy yet fun to do! It was a good time. Now, I'm off to Selina and Nalia's house. I know them from when I was here in high school and they invited me over for the day and to spend the night. So, hopefully I'll get some good food, some Spanish practice, and hopefully get it set up to volunteer at a hospital here because Selina works at one! I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Oh, for those of you who don't know yet, I got offered a med school interview at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, which is one of my top choices in schools so I will be flying home the end of September or the beginning of October for that! Say some prayers that it goes well and that I get accepted! Miss you all tons!