End of week 3

Whew..week 3 done! Have I learned all I should in 3 weeks I wonder. Sometimes I feel like I'm really gaining groud, and sometimes the ground wins. As my friend and student Ginny said: in America we take English class from day one in school all the way until we graduate from high school, and then even more in college. What in the world makes us think we can learn a new language in a matter of weeks or months?
She's got a point!

My teacher tells me that technically, per the calendar, winter began on May 1st. However, the people here will tell you that there's just really 2 seasons, rainy season and dry season. And tourists here say it's the land of eternal Spring. But in some ways I can see how it kind of resembles winter. For the last 1.5 weeks, the sky has been white and overcast, kind of like winter at home. A couple of days this week, my room has been 68 beautiful degrees when I wake up in the morning. I love this temp! The natives here are wearing sweaters and jackets, sometimes hats. I'm still in my pedal pusher pants and t-shirts. It might get into the low 80s during the day time, but I wouldnt' say it's been really warm in the last 2 weeks. Due to the cloud cover, we haven't seen much of the beautiful surrounding volcanic mountains recently either. All the native people here are suprised that the rainy season which usually starts by May 1 hasn't happened. The sky often looks like rain late in the afternoon and into the evening, but we've only seen a couple of showers so far. Fine with me!

Almost a week ago it started to sink into my brain that this was not a mission trip. Unlike all my other week or two long mission trips, I wasn't going home. When you go on a mission trip you can go full tilt and put up with almost anything, knowing that you will only be in these conditions for a week or so before you return to the comforts of home and your routines. Still seems a bit strange to me.

Thought you'd get a kick out of something I saw this AM on the way to school. 2nd time I've seen it. A very small white pick up truck with a simple white shell over the hauling bed of the truck. Painted on the side of the truck: Volunteer Ambulance. Here's the trick: There's no tail gate or window or anything on the back. I could see straight into the back and see the stretcher. I supposed things are tied down somehow, but I'll sure that it makes for an interesting trip.

Oh, and if anyone asks...I have no idea of how the unused unattached toilet that sits up on top of the roof somehow ended up in a students room beside their bed! :)

Love yall!