one week anniversary and parents in town

This has been quite the week! Just after I wrote the previous blog posting, one of my really good friends came to my classroom. This was a friend that started out as my Spanish teacher, but over time the "lessons" became time to get to know each other better - still speaking Spanish though. Around Easter last year, he asked if we could become more than friends, but at the time I didn't know if I'd be returning to Puebla, so I said we'd better just stay friends and pray for further direction. Summer came, I returned to the United States, and we both prayed, along with other friends and family who knew the not-so-secret secret of our more-than-friendship.

When I returned to Puebla, we again began spending lots of time together, walking around the neighborhood and talking. On Friday, Abraham asked again whether we could be more than friends, and this time I said yes. Now we're officially dating, but no general announcement has been made to anyone (however I suspect most people at PCS and Dios es Amor are fully aware of the relationship...)

Over the summer I told my parents that Abraham and I had become more than friends and that I wanted them to visit Puebla close to the beginning of the school year. They arrived in the morning on Wednesday and will be here for two weeks. Their timing is quite good: they'll be here for Independence Day and the various celebrations included in that.

Meanwhile, with parents in town and a new dating relationship, school and the accompanying demands continue. I have stories every day from my classroom that make the other teachers laugh. For example, today one of the children was saying his memory verse, Proverbs 13:13 which says, "He who scorns instruction will be punished, but he who obeys commands will be rewarded." His interpretation, "He who scorns construction will be punished..."

The one young fellow who struggles with behaving well in class adores Elvis, so today I tried a little bribery. If he gets a smiley face for an hour of good listening, he can listen to one Elvis song on my computer. I've been singing "Blue Suede Shoes" all day, because he chose to listen to that song twice as his reward for two good hours. I hope this works for more than just today - not much else has worked so far, but he did quite well in class today.


The kids finished decorating their piñatas today. Oi, what a mess!