Spa night, Thanksgiving, and Huejotzingo

The school week passed normally with the day-to-day adventures that one first and second grade classroom can expect and the two ESL 'classes' (or English practice) that I have taken on. The weekend came and went rapidly, chock full of activities.

On Friday, after my flute lesson, I walked over to the Blakey's house where soon almost all the female PCS staff gathered for our annual spa night. What fun it was! One of the PCS moms had gathered spa-related gifts for us, Jenna had made or bought chocolate-y desserts, and she had also prepared various natural ingredients for us to make face, hand, feet, and hair masks out of. We passed the evening laughing, talking, and coating our skin with different ingredients.

On Saturday I spent the morning grocery shopping, lesson planning, and making waldorf salad. A Canadian friend of Bethany's came from where she's living in Cuerna Vaca to spend the weekend with us. Although Canada already celebrated Thanksgiving in September, she hadn't been able to because she is in Mexico for the year. Bethany decided to prepare a Thanksgiving meal and invite some friends. We each brought some Thanksgiving food, and Saturday night we feasted.

I spent Saturday afternoon over at Abraham's house watching part of The Fellowship of the Ring. Abraham hadn't seen the whole movie before and still hasn't because we ran out of time, but we'll finish watching it tonight.

Finally, after many weeks of wanting to go, but not being able to because of other commitments, I was able to join the church group that goes out to a mission in Huejotzingo every Sunday afternoon. Abraham is in charge of the mission work. The group gathers children, teens, and adults in the neighborhood in Huejotzingo and teaches Bible stories and songs each week. Because it was the day after Dia de los Muertos, many of the normal attenders were not in town this week. I hope to be able to go regularly from now on.

PCS needs your prayers. Two of our part-time staff members are looking into starting work at a hotel. If they decide to work at the hotel, they will be leaving PCS which will mean that art and beginning Spanish and office work have no one to do them. Another PCS teacher, Mike Contreras, has been suffering from terrible hip pain because of a surgery he had last year. The roads and sidewalks here are rough, so his hip has not healed the way it should. Our 5th and 6th grade class has substitute teachers (parents) all week, because Jenna Blakey has to have surgery today to remove her gall bladder, because she has been passing gall stones. Right now we're teaching with a 'skeleton staff.' It's possible that Abraham will take over the Spanish classes, but for PE, art, and office work, we're very short handed.

I also need your prayers. My finances are tight, and I'm going to be sending out letters and emails asking for more support. I've begun paying off my student loan again, and some supporters have stopped giving. The result of this combination is that I'm low on funds.