The first full week of school

The past week was a difficult one with the kids. It was gloomy and cold outside, even raining twice, which is unusual for this time of year in Puebla. Maybe the weather stirred them up, or maybe they're just getting antsy, but I felt really thin in my patience level by the end of each day. Although we had a half day with the kids today - we have staff inservice until 5 this afternoon - I still felt worn out by the time the bell rang. Please pray! I'm not sure what to do to pull through the rest of the year with sanity. It boggles the mind how teachers can manage classes of 45 kids - I used to do it!

On Saturday after lesson planning I enjoyed an afternoon and evening with Abraham. We went downtown to the Barrio del Artista to see some drawings and paintings, then we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around a weekend market, the beautiful convention center, and the garden in the convention center. It's a lovely place, and we had a good time moseying around. I tried some of Abraham's passion fruit icy with chili since it was getting too spicy for him to eat all of it. Interesting...

In the evening, we returned home in time to join most of the rest of the staff back downtown for Jenna's surprise birthday party at a pizza place. It wasn't precisely a surprise for Jenna, because she saw us gathering outside the school. She said, "I decided not to ask Joe too many questions."

Sunday I arrived just a tiny bit late for church, because I got to the bus stop just as the bus I needed passed. That's the way it is; depending on the buses, I can arrive early or late to church even though I always leave my house at 10:30. In the afternoon at Huejotzingo, more kids came then usual, so we had a group of 22. Fortunately, there were also extra adults that day, so we did fine.