6 days til veinticinco

life just keeps going, i feel like i always talk about how hectic "it has been" ~ but in reality, it is kind of always that way....

a few of us have started walking in the evenings which is a really nice stress reliever. but gosh the past two weeks i have been in kind of a funk. just living and working with the same group of people is really difficult. its hard on all of us and its like the physical closeness of being a family, without the intimacy and unconditional love of a family... tough, but a learning experience in some way im sure...

wednesday there was a soccer game between mexico and the usa. my friend gen and i went to a bar with some friends from work, and her and i were the only girls in the one section of the bar - which was fine. no one paid us any mind (unusual bc people normally stare at the rare gringas) until AFTER the game when the usa won. we decided if we were asked we would say we were canadian that day. of course it was fine, just humorous.

so one of the other teachers here organized a volunteer mission for all of us, there is an orphanage with about 45 kids between 2 years old and 14 years old and bc there are so many of us different groups go every other weekend. my group started last weekend and we are working with the 5 and 6 year olds. obviously it's a totally different dynamic than working with my students at shcool, they have tons of different issues and circumstances and just are so emotionally deprived. there are 3 houses that hold all 45 of them so there is one "house mother" for 15 kids, which clearly is extemely understaffed. its so sad to know how some children are neglected, it reminded me a lot of my time in el salvador. even though it is sad, it is such a good feeling to be able to give them a little bit of kindness and love and time, they really responded well to us. we go back this coming weekend and im looking forward to it.

on friday we went to a really fun club called "stop" which was super fun. there was no cover charge for girls and the drinks were really cheap, at the end of the night we each paid $10 for like 5 rounds of bruskies and a bottle of tequila.... PLUS they had live music for about an hour or two and then dance music. here is the coolest part, it was an open air club so there were four walls but no roof and we were dancing under the stars it was really fun.

next week is my 25th bday!!!! the plan is to go to "stop" on friday and then one of our friends' cousins owns another really exclusive club, so he reserved us a table. im excited and i think its gonna be super fun :)

valentines day was fun - we had a little party during recess with all my 38 students, of course it was chaotic but it was really cute. they were sooooo excited we got to have a party, and i got so much candy treats from my students. it was really a nice day at school. on the actual day a bunch of us got together and just hung out playing games and having fun. i went to the doctor too yesterday morning because i have had this sinus thing for almost a month now, the air quality is just so icky, full of pollution and desert dirt so its hard to not have sinus issues. hopefully the meds start kicking in.