A great day...

I have to say that Colleen and Jessica (last year's volunteers) weren't kidding when they said that the first couple of months here would be a series of highs and lows. They could not be any more on par with the way I have been feeling for the past couple of days. Yesterday afternoon after work; I had the house to myself for the first time since I have moved in and I started thinking. All I could think of was "wow. I am really living in an apartment in Central America with complete strangers for an entire year and teaching 41 students in a language that I do not understand." It is kind of a really liberating feeling, but at the same time, there are moments that I still feel unsure of myself and what I am going to be able to accomplish here. I am having a difficult time controlling my class. I don't think it is so much the language barrier that is an issue, but the whole "self control" issue. The children here do not have the same behavioral expectations in school as they do at home. Add that to the fact that I have 41 students (28 of which are boys) and you have the ingredients for chaos. Today, we got through an entire morning without anyone kicking, hitting, or punching each other. They are starting to understand that I won't tolerate this. I think we are starting to make progress!
In any case, today was a great day. I think I started to feel a lot better about things when almost all of my afternoon students hugged me on the way in. Then; one little girl named Mary came up to me and said "misssss, I love you!". It was so cute! I feel badly that I cannot communicate with them in Spanish though. It does frustrate me, and I'd be lying if I said that it didn't. After work, I sat and talked with my new friend Wendy (she works in the cafeteria, and is the sweetest person ever!). Another cafeteria worker named Ana came in with her baby and handed her right to me. Her name is Leah Nazareth, and she is three months old and as cute as a button! At that moment; I remembered what I love most about this place. A total stranger handed me their child and entrusted them in my arms. It was such a great feeling to hold baby Lea Nazareth, and I think I am going to offer to watch her some night as I miss being around infants like I was back home.
I must finish this entry as I have so much to do. In about an hour; Annie, Padre, and the rest of the volunteers are coming over. We are going to cook dinner and sit outside and play the guitar and just chat. It will be nice and relaxing after today. I am starting to feel as though I most crave the minutes of actually "being" and doing nothing. When my roommates and I get home in the afternoon, we oftentimes just grab a couch and sit and listen to the rain (it is still the rainy season, and it pours everyday either late in the afternoon or in the evening)or chat on our computers. Sometimes, we will sit for an hour without saying a word to one another. That would never happen back home, where everything is so fast paced. It feels good to have some peace and quiet. (Except of course, during the nighttime when the animals start...it feels like an "Old MacDonald" serenade here at all hours of the night and I can't seem to get used to it. Somehow; the sounds of cows mooing and roosters crowing at midnight does not compare to the sound of the MBTA whizzing by in Boston!) In any case, hope you are all doing well back home! I think there is a meeting tonight for the upcoming mission team. Send everyone my love and let them know I am thinking of them!