Winding up before winding down....

**Main events in bold for the benefit of scanners:)**

The title here is what we always say about Sulmi around her bedtime, but it's true of my last couple wks here as well.

Last wk we took a field trip to the zoo w/ Lupita's class (Christopher), and they invited Mitchel and Laisha along too. So much fun! It was April the Tapir's (Belize's national animal) 25th birthday and the zoo had a party for her. "My" students made fast friends which great to see. Mitchel was beside himself w/ excitement over all the animals. I loved spending the day w/ them.

Evelin is adjusting great! We were worried when she got seriously homesick the first wk, but since then she's been fine. Her language skills have literally exploded; Nancy and I are asking ourselves if she always knew this much and we just missed it or if she's an incredibely fast learner. Probably some of both. We knew she was smart and not being met at her potential in her previous environment, but we're now realizing just how smart she really is. I'm so grateful to see her in a learning environment where she can really thrive.

Last wkend I went to Chetumal, Mexico again w/ Elodia. Got my visa renewed, ate a nice lunch at the beach, and checked out the Maya museum. I was stunned by the differences in consumer culture when you cross the border into Chetumal: so convenient, so tempting, so overwhelming. I enjoyed seeing a little bit more of the town tho and feeling like I can say I've been to Mexico with just slightly more credibility (it still seems strange to me to think of having "been to" a whole country after only getting to see a little piece of it.)

Last Friday for Girl's Night there were no hearing siblings in attendance and the sweet mischevious 2yo daughter of one of the women slept through the whole thing. It was a nice change of pace and, while I really like interpreting Girl's Night, it was a good change of pace to feel like more of a participant.

Ah! How could I forget-- I went to Belize City this week and visited the Deaf school; so much fun! I knew several of the kids from a past field trip, so I got to chat w/ them, interview one of the teachers, and get a better idea for what life is like for Stella Maris Deaf Academy students. And then on Wednesday, the long-planned, often-delayed workshop for all of Corozal's Deaf students materialized in Mary Hill! We only had 4 students, and for some reason Mitchel & Laisha's teacher didn't bring them as planned, but the teachers from Stella Maris came and said they plan to keep coming. Ryan, a 6yo from Paraiso came w/ his tutor and got over his extreme shyness by the end, playing happily with Christopher. I'm hopeful that Mitchel and Laisha will come next wk, my last week here!


Yesterday we had the day off and Nancy thought to take the girls to a new pool w/ a water slide. We had a grand time splashing, learning to swim (Sulmi was bravely venturing into the deep end by the end of the afternoon), sliding, and using the underwater camera I intended for snorkeling but never got to use. Today Nancy's class took a field trip to Mary Hill, intending to get the Deaf kids together, but all of my other students were sick or absent today! Very unfortunate, but the kids had a good time anyway I think, and Lupita got to talk to Elodia (who came with) about the possibility of teaching for at least a term in Stella Maris next year to learn about Deaf Ed.

Pues, the "last time" series of events has begun, and I will much miss the people I have met here. To close out the semester, I'm making DVDs of the kids signing things they've learned this semester, so that's my big project of the week. I feel like I have learned more here than I can presently articulate; I've been in so many environments here that I had no or very little previous experience with that every day was an excercise in asombro (Spanish for amazement/eye-opening/awe). I feel like I've been marinated in a new perspective and it's going to take me a little while to distill the concrete lessons from it all, beyond the generalized feeling that I really had no idea what I was "getting myself into" when I got here, but that my many frustrations about my own limitations as well as the little joys of small triumphs and great joys of some new relationships have amounted to invaluable learning.
God bless anyone who is still reading:).
Can't wait to see you.