the end...well, sort of

I've decided to give myself the title of worst blogger ever. I thought that I did a pretty good job of updating my blog until I opened it up today and realized it has again been more than a month since I have written anything. Apologies.

Well, here we are at the end of it all. School ended last Friday. My classroom is still in a state of distress...disorganization...upheaval, but slowly it is getting packed up and ready for me to leave in just three days! I'm not sure how I made it to this point. It feels wonderful and sad and exciting and melancholy all at the same time. The goodbyes are so hard! If we could figure out a way that those don't have to happen, this would be a glorious time of celebrating the completion of this year! But on the field, friends do leave...and lots of them at one time. Please pray for me in the next couple of days as I have to say goodbye to some pretty special people in my life - a family that has been an immense support to me and my brother, a couple who have graciously invited me to have dinner with them every Thursday night, a wonderful woman who has been in my Bible study and her husband, and my one other CRWM teacher who was just here for a one-year internship. It sure is not fun!

Just so that this blog doesn't sink into a pit of despair and sadness with this entry, allow me to tell you about the binds I've gotten myself into this past week.

Tuesday night - It is absolutely pouring outside. Sorry folks, if you haven't been in the tropics when it pours, you haven't really seen it rain. I was working in my bedroom, sorting through boxes that never got sorted when we moved into this house last November (no, I never got around to it. It was busy!). I'm home by myself and the cats are crying incessantly and going between my room and the kitchen. I hate cats. So, I follow them into the kitchen to get them some food. Oops, no. Not getting food or anything else because there is a good inch of water on the floor and there is a waterfall shooting out of our ceiling, cascading over our cupboards and countertops and creating a pool on the kitchen floor followed by a river all the way to the front of the house to the front door. What did I do? Saved the microwave that was directly under the waterfall and tried to call my dad. Dads always save the day. Not this one. He never picked up his phone. I spent a bit of time panicking, thought I might get electrocuted, saved the Vonage phone and cable modem, and prayed for the rain to stop! It turns out that a hole in the roof combined with gutters that haven't been cleaned in a while and a massive tropical rain - not such a good idea.

Fastforward to Wednesday night - We've banished the cats from the house because of a little problem that they have. Pink and Green - not their real names, but we never use their real names, only their collar colors - have redeveloped the unfortunate habit of pooping in the house. Out they go. Lock all of the entrances so that they can't get in. Not such a good plan as it turns out. The two dogs trap the two cats on the screen window outside of Kim's bedroom and bark at them for a good half hour making it impossible for Kim to sleep. She eventually went out and grabbed the two cats, held them over her head so they wouldn't become delicacies for the dogs and rescued them.

Thursday night - The cats have been allowed back in the house because we both want some sleep. Nevermind the fact that the dogs have found a new stray cat to terrorize. Actually, I'm not sure who was terrorizing whom. I think that stray cat pulled a Garfield, was just out of reach, and made faces at the dogs. Barking for a good 45 minutes outside of my bedroom. No amount of yelling would shut them up. I went out there and was ready to smack them both because it is 10:45 and our neighbors are going to have us evicted if two dogs bark constantly outside of their windows. I come back in, am ready to hop in the shower, turn on the light to the bathroom, and there is a large frog staring right at me. Agh! What is this? Attack of the wildlife? My brilliant plan was to grab a dustpan and a broom catch the frog on the dustpan, hold him down with the broom, and take him outside to enjoy actual nature rather than my bathroom. Minor problems include him peeing all over my bathroom floor and not staying put in the dustpan. Plan B - I'm going to sweep him out of the house like a rockstar! I've got on my towel and I start swinging the broom around in circles like I am doing some great rock-out on a stage in front of thousands of people. Kim said she heard me but did she come and save me? No. Finally got the frog out of the house and headed back for a much needed shower. Go to dry myself off with my towel and suddenly I feel like my whole body is getting bitten. Yes, yes it is. By little tiny red ants! What is with this "revenge of the natural world" scenario? Did I ever do anything bad to them?

The joys of living here. It actually has been a fantastic year. When I get back in the US and have a bit of time, I'd like to sit down and do some reflection on the entire year. It has probably been one of the hardest years of my life but by the same token it has been so rewarding!