Spring Break madness Part1

Hello Spring Break and hello again blog world. It has been far too long. I am officially on Spring Break, technically on day 5 actually. And as I am sitting here writing this it is pouring down some hard core rain. It kind of seems like a sick joke, this rainy season that never seems to end. The weather has really taken a turn for the worst since yesterday and it's a depressing site, buttt despite it and all the craziness and roadblocks I'm trying to stay resilient and positive through it all. In reality, I am really just thankful for this time to chilllll out and just be still, it is much needed and even if things aren't going exactly as planned, it's still a blessing of a time and it's already been sweet. Here are some highlights thus far:

Pablo's Birthday Extravaganza 

Birthday smile! 

Pablo is one of my most favorite people on this island. He live in French Harbor and was one of the first friends we made. He turned 16! (so crazy!!!) on Friday, so we threw him a whole day celebration. Sarah and I took him and 3 other boys to West Bay, which was an adventure in itself.

ice cream pit stop

Trying to hitch hike with those crazy boys was a trek, but we made it and spent the day hanging out at the beach and playing in the water. Sarah and I felt like moms the whole day watching over our little kids, it was grand.

beach fun

such a stud

After the beach we went back to our apartment and had a huge extravagant dinner for all the boys. Ingrid and Caleb were back at the place with 2 other French Harbor boys getting all the goods ready. We made lasagna, rice, beans, chicken, and a double decker cake for them. It was tons of fun. We celebrated Jarvi's birthday also because his is in August and we won't be here then. He ate it all up as if it really was his birthday. Love those boys so much.

singing Happy Birthday

yay for cake

"take a picture of me with my cake" - Jarvi

Scuba Diving Galore: 
I've been so lucky to have been able to go on 4 dives within the last week (that's a record for us haha)! There's something about being in the water that just feeds my soul. Gratitude, love, peace, joy so many pure emotions pour out of me after being in the water. Everything in me wants to get back in at every moment. It has been such a blessing and incredible experience to have here on this beautiful little island. The reef here and the underwater world minutes away from the shore is seriously out of this world.

Jeep Fun and learning to drive stick shift
We were super duper blessed by one of our student's parents this past week. They have an old jeep that wasn't being used and they let us borrow it for the week to drive ourselves around. The only downside is that it's stick shift and well only 1 of us girls knows how to drive stick and she is currently traveling around central america. Luckily Caleb is visiting and can drive stick and we've been getting full use of the car. Caleb gave Ingrid and I  a little driving stick shift lesson last night in the mall parking lot and it was a blast! We were pretty good, just going to take a little bit of getting used to, but I'm convinced we'll be driving stick shift like pros by the end of my time here, heck to the yeah!



Now we're off to try and find a hiking trail and adventure around the island (weather permitting, the rain has stopped, thankfully). I'll try to write a part 2 soon of what we do the second half of our break. For now, thankful and breathing in gratitude and joy. love love love.

Watching Oceans...

So, my class was supposed to go on a field trip this past Monday on a glass bottom boat. It's a boat out in West Bay that has a glass bottom allowing you to see the underwater world in the confides of a boat. Half boat/half submarine type of thing. Unfortunately it got rescheduled due to bad weather and we have postpone the trip until April when we get back from Spring Break. In lieu/honor of our trip we've been watching Oceans (shout out to my cousin Kathy for sending me the movie!) the past two days. They were too precious today watching it and getting all excited. They're chatty little cathies and couldn't stop talking at every moment but they were too cute none the less. Check out this picture and two short little videos. They're crazy little munchkins.

Haha they're amazing. Love them. On a completely unrelated note, the other day one of my students wrote me a super cute note and it definitely made my day. I am obsessed with these kids.

"There Ms. Lina..." haha There = Dear. The cutest. Love them.