i am not a teacher or a celebrity.

so...this one might be quick because we have dinner in 30 minutes. i meant to get on here a while ago to update, but by the time i commented and so on and so forth, it was 5:00. anyways. today was the first day that we were at the kids school. we got there twenty minutes early because the principal told us to do so, but all we ended up doing was being surrounded by children as the gave us bracelets and lipgloss. seriously. we were surrounded. it was a little overwhelming to teach the children, especially because i have no experience, but erica was a huge help. tomorrow, though, it is just me and keri. we are both a little nervous because we are not studying to be teachers so our creativity level in this department is a little lower. please pray for us as we continue to teach. we will be at this school monday through friday from 8-11 AM. so it´s gonna be a little crazy. there still hasn´t been any news abou the rosetta stone classes. we have some more RAM, but it hasn´t been installed yet, so i´m not sure how everything is going to work out.
school today was a lot of fun although crazy in every way. it´s frustrating language-wise for me still, because i know everything that i need to know. when i am pressured to speak it, though, i have so much trouble doing so. i know that i´ve only been here for a week, and that i have already improved. but it´s scary to be trying to teach a language to little children who only speak spanish. just please pray for us. keri and i are just not very gifted in this area. and while i know God wants to stretch me and teach me new things, it can still be a little frustrating.
but then i have to remind myself that i am doing things that i do know how to do. since i´ve been here, i´ve had the opportunity to fix the church´s logo, and i have also created two t-shirt designs. i´ve also been helping out with some computer work, and i will be creating more t-shirts in the future. it has been exciting to do things that i do like to do and that i do have knowledge about.
right now there is an american team here so there are now roughly 15 white people in jucuapa. you truly do get stared at whereever you go because most people haven´t ever seen americans. erica, keri, and i have joked that we´re going to cause a car accident one of these days. already someone almost walked into a pole and another guy almost fell off his bike. i don´t even make eye contact with most of the men because it just causes awkward comments. this is the first time in my life that i will be walking down the street and get whistled at. yeah. i´ve started to get a little more used to it, though, and i think that people are starting to get a little more used to seeing us because we walk around a lot. we know our way around jucuapa fairly well. the american team is from florida and they are doing some work at a super poor school and also making cabinets for the church. they´re nice guys, so it´s been a good time.
what else? the bugs are still attacking me full force. i am going to change to unscented soap and use bug spray. if that doesn´t help, i´m going to go to the doctor, because it is almost unbearable. i itch all the time, and my legs are covered. i wake up in the middle of the night itching. i´m pretty frustrated about that because it is really uncomfortable. so please continue praying that clears up. also, i´ve been feeling a little bit lonely....even though i´m around people all the time. i´ve realized how spoiled i am because i have so many friends and family members who know me completely. it´s hard for me in new situations because i often feel pigeon-holed or like people expect me to act a certain way. i´ve loosened up a lot in the past few years, and so i tend to show the very silly side of my personality first. it´s hard, though, because i end up feeling like that´s how people expect me to act all the time, and that isn´t really who i am. honestly, i´m a pretty serious person. i cried a few nights ago because i realized how much i miss having people around me who just know me completely. it´s hard to explain. after praying, though, i realized that i again have to stop looking through the lens of how i feel and look through the lens of how i can serve. i know that God wants to hear and meet my needs, but i also believe that i need to focus not on myself, but on others. and normally, when i do so, everything else falls into place.
so far, this has been a good experience, but very different than i expected. i love all the missionary kids down here--i call them kids because most of them are 6 years younger than me. the funny thing is, though, that they don´t act immature or obnoxiously young. they are all lots of fun to hang out with, and they made me realize that i probably wouldn´t mind working in a youth group or something in the future--i always used to think that i couldn´t handle that.
anyways. i also went shopping today and bought an awesome red belt that says "el salvador" and a cute top. the belt is a little big, so i would like to hammer a hole in it when i get home. i just couldn´t resist buying it, because it was real leather and engraved and only five dollars. i think that i may buy some christmas presents when i´m down here. :)
oh. and this friday, we are going back to san miguel for some souvenir shopping with the work team. and we´re also going to see a volcano because there are tons around here. i am very excited! i will take pictures then, and i might take pictures just of around too. so hopefully in the next two weeks there will be some pictures.
and one more thing. i´ve fallen in love.
if any of you actually just fell for that, well, then, you need to realize i am happily single. there is a boy that i think is cute, though, his name is guillermo, and he is the goalie for the mexican soccer team. pretty much he´s awesome. i´ve been watching so many soccer games, that i need to find something to interest me. he´s fulfilled that position. :)
hey. i love you all. and now i need to go wash my feet--because i´m constantly dirty here--and go to dinner. thanks for reading this and praying for me and investing in my life. i love all of you, and i truly appreciate you!
.love. beth