Please Pass the Epsom Salt

I would like to start by apologizing to my loyal readers. Time is flying by so fast here and it wasn’t until someone reminded me that I haven’t posted in a few weeks, that I even realized that I was so overdue.

These last few weeks have been pretty taxing both mentally and physically so you can read into the Epsom salt reference as either a metaphor or a literal request, though since my house doesn’t have a tub it wouldn’t really do me any good. Most of my time has been spent teaching, tutoring, and playing soccer on the women’s soccer team, so you can understand why I haven’t written in a while.

I really am enjoying teaching; however I still haven’t quite found my groove. It’s still very much trial and error. You think that you’ve planned a dynamite lesson, but soon realize when you see nine little faces staring at you blankly that you have some more work to do. I am really optimistic that I will figure it out soon (it’s the Capricorn in me, in addition to the fact that I don’t really have a choice). Most days are pretty good though; my students are usually really engaged and eager to learn. However, Friday was a test of my patience. My first graders didn’t get the memo that Friday is supposed to be an easy day and decided to lose their minds when we went outside for the first time for our English class. They were pushing and fighting and making me crazy. I had to give about three children time outs and had I not brought them in early, may have sat the whole class down; needless to say that they will become very comfortable inside from now on. Please pass the Epsom salt.

This weekend was probably the busiest I have been in a while. Yesterday was my cousin Alise’s quinceñera (15^th birthday, similar to a sweet sixteen) and it was a big deal. They rented a hall and had a huge party. Basically the whole town was there, in addition to all of her friends and family. My mom even invited one of the other volunteers, which was nice because I had someone to hang out with. It was so much fun. They had lots of different music styles and we danced the night away. I definitely forgot I was in Costa Rica at some points, the DJ played so much techno, reggae, and U.S. pop, that had I not heard so much Spanish, I would’ve thought that I was in a U.S. night club. Next, the drummers and dancers came in with their bass and we were all given masks, whistles, leis, and pom pom wigs so it was like we were at Mardi gras or carnival. Finally, we were taken to Mexico for the Mariachi band. As you all know I love to dance, so regardless of the music I was constantly moving. I did most of it in heels so needless to say my legs and feet weren’t too pleased with me. Please pass the Epsom salt.

Today is probably the day that I need the Epsom salt most. Today was my first soccer match. We played these girls from San Jose. They were actually short a player so we had to lend them one of ours. These women all wore pink and looked very girly. However, once we started to play, I soon realized how wrong I was. They were very aggressive and many of us took tumbles today. I was knocked down twice before I finally decided to start playing rough too (I realize violence is not the answer, so let’s just call it self defense). Unfortunately, we lost the match and if that wasn’t enough, the hill from the soccer field is a mountain, so once again: Please pass the Epsom salt.

P.S. I will also settle for Icy hot.