Remember, remember, the fifth of November...

When you work in an international school, you get to experience international things...like new customs, holidays, and foods.
One of my roommates is from England, and for the last few weeks she's been bemoaning the fact that she wouldn't be home for Guy Fawkes Night (which is apparently as big in England as halloween is in the US). To make her try and feel at home, our apartments had a mini Guy Fawkes Night. It was fun! We lit a bonfire (well, technically, one of the guys upstairs came to the rescue and lit it for us...a sad day for Girl Scouts and Girl Guides everywhere...), and toasted marshmallows and even burned a Guy! Who says the nine-foot Goliath poster in my room was only good for Bible class? One couple even brought sausages for us to try roasting, mine, obviously fell on the ground prior to being eaten.  This included blood sausage (which, conviently is both European and South American?). I was adventurous. I tried it.  I'm putting a solid checkmark by that item on my list of foods to try and not erasing it. :P

The burning of the Guy!

In other news, I seem to be on a bit of a clumsy streak.  Since Friday, I've broken a plate and a mug. And gotten a large bruise on my hip from slamming into the chemistry lab counter.  My roommate informed me that I am "quite dangerous". Obviously not too dangerous, because she let me help her try out chemstry experiements this weekend.  Copper Sulfate makes some seriously cool crystals! She told me that she figured the added danger of the copper sulfate and the hydrocloric acid in another experiment would encourage my subconcious to try and keep me alive. It did. Yey!

So, Mondays are just as hard to get up for in South America as they are in North America.  Then one of my students came over and leaned on me at lunch and said "Ms. Crickett, you are the best teacher. I love you!"  Monday made. Week made.  :)
Camp went well with the kiddos.  They had a lot of fun and we sent them home very tired.  I'm sure their parents were grateful.  I co-led the arts and crafts, which was right up my alley.  It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed seeing the different takes the kids had on the crafts, even if they were pre-packaged.  My favorite were the airplane hats.  They were insanly hard to do in a large group (not VBS friendly at all), but they turned out amusingly cute.

Iguazu was AMAZING!!! Even if it did rain the whole stinkin' time.  At least it rained the whole stinkin' time when we weren't under shelter.  The rain kind of made it feel like we were in the waterfalls, as well as seeing them.  The only issue was the times that it started lightning, because we were walking on metal walkways. Either way it was a lot of fun, becuase we got to see the waterfalls really up close and even walk over them! It was very "up close and personal".  The biggest waterfall, Garganta del Diablo "The Throat of the Devil" is even bigger than Niagra!  I had a lot of fun walking around listening to the rain on my poncho and seeing the waterfalls. Once we got back to the hostel, having retreated from the park during a huge bout of the lightning storm, we rested and had fun watching Thor. It sounds pathetic, but it was fun! Very "girl's weekend" like. :)

And these aren't even the big ones!

Three countries, one picture...cool, huh?

The one on the upper left is the best one!

I've officially been to Brasil. We drove through it to get to Argentina and we got out of the car for coffee. Therefore, I've officially been to Brasil.

I'm excited about the upcoming holidays.  The top and bottom floors of the apartment are competing to decorate the floor.  Upstairs has Christmas, and downstairs has Thanksgiving. It. Is. On! Losers buy the winners some amazing fruit juice from a nearby restraunt called Lemonade. I think we're about evenly matched, upstairs has crafty people and an art major, and downstairs has the same...plus the Pre-K and K teachers (hee hee). It should be quite the festive atmostphere come Thanksgiving! We're planning on weekend Christmas movie nights and maybe some caroling to the admin.'s houses.  Scarves and hats in 95 degree weather...that should be...sweaty. Either way, it will be fun!

I can't believe it's already been three and a half months, but in just a month and a half I'll be heading back to the states for a while.  I can't wait to see everybody again!

See you soon!

Prayer requests:
My students are starting to blossom, or race ahead, in the reading. Pray that this continues till break!
The high school students are trying to maintain that revival felt at camp, please pray that they would continue to seek the Lord fervently, rather than fall into old habits.


PS. I figured it out, click "no comments" That's the comment box.