I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today/Welcome to the Jungle

When I was in 2nd grade, I recited a poem for the school talent show titled, "I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today." I can´t help but think that phrase over and over again this afternoon, as I just had the worst morning I´ve had since coming to Ecuador (even worse than the time I woke up with a migraine, or the time I woke up thinking it was Saturday, only to find out that it was in fact Tuesday).

To make a long story short, I found out that I am supposed to be teaching computer class on Tuesday mornings still - I´d had them free for the last few weeks because, I swear, my course had ended. Then, in an entirely unrelated matter (I was already feeling bad about the miscommunication regarding before-mentioned Tuesday class) I got yelled at for about 20 minutes by the head of the sales and marketing department (under which I teach my computer classes) because, apparently, I have not been teaching my students anything and/or they have not learned anything (the verdict´s still out) for the past 7 months. Not only was this done IN FRONT OF 2 of my classes, but I was so frazzled (think: shaking, sweating, on the verge of tears) that I could hardly spit out a word of spanish in my defense. To put it bluntly, it was a situation that made me a. not want to stay here for another year, and b. want to quit today and never walk into that computer room again. Let´s just say that I am, more than ever, grateful to have pretty f-ing amazing friends here who 1. listened to be bitch for an hour afterward, 2. defended me to no end (i shouldn´t go without mentioning here that many of my students also lovingly came to my defense), 3. bitched with me before suggesting logical solutions, and 4. did not hesitate to crack open a few beers in my honor...at noon.

On a lighter note, I survived the jungle, FARC-less and anaconda-less! It was an absolutely incredible trip from start to finish...we saw tons of monkeys, beautiful birds, a red snake (from far away, thank God), and huge turtles. We also fished for piranhas (then cooked them and ate them), did lots of hiking (even in the middle of the night), ate dinner by candle light, went swimming at sunset every night, made yuca (potato-like root) bread, met a shamman, canoed, and got temporary (although mine has yet to even start fading...) tattoos from our guides with ink from a berry bush. I was challenged and uncomfortable at many points during the week (no electricity, no showers, lots of bugs, lots of humidity, lots of strange jungle noises at night, etc.), but I am so glad that I went and it´s an experience that I will not forget anytime soon.

Other tidbits...I am running another 10k this Sunday - pray that my knees hold up! My mom and Jill will be here a week from Friday - I am so excited to see them and show them around! It was brought to my attention that I made a few mistakes in my last blog (so it´s caRAbeener, lay off...and I think it makes more sense for rainforest to be 2 words anyway) - my English is suffering at the hands of learning Spanish (which is also suffering, oddly enough). Despite the negative tone of the first paragraph of this entry, I´ve had quite a few "I love my life" moments recently...which is probably why I deserved to have a wicked horrible morning today. Karma´s a bitch.

(Sorry for saying the b-word 3 times in this one, mom...like I said, my English is suffering. I´m not quite the human thesaurus that I once was. Take what you can get ;)).

Love you and miss you all,
Keely