I have been busy down here in Colombia!

Last weekend I went scuba diving for the first time!  I loved it, it was an amazing experience.  I went with three friends, and two of us are working on getting our diving certification.  Actually, the first part wasn’t so great.  After a bumpy boat ride and trying to figure out snorkeling, I upchucked my breakfast of papaya and bread.  So I floated on my back for awhile, to calm my stomach.  Float, float.  I floated right away from our boat, toward the beach.  My friends got started on the diving with one of the instructors, and the other instructor very patiently waited with me.  We ended up chatting for awhile (in Spanish- my Spanish is definitely improving!) as we waited.  Eventually my stomach calmed down, though it was pretty clear that I wouldn’t be able to do this dive.

I was pretty bummed that I hadn’t been able to go diving.  My friends came back and we ate sandwiches from the diving school on the beach.  After awhile, they told us that we would do a second dive!  My friends went with one of the instructors, and I went diving with the one who had patiently been waiting with and helping me.  I was so glad that it worked to dive!  Once we got underneath the water, I really started to enjoy myself.  After awhile, I was able to calm down, slow my breath, and that was when I really started to look around me.  I was hyper aware of my breath at first, being that you are moving further underneath water, and I could audibly hear my breath, as well as see the bubbles as I exhaled.  If you go diving for the first time or get certified in most places in the States, you start in the pool.  My first time diving was in the Caribbean.  We swam past beautiful coral reefs in all kinds of colors.  I remember seeing purple and yellow and red.  I reached out to brush my fingers over the coral and I was surprised by how rough it felt.  Fish of bright blue and yellow swam past.  After seeing some of the underwater wildlife, we visited a boat wreck!  The boat had been overgrown with coral and seaweed and such things, and we poked around there for awhile.

I was really happy to have been able to dive!  For the certification course, we have two more dives, and a few more dry-land classroom sessions.  We are planning to do that over Thanksgiving weekend.  I can’t wait!

Halloween was last Friday.  As expected in a first grade classroom, it was pretty crazy.  A few nuggets from that day:

• Once i started mentioning Halloween earlier in the week (to remind the kids to wear something appropriate- no extra stuff like ninja swords or masks) they got super excited just thinking about it.
• I dressed as a gypsy fortune teller.  That was pretty much the only thing I could figure out from the things I already had in my closet.  I borrowed a crystal ball from another teacher (who just happened to have one) and read fortunes like “I can see our class.  And…what’s that?  They are silent and listening?”
• Every kid in my class dressed up, and they looked adorable.  Some of the kids went all out, and had really creative or elaborate costumes!  A few did not follow directions, and still brought their knight’s sword or ninja mask, but nothing too major.
• We had an assembly in the morning, and each of the Elementary classes performed a dance they had been practicing.  My first graders did an amazing job!  Some of those kids can really shoulder shimmy!
• There were some pretty scandalous costumes, mostly concentrated in the middle and high school grades.  My favorite were the sexy nuns.
• It was a short day, which was pretty wise of the school, as it would have been quite difficult to keep the kids focused all day amongst Halloween fever.
• We went to a haunted house, put on by the student government organization.  Most kids really enjoyed it, but there were a number who came out really spooked, in tears.  This group included the student who is my most difficult behavior challenge, and a student who earlier in the year, was bullying a fourth grader.

It was a good day, and I was proud of my kids for doing pretty well during the assembly.  Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Linnea