A Month in Review

I once again find myself needing to apologize for my lack of blogging and keeping people updated. Yes, I am busy, but I still do have time to blog most weekends. Ok, so since I now only have a short amount of time to do this before I leave for school, I will do my best to give a quick overview.

The dodgeball tournament. My team got third, and the other teacher team from Highlands got first, but my team also beat the other teacher team once, which was a ton of fun.

The next weekend. I was gone all day Sunday with Jason (my director), James (science teacher), Scott (English teacher), and Randy (youth for christ leader and my Bolivian sister's boyfriend). We went for a 9 hour hike on the Zongo trail, which was amazingly, ruggedly breathtaking. I hiked up to 16,250 ft above sea level (the highest point I've ever been to.) It was a very difficult trail, but well worth it.

The following 3 day weekend. We didn't have school Friday, but I did not get any work done at all, because I went with the high school boy's trip on the Tequesi Trail. This trail may not have been as difficult as the Zongo trail, except for the fact that I had a huge heavy pack I had to carry for the whole trip. It was wonderful just getting to know many of the high school boys better. On the first day we made the hardest climb up to the highest point, only 15,500 ft this time. The highest point, a pass into the valley beyond, was amazing, because as you looked to the pass, you saw a cross. So, we set our eyes on the cross and made the climb. The first night was a little rough, as it poured rain as we were setting up camp in an amazing valley, where the moon seemed to shine extra bright. I did not sleep at all the first night and got up out of the tent dry heaving a few times. The first part of the hike the next day, I felt like I was walking in a trance, just putting one tennis-shoed foot in front of the other. The Inca trails were amazing, but it wasn't till I caught a quick nap at our stop around noon that I perked up a bit. We were going to set up camp at the place where we stopped, but the skies opened up again, and it was decided to continue on to an abandoned shelter another 2.5 hour hike further. Yeah, it downpoured almost the whole way there. It cleared up once we arrived and we got to set up our camps inside the shelter, so we had a nice dry place to sleep that night. By the way, we have climbed down from 15,500 ft above sea level and are now down to 7,500 ft. The next morning was a beautiful, warm flat walk to the town of Yanacachi, where we caught a bus back to La Paz.

Ok, I have to go, but a quick school update. I was observed by my director two weeks ago and talked with him about it at the beginning of last week. The ratings were above, at, below standard, and unsatisfactory. I was at standard for all the areas except for two, which he put me at above standard, so I guess I'm doing ok. I would appreciate your prayers for continued work on my lessons and on my diligence to blog. Also, the quarter ends this week and I will be having parent conferences next Friday. I still have to update you on what's been going on in school and the past two weekends. I will try and do that sometime this week. I promise.

I love you all and thanks for all of you who have been on my case to update. I really do appreciate it and will do my best to get better.