Viviendo el sueño: We're Back!

Well, we're back in Honduras and officially done with our first week of school after break! The kids were a little wild, of course, but all in all it was a good first week back! I'm trying out a new discipline plan with 7th-9th grade (really, 7th grade is the only class that really needs it but I figured it couldn't hurt for 8th and 9th grade too), and it seems to be working...although I don't want to count my chickens before they've hatched (and although I have like half the class staying in with me from recess on Monday). I think I'll know for sure if it's going to be successful by the end of next week. Either way, I had the most successful Friday afternoon class with seventh grade I've had all year, and I didn't yell at all. So I'm feeling optimistic!
We've actually been back for almost two weeks know -- school was supposed to start back up on Wednesday the 4th, so Justin and I bought our plane tickets to come back on Monday the 2nd (so I'd have time to travel back to Catacamas on Tuesday the 3rd), but two days before Christmas break the superintendent of all the schools decided we wouldn't start back up again until Monday the 9th! So we tried to switch our flight tickets but it would have been an extra 250 dollars....so we decided to just get back to Honduras and go to the beach that week! A lot of people were asking me if I was looking forward to going back to Honduras after break at home -- I think my answer would be that I wasn't like "I can't wait to go back!" but nor was it like, "I'm dreading going back!" I might have been a little excited, but I have a feeling that had something to do with our planned beach trip more than anything....so we went to an island off the coast of Honduras called Utila. Justin's tutor Laura came with us too. It was nice and relaxing. The ferry to Utila ended up being cancelled the day we wanted to go (because the weather was bad), so instead we took a bus to a little indigenous peoples village and spent a night there. It was pretty cool -- and right on the beach. It poured at night and our room got flooded! What do you expect for 5 bucks a night though? Anyway, the next day the ferries were running so we made it to Utila. There we explored the little island, laid on the beach, and rented kayaks one day. Then back to Tegus and I got a ride back to Catacamas -- I was so glad to finally make it back and be rid of all my luggage -- especially my host brother's electric guitar that I brought back for him! He was ecstatic.
Anyway, now that I'm back in Catacamas we've added two new members to my host family here! One is a puppy! When I got back my host dad was like, "We got a new pet!" And my first thought was "Ohhhh great you've gotta be kidding me." (Remember that devil dog we had that I hated that finally ran away?) But then he led me outside where I found a tiny black furball! So I've been playing with this dog (Carboncito) for like hours every day when I get home from school -- it's funny because my family has been like, "Wow, you and this dog are like best friends....hmm, you never did like our other dog did you?" Hahaha whoops...I didn't know it was that obvious...

The other member of my host family is a new American teacher! She just moved in the room next to me (she stole my host brother Mario's room, so now he's sharing with his other brother who is home from college until the end of January). Kim's going to be starting teaching at my school a week from Monday. She'll be teaching kids in 2nd-6th grade who want to enter our school but who don't know any English. So she'll teach them basically English immersion so that they can enter in normal classes next school year. She arrived here on Tuesday, and already it's been so great having someone else around to hang out with, walk around with, talk to, eat ice cream with, etc. We get along really well and I'm soooo looking forward to having a friend here now...probably won't be great for my Spanish-learning since we always talk in English (she doesn't speak hardly any Spanish), but that's okay. Now that I have her here it's hard to believe I survived the last five months with basically no friends to hang out with!