the 'black hill' and some other tidbits

It appears that I am the last of my friends to write about our trip to Cerro Negro ("Black Hill"). I had some techincal difficulties with my camera, so for some pictures and other more creative descriptions of this adventure, see these links: Rachel, Jason, Jess. Basically, Cerro Negro is just what it's name indicates. It erupted last in 1999, I believe, which is why there is no growth on it yet. The climb was pretty brutal: 400 meters of lava rocks and a bit of ash. My shoes got a little torn up and I'd be lying if I said my legs were not bleeding in at least three places. :) But I was the second one to the top so it was worth it. They say it took about an hour or an hour and a half to climb. At top waiting for the rest of our group to reach the top, another group that had started after us suddenly appeard next to me... :) They happened to have a guide who knew that the backside of the volcano was much easier. They had hardly broken a sweat. Another part of the fun of this trip was that there were several large puddles/mud on the way...you can be sure I and those in my car enjoyed those. By the way, here is a picture I didn't get a chance to post with the last puddle adventure.

It's been probably more than a week now since I've been able to do any real internet work (emailing or blogging). Power outages have been quite persistant, and for a few days the power was out at the school from 4pm until 9pm. Other days it's been out during the day from 10 until 3. On Thursday night it was out from 7pm until 3am...and when it finally came back on it was only on until 8am. Not sure when it came back back because I was at school. This is making it hard to plan any kind of computer work for the students--so that whole idea has sort of been put on hold. I don't feel like I have time to plan lessons that I probably won't be able to use.

Teaching middle schoolers and high schoolers is difficult--more difficult than I anticipated. I thought we would naturally connect a little more, but at this point I am actually preferring my elementry classes. I have been very excited to see the progress of my first graders. They're learning a lot and it satisfies me to see this. I'm not sure if I wrote about this before, but I had several complaints from parents that maybe my teaching style wasn't dynamic enough and that their students were not very interested in learning English as they had been the previous year. I am pleased to say that I think that has changed at least in elementry. In my opinion so much of that has to do with the attitude of the teacher. My attitude hasn't been the greatest, in fact a lot of the time I walk into the classroom frustrated rather than excited. This is an area that God has been answering prayers, yet, I still feel the tendency (or temptation) to be more frustrated than forgiving.

I played soccer a few weeks ago with several churches in a "friendship" game. It reminded me how much fun it is to play soccer and how much I love that intense competition. I hope to play more in the weeks to come. It is good to be able to run and play. Praise the Lord.

I also had my third (and fourth) flat tire in the last month and a half. Same tire-- the right rear. Good thing I was at NCA because the spare (the fourth flat) was also out of air. I'm going to try to beat your world record of 8 flats in 6 months, Ben! I might be wrong about those numbers, so correct me if I am.

Also, here are a few pictures of Patriots Day at the school to celebrate the independence of central America.

Prayer Items
-continued success with elementry, and especially continuing good attitudes.
-that I will find a local nica church to belong to--yes, I am still looking.
-lots of energy and passion for what I am doing, with a clear vision for how I am affecting change and using my gifts.