A few Dreary days...

Not too much new going on here. The past week or so has been a little bit interesting and a bit of a struggle. The weather has started turning cold and the rain has come back to visit. I think a mixture of weather change and some difficult news from the U.S. for a few, has caused all of us to be a little on edge. Things are still going well and we are enjoying each others company but it seems most of us have struggled at some point in the last week or so to stay in a good mood. I not-so-regretfully have fallen back into my ridiculously long naps after work. Yesterday my nap was about 3 and a half hours long... which should tell me to stop staying up so late hanging out with friends.

Today and tomorrow I am teaching class solo, because Ariana is getting married tomorrow! Its very exciting for her, but being in the class alone with 13 4-year olds speaking only Spanish is exhausting! Although today we were able to decorate some cute skulls for Dia de los Muertos. Which leads me to my next excitement, Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos. I am super excited to be learning about Dia de Los Muertos and for the party we are going to have for Halloween. Honestly I would like to sit down and have an information session about Dia de Los Muertos, but its good to pick up bit by bit this really unique holiday. I am super intrigued by the idea of putting out an offering on this specific day in order to invite the dead to come back and visit you on earth. Obviously my Mom has constantly been in my thoughts for this day, and I am trying to figure out a unique way that I could make an offering of food or pictures or something in honor of her. I can't wait to learn more about this and tell you all what I've learned.

While I feel like sometimes I may talk too much about my mom, I must mention this one thing that happened this week. During our quiet time before recess on monday, Isaac, one of our students turned to me and asked "Do you miss your mom?" This took me by surprise and while I could honestly answer "yes." I was curious why he was asking me this... especially since I have never mentioned my mom's passing to the 4-year olds (I don't think they would understand and it might scare them about their own family). Isaac continues by asking me, "why?" and I decide a vague but honest response of, "because she's not here." Then after a period of time he asks me, "how did your mom die?" Which took me by complete surprise, and I say, "she was sick." Then he gets distracted by something and that was the end of the conversation. But I have absolutely no idea how he knew that my mom had passed away, it is very possible that he over heard me discussing the grieving process with Ariana. Or my only other thought is him hearing me mention giving an offering for my mom for Dia de Los Muertos. But it was a very surprising thing, to have a 4-year old be so intelligent and ask me such sincere questions. Either way, it is nice to take a second to acknowledge my Mom every once and a while... Interesting how she seems to be showing up in so many ways here in Mexico.

But in order to leave us on a good and somewhat comical note. I was asked by one of my favorite students Paco whether girls have a peine (sp?), after a few seconds of confusion trying to decide if he was talking about combing hair, I realized what peine stands for (penis). I look over at Ariana and we both BURST out laughing... I tell him no and he is asking me why, and I tell him because they are different. Obviously the conversation wasn't going to end there, and he asks, "what do they have?" Hahha. So I was able to use the good old response of, "you should go ask your mom that question." Kids- they can bring you soo much frustration, a moment of honesty and then promptly after a moment of laughter.

Well I hope you all are doing well. I will try to think of things to keep writing about. Sorry for the delays in between. I love you all. Be Kind. Have a fun Halloween! (im going to be a cat-Meow.)