And so it begins...

Classes have started and fourteen bright eyed faces make up my eager student body. Well, make that ten bright eyed faces, two quasi-engaged faces, one face that rarely looks my way, and another that can't sit still for more than fifteen seconds. I had a few criers, a couple 'fake sick' incidents and a daunting reading program that -without exaggeration - was designed and published in 1989. One of my little gems got sent back to the pre-k program for acting like a four year old and another asked me to house sit their family dogs while they go to Disneyland.

Ants are the biggest burden we face and school and they never cease to amaze me with their infiltration skills. Children cry on a daily basis because their food supply has been infested, making their food uneatable and their hopes of instilling their peers with snack envy dashed. Not only do they infest food supplies (mine included) but they crawl up your leg and arms and get absolutely everywhere. In Canada, if you feel a tickle on your arm, chances are it's a renegade hair, pet fur, leaf or other neutral force. Here, that tickle is an ant, and there is a 50% chance that it's a fire ant. Fire ants sting when they bite. Sam is currently dealing with quite a number of stings, her ankle swelled to the size of my sprain within hours and remains itchy, burning and swollen. I had a minor swarming the first week during set-up but it has since calmed down. Apparently, they enjoy the heat and humidity, and go away more after hurricane season is over in November. In a nutshell: its absolutely annoying.

Today we went snorkelling at the beach known to locals as "Jaws Beach" because segments of the movie were filmed here. There were looming clouds, but we ventured out and discovered a Brittle Star, a very odd looking starfish. I suggest you wikipedia it cause it's neat but we didn't get a shot of it with Tim's underwater camera. Posted here are some pictures of the impending weather and subsequent storm we got ever so caught in. After a wet 20 minute drive home, we decided that popcorn and Rockband were in order. All in all a typical day during the rainy season. See the captured image of the TV forecast for a glimpse of our weeks here thus far, with a few exceptions.

Missing home and certainly feeling the homesickness,
Ori