Tuesday, August 26, 2008

6.3

Well, this afternoon I was sitting in my hammock reading after school when I felt my hammock begin to shake. At first I thought it was the fan mounted on the wall that I had blowing on me...but quickly realized what it really was...an earthquake. Yep! Another earthquake for me to experience. This one was a 6.3 according to the U.S. Geological website and the center was only 60 miles north of Pucallpa. It was pretty interesting to feel the difference of an earthquake in a cement house and an earthquake in a wood house. The wood house moves a lot more and you can feel the smaller shaking as the earthquake builds and then ends. It was pretty cool and a much different experience from the one in Arequipa. I much prefer earthquakes to happen when I am awake and aware of them. =) But no damage here...the most that happened in my house was a picture frame fell off a shelf but thankfully the glass didn't break. I am not sure what kind of damage there is closer to the center of the earthquake, but I am sure I will hear in the next few days. I am praising God for His safety and for His amazing creations!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Crazy times

Been a while but I just haven't felt like there is much to write about. The first week of school went pretty well...no major issues. It is nice to have school started again but it will be even better when I actually have kids to teach. Right now I just go over to ring the bell and check on things every once in a while. Otherwise I don't have a ton that I need to be doing. I have been finishing up decorating my classroom. I finally finished doing that today and need to start working on getting things ready to teach when my kids get here in about 2 weeks. It is a small school this year, but it is still good. We have the teachers we need to at least cover all the classes. That is better than last year!

Tonight was dinner over at the Lucas'...it was fun to hang out with them for a while again and play games with them. Always a nice change from staring at the walls of my apartment. =) Tomorrow is usually the night I cook for the guys after soccer, but David's cousin and friend are visiting and so we are all going to go out to eat. It will be fun to hang out with the guys...and of course eat good food. (Not that mine wouldn't have been good, it is just better when someone else cooks it)

I am still adjusting to having people living with me again. It is interesting how all summer I pretty much was dreading having to live on my own. But then I had a few weeks of living alone and now that I have roommates again I am having to adjust back to roommate mode. I think I am having a harder time doing that than I did adjusting to living alone. But it looks like I won't have roommates for too much longer. The house is making great progress and will most likely be done in the next week or two. Then it will be time for me to adjust back to living alone. No wonder I haven't really felt myself the past couple of weeks...lots of changes in a very short time.

Well, another day of school tomorrow. I'm going to focus and hopefully get a lot done on my lesson plans. Here are a few pictures of my classroom and one of me...it has been a while I know! :~)

Friday, August 15, 2008

Finally!

Well, I am finally able to upload the short video I took while my family was here. I am over at David and Kyle's house using their wonderful high-speed internet. It is great! So this video is of out landing in one of the SAM Air wheel planes. I think it is fun...so even if you don't like it...too bad! I will hopefully be able to upload some pictures too...but I might just do like before and put them on my picasa page.

Today I spent my morning cleaning and arranging my classroom. It was a lot of work and it was stinkin' hot...but I got it done. Now I just have to decorate...but I have almost a month before it will get used. So no hurry for decorating it. Tonight I get to watch a movie with the guys...it should be a good time. A nice way to end the week...hang out with some friends (even if they are guys) =and watch a movie.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Temporary roommates

Hmmmm...school starts on Monday. I don't really feel ready to start school again...but it will be good. I feel a little more organized now that I know for sure what I am responsible for and have done most of the big things I needed to get done before classes start. Tomorrow I am going to get my classroom put together and get my apartment ready for my temporary roommates. Our new teacher and her daughter will be staying with me for a few weeks while they finish the construction on her house. They are making a lot of progress and will hopefully be done soon so she can get settled into her own place. But until then I will have two roommates, one of them being an 11 year old girl. =)

This past Tuesday I had David S., David L. and Kyle over for dinner. It was a lot of fun to actually cook a meal in my kitchen for more than just me. We had a good time hanging out and enjoying each other's company. Definitely better than hanging out by myself. ;~)

Still trying to get those other pictures and video uploaded. So difficult with dial-up...and very frustrating. Oh well, one of these days. Now I am going to enjoy the rest of my day and try to stay cool.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Family visit

Well, I have finally uploaded some pictures from when my family was here. I decided to just upload them to Picasa since my connection isn't that great. So instead here is the link to the pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/christileber/FamilyVisit
Next week I hope to be able to upload a video of the landing from the flight we took with SAM Air while my family was here. I will also get some more pictures up next week that my parents took while they were here.

School starts in a little over a week. I have the class schedule done but we are still waiting for one of our teachers to get here. We were hoping she would get here next week but it doesn't look like that will be happening. Hopefully she will make it the week classes start. Until she gets here I will be trying to cover her classes. Should be intersting since I also have to cover classes for another teacher the first Tuesday of classes. Oh well, it will all work out...classes will be covered. Enjoy the pictures from my family's visit!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Alone time

Well, I am almost completely unpacked now. I am slowly getting settled back into life here in my apartment. It has been pretty nice actually to not have a roommate. After living in a house with about 8 other people for 2 months, it is nice to have the place to myself and some alone time. But I know pretty soon that alone time will overwhelm me. But that is what nights like tonight are for. Tonight Christy, Rachel, David S., David L., Kyle and I all got together and had dinner and just hung out. It was so nice to be in a group of people my age and just sit and enjoy each other's company. I am glad to have these friends here and I am looking forward to more time hanging out with them. It was a nice break from my evenings of reading, watching a movie or unpacking. A time to just get out, away from my place and hang out with friends. God is so good!

Tomorrow I start working on the school schedule with Marilyn...hopefully it won't take us too long to figure out and all the classes will be covered. I am definitely glad that I will have two extra weeks to prepare my things for my class, I think I am going to need them. It seems like these Principal duties are going to consume this week and next week. Hopefully, I will have time at some point to work on trying to get pictures up on here. It might be a while...but eventually.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

The joys of dial-up

Well, I haven't posted anything this week because my phone line has been very tempermental. I have only been able to get online about once a day and usually late at night. I have pictures and videos from when my family is here that I would love to post, but it might take me a while. Things are a lot slower here in the jungle.

My family left yesterday...they are currently sitting in the Miami airport waiting for the last flight of their trip home. We had a good time, although the heat was a struggle for them. I am starting to finally get my things settled back into my apartment. Hopefully by Monday I will feel completely settled and then I can start focusing on school things. It is crazy to think that school starts in just over two weeks. Where has the time gone? I feel like I have missed so much being gone from Pucallpa for two months. It is nice to be back in the heat, humidity, and familiarity of life in Pucallpa. Although things have changed...not as many people to hang out with and those I do have to hang out with, don't like right next door anymore. Oh well, I am excited to see what is going to happen this year and how God is going to use me.

I will try my hardest to get pictures and a video up soon...we will see how well the internet behaves!