Recent highlights

Yesterday while giggling and looking up at me, Rawly interlaced his fingers with mine. I don't even think that I know how to begin to explain that connection.
Saturday our school had a baby shower for Rawly. I teared up (big surprise) as Ken thanked everyone there for their support before and after Rawly's birth. We are so grateful for our friends and co-workers here and so thankful for their love and generosity. Right after Rawly was born, a family arranged meals for us for two weeks and gave me some English DVDs to watch! And at the shower, they were just as apt to jump in and help another family in a similar way. There's a special bond being formed among us all. It's a relationship that couldn't be duplicated. We rejoice at silly things like finding "real" tortillas or Parmesan cheese in the supermarket. We share in the excitement of travel and the struggle of immersing ourselves in another culture--which can be a daily challenge. Being a language teacher, I've always tried to combine culture into my lessons. Being immersed in a completely foreign one, I'm constantly reminding myself, "Take a step back Alyssa." But it sure is difficult sometimes!
On another note, I don't think that I communicate this enough...Ken is really fantastic! During the end of my pregnancy, he took over and did the shopping, most of the dishes, and a lot of the cooking. And even now he jumps in to make dinner without being asked :) Tonight's fajita night (thanks to Mom for bringing over spice packets!) As I'm sitting here, he just brought me a slice of red pepper--one of our favorite treats. This morning in the hall Ken and I were chatting before school began, our school Registrar commented on how strange it was to her to always see us together because most of her married friends did everything in their power to not be with their spouses--let alone would they want to see them at work everyday. What a sad existence! We are so fortunate that we get to work along side our best friend (as cliche as that may sound.) While I'm tooting his horn...the other day one of Ken's students brought in guacamole to his geography class (it was the first time that many students had tried it--so weird). Being the "guac" connoisseur I am, I ran up the stairs after his class began hoping to get a spoonful of the beautiful greenness. What I stumbled into as I rounded the corner was one of the coolest classes ever! His students were in the middle of a mock EU conference where they were debating which countries should or should not become a part of the EU. The kids were completely engaged in it and were having lively, relevant debates siting intriguing facts and current events that weren't even on my radar. It was sweet. Don't worry, I did get a taste of goodness later in the period!