Rrreally?!

12/June/2010

This week started off really strange, by seeing a dead body in the street. And then ANOTHER ONE the very next day…

Apparently both people were hit while crossing the Pan-American Highway (which runs by my town). I was wondering why the bodies were just left on the 2-way street, uncovered, with police and bystanders just looking on as traffic had to navigate around the body. I learned later that they are not allowed to move the body until the family members get to the scene. So until then…

This week yet again brought some pretty phenomenal storms. For my youth group class at my house, we had our final test on Wednesday for them to either pass on to the next level, or stay put. Unfortunately, before everyone had finished, a storm rolled in. There was almost no warning, no sprinkling of rain first. Everyone went running just before it hit, and it was the strongest storm, maybe that I’ve ever been through. Those of you in AZ, imagine the strongest summertime monsoon EVER. The rain was sideways in a solid sheet flooding everything almost immediately. The thunder was freakishly loud, and made you wince every time, because it felt like it was crashing down on top of you. The lightning that came was like a strobe light illuminating the sky. It was nuts! The power and water went out immediately, and I scrambled to light my candle and grab my headlight for some light. I stood in my doorway watching the palm trees sway like they were about to do cartwheels. As everything began to flood, I noticed the ground sort of moving. Keep in mind it was still super dark, and I could only really see every couple seconds when the lightning flashed. I horrifically realized that what was moving on the ground were all the little critters and cockroaches whose homes were flooded looking for refuge. They were making their way FAST. I didn’t know what to do, they were only a few feet away from my front door! So, I did the only thing I could think of. I put on my polkadot galoshes (thanks mom), grabbed my headlamp, and started stomping all the critters dead in the rain. It was just so gross. I killed almost 2 dozen. There were a few that got away into my house that I was later able to hunt down. After that debacle, I read by candlelight for a little bit, then went to bed at 7:30, because what else is there to do?!

About 4 separate times this week I was locked IN my house by the troublemaking kids in the street. I have a walled in patio around my house, and they lock me in that way by pushing the metal bar (that is inconveniently located on BOTH sides of the door, so you can lock the bar at night when you’re on the inside, and lock the bar on the outside when you leave). It’s absolutely maddening when you’re about to leave, and you realize you can’t. A couple times it was too early to yell for help, so I just went back to bed. Other times, I stared out the crack in the wall to wait for someone to pass by, then yelled for them to let me out. I devised a temporary pulley system so I could pull the metal bar free on the outside, while I’m still on the inside. But that only functions as long as the kids don’t cut the rope. But I talked to my landlady about getting the repairman to make a fix to the door, so I can remove the outside bar when I’m at home, and hopefully that’ll fix the problem.

We were able to finish our tests last night, and almost everyone passed! 2 girls that aren’t exactly the strongest students shocked me with getting 100%. I couldn’t believe it! And I made 15 different tests, so I know they didn’t cheat! Cheating is RAMPANT here, mostly because there are no consequences, and most teachers just don’t really care if their students cheat. I know I won’t be able to eradicate this, but I’d at least like to prevent my own students from doing this, and seeing the value of studying, so you don’t have to cheat to get the answers. The teachers here always complain that their students don’t study, but would you at that age if you knew you could just cheat off someone and get a decent grade?