Lists

Funny how dependent we can become upon things like daily planners, calendars and lists. Today I arrived to work without the most important thing in my teacher bag...my "to-do" list. I've been wandering around Nuevo Mundo without a clue as to what to do or where to begin. It didn't help that our schedules were thrown off when they informed us that we wouldn't be having our seniors at all this week. How we are going to get grades in for this parcial is beyond me.

I've been so unfocused for the past 2 hours and it makes me frusterated and annoyed because I know that there is so much to be done I just don't know where to begin. Theresa leaves next week, so this is her last week of teaching at Mundo with me. She and I have been co-teaching 3 classes together and when she leaves I'll be on my own for 3 weeks. It's an overwhelming feeling especially because I will have to prepare for more classes and then write/proctor/grade final exams. All of this must be done before August 6th, my last Friday at Mundo and in Ecuador. The pressure is certainly on.

For our final week in Ecuador we will have to orientate the new volunteers, "show them the ropes" if you will. Well as excited as I am to meet the new volunteers and help them transition into this experience I feel very torn between my two responsabilites as volunteer and teacher. I'm called to be fully present to both groups and that seems almost impossible. I'll let you know how it goes when I see you all back in the states.

This weekend we have our final retreat. It will be nice to reflect but at the same time all I want to do is hang out in the neighborhood. We only have 2 free weekends left, that's just not enough time! Ahh.

Alright, I'm off to class. Less than a month and I'll be back in Chicago...wow