Like My Orange Sweater?

I feel as though I would be doing the world a great injustice if I did not begin this blog talking about the orange "sweaters" we have to wear every day. It is, in fact, just an ugly polo, but they call it a sweater. And it is wayyyy too short on all of us. And it is thick. Not sure if they know we are in Panama and it is stinkin hot. We just laugh and laugh and laugh about them. So we wear said sweaters every day. They gave us one. So yes, we wear the same one every day. And the washing machine hasn't been hooked up yet, so that's fun. And gross. Don't judge. Then today our teacher walks into class with a lacy shirt on and the whole back is see through! How the heck can she wear a stinkin lacy see through shirt and we have to wear orange sweaters?! Digame, por favor.

here it is, friends. introducing.... *drum roll please* the orange sweater de UDELAS.

the picture doesn't even do it justice.

Anyway, today was another rather overwhelming day. That seems to be the common theme, and I'll probably say that a lot. We were at the schools for 4 hours today, and I feel so useless and dumb. I understand most everything, but I can't speak. I know that the only way to get better at it is to do it, but I don't have the vocabulary. There were a few moments of total awkwardness with my teacher again (Juana), and that's when I get the most frustrated. At one point I had no idea what she was talking about and she had no idea what I was talking about and it was just quiet for a second and then we just started laughing. I am so thankful for a teacher who is so understanding and patient with me, but it's still hard. I just want to understand and be able to communicate.

On the plus side, the kids are precious. Words don't even describe how great they are. They are just so cute and hug me all the time. I am so thankful for that because it seems like every time I get discouraged they just run up and hug me for no reason at all. Precious. One kid gave me a mango today so for lunch I peeled and ate it. Not an easy task at all. They are stringy and get stuck in your teeth which has potential to be real embarrassing, but it's so good! They are so giving with everything they have, and they don't have much. 4 hours is a little much, and I am exhausted and fighting sleep the whole time (mostly attributed to the fact that I had to dump out half of my coffee this morning because the bus was here), but I do think those kids are awesome.

Lunch is great. I will probably talk about it and food in general a lot. We can eat for $2.00! And I don't mean sandwiches. It's awesome. And it's also a few moments for us to talk about what is going on at the schools and just relax for a minute. It's amazing how much energy it takes to have to concentrate on every single syllable of every single word that someone says.

Class officially started today. We started with History and Culture. That's the teacher that walked in with the lace. She's kinda crazy. And was so hard to understand at first, but I think we finally got the hang of it. It's just kinda boring honestly. And the one question she decided to direct at me was the one I didn't know the answer to. Of course. I sounded like an idiot stumbling over my words. Gotta love it. Then was Spanish. Home girl was even harder to understand! For the first 20 minutes of class I honestly had absolutely no idea what she was even talking about and was praying to understand and that she wouldn't call on me. We finally got used to her too for the most part, but even Marianna had no idea what she was talking about at the end of class. That made us feel better.

We had planned to go to the pool after class and get our tan on... but you have to wear a swim cap. Enough said.

We decided to stay in tonight and eat leftovers. We have also decided that this place needs some stuff on the walls and we are going to paint some canvases and and leave them for Waldy (can't remember if I've introduced you to him yet, but he owns this place). So we walked to this store and got some stuff to paint and got some sweet Spanish Mother's Day cards to send to our moms. They're awesome. Got us some more Leches too, of course. Then Mariana spotted the best thing I've seen since getting here: Diet Coke! The heavens opened up and the Hallelujah chorus resounded all throughout the gas station. It was a glorious moment. Thank you Jesus for Coca Cola Light. Life is good again.

minus these allergies that have suddenly attacked me. I could not stop sneezing and coughing and my eyes were watering. SO miserable! we finally found some Claritin and all is well again, but I'm not feeling very well so prayers are appreciated in that area.

And because of said trip to the store, our whole nightly routine was pushed back and it is wayyyy past our bed time! Time for shower, Bible, Karen book, and bed!

love and miss y'all and would love to hear what is going on there!

random thoughts:

- we found Diet Coke and all is right in the world.

-I also found mini cans of Freeze It. I can not confidently say that Panama is great.

-Panamanians are ridiculous drivers and I almost die every day. our bus driver drives on the shoulder and then cuts back in and I swear he is going to nip someone's car.

-we got these books from UDELAS and they are all about pregnancy. like teacher books with lessons about parenting and being a brother/ sister. so weird.

-my mom was introduce to Skype today. and she is hilarious!