Alien Floors and Homemade Cards

So the sad thing about living in a place for a long time (and in my world "long time" generally constitutes more than a year) is that stuff that used to seem ridiculous and out of control slowly fades into "unusual" and final "normal". Your brain kinda starts to think most everything around you is more or less acceptable.

Don't believe me? Let me give you an example. Lima people, remember the department store called Lazarus? That's a weird name for a store. Bath is a weird name for a school. 5/3 is a weird name for a bank. Seriously. Do you want people who can't fix an improper fraction in charge of your finances? And the decor at Kewpee. Now, I love me a Kewpee as much as the next guy, but shouldn't it creep us out just a little that the restaurant is decorated with naked baby dolls? The correct answer is YES. It should creep us out a skoshe.

But of course, we all think this stuff is normal. Like life in Quito has, to a large extent, become normal to me.

But today my friend, Sarah, came for a visit and she immediately commented on my living room floor. Thrice. She said, "Wow!" Three times in a row. And it reminded me that my floor, which has been slowly becoming more and more damaged from the ceiling leak that my landlady STILL hasn't fixed, is really quite ridiculous. I even took a couple pictures, so you can "wow" along with Sarah from the comfort of your computer screen.

So you're looking at my cheap-o parquet floor. The water has caused the pieces to swell and push up away from the floor. The first day it looked like a couple of aliens were going to burst out of the floor. I'm happy to report, however, that the lumps have now opened and I have not seen any aliens. So that's good news. You'll also notice that I'm valiantly trying to catch as much water as possible with various kitchen items. It's pretty much an exercise in futility, though.

But in other, happier news, Wednesday was Teacher's Day! I know because when I got to school, there was a big display with stars on it and a note in my box with a chocolate bar, wishing me a happy teacher's day. I, of course, did have a happy day, as chocolate was suddenly involved. :) But really the best part was when the two little girls I'm tutoring came in for our session, and handed me two Happy Teacher's Day posters that they had made. They were so adorable that I couldn't help but take pictures for you to enjoy with me.

Rebeca, who designed the beautiful card above, is 10 and in 5th grade.

And this Hello, Kitty gem was made by Esther, who is eight and in 3rd grade. The cards were delivered to me along with a six-pack of generic Oreo cookies. I almost cried. They're just so sweet! These cards are definitely coming home with me.

Stuff I Like

I just cut my fingernails. I really don't enjoy the act of cutting my fingernails, and so I tend to put it off until they're long enough that they've been bothering me for a few days. That doesn't take very long, because not only do I not enjoy cutting my nails, neither do I enjoy having long fingernails. But as I was cutting them this afternoon, I thought about how satisfied I feel when they are newly cut.

And as I sat here, enjoying that satisfied feeling, I decided to blog about stuff I like. I thought it might be helpful for me, as I continue on in the Lenten challenge of not complaining. I've found that being thankful is the opposite of complaining. So here it goes; stuff I am thankful for; aka, stuff I like:

1. The feeling of freshly-cut fingernails

2. fresh guacamole with homemade tortilla chips

3. holding a sleeping baby

4. my students

5. reading in my bed on a rainy weekend afternoon until I feel sleepy enough to take a nap without setting an alarm

6. a linguistically and culturally successful day in Quito (aka, no embarrassing situations stemming from either my inferior knowledge of the culture or grasp of the language)

7. finding a card, letter, postcard, or (shazam!) package in my mailbox at school

8. the consolidation and/or downsizing of material things

9. my brown Houghton College sweatshirt

10. the Advent Season. Even thinking about advent now, in April, makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

What about you? Take a moment today and join me in the discipline of thankfulness. What are you thankful for? What is the stuff YOU like?