Student Teaching and Armadillo

I'd like to begin this post by announcing an important event: I have eaten armadillo.

Elana made some yesterday. She never ceases to amaze me - it's like once she figured out that I will eat pretty much anything, she tries to find weird stuff for me to eat! Armadillo, though certainly a weird food in my book, is quite delicious. The meat tastes unlike anything I've eaten before, which makes sense since I've never eaten any insectivores. I think. Maybe I should keep better track of what I eat. One more thing on the subject of food. Today Elana made fresh-squeezed tangerine juice. I am SPOILED, and I told her so.

I started student teaching yesterday, and it is certainly challenging. I teach from 2-3 hours per day, and already I feel a bit stressed over my classes! I can't imagine what it's like having 5 or 6 different classes per day like some teachers have. I'd go out of my head. I'm sure many of them do, too. Anyway, classes are challenging. I spend my time trying to figure out ways of managing the 40 students per classroom, lesson plans that are both relevant and engaging to my multicultural students, and sending copy requests to the secretaries in the office. I received a dirty look from one of them today. My second day of teaching, and I've already asked them for 120 copies by Friday. Perhaps I should ease up a little.

I've also taken up the voluntary role of "Cafeteria Monitor." Our staffroom is very cramped, and I don't like taking up space from other (more legitimate) teachers, so I head down to the cool cafeteria (cool in temperature and in appearance) in order to get my work done. In doing so, I also get to send students who are skipping class to the vice principal's office. Feels good, being effective at something! Joking aside though, I am liking student teaching. There are good moments and bad moments, but the point of student teaching is to learn from the bad moments. I don't want to sound negative by saying this, but I'm learning a lot!

A few notable events from the last few days:
- I saw jellyfish yesterday
- The rain stopped (although the clouds have returned as I type this)
- The power went out yesterday and today
- We Americans have a new president, and everyone here is stoked even if they're Belizean
- A student at school yesterday caught a very sizable iguana, and I held it. BIG claws!