A Merry Christmas to all!

All right, to be honest, it is really hard to tell that Christmas is happening. It must be the temperature, but I really can´t imagine the event without the cold. However, I am enjoying myself here in Antigua and I´ll be with my old host family for the holiday. I think once I start talking to some folks back home, I´ll realize that Christmas is really going on.

As for work, life unexpectedly busy. We always heard how quiet it would be around the holidays, but my organization apparently slows it down by taking a half day off for Christmas. Also, I have finally decided to leave behind the roosters, roaches and general dismay of Chamelco and to get myself a shmancy apartment in Coban. I had convinced myself that I could hold out with the Chamelco room for the three months that we are supposed to live with families. However, the introduction of a caged rooster outside my door sealed the deal. That´s right, the damn chickens win. This must be karma. My history of fowl-related murderous activities are coming back to peck me in the ass. As such, the Dan vs. Chicken saga continues....(I´ll be back, just a minor defeat for the moment).

Gaining an exception to any rule here seems to require something like a perfect alignment of the planets, yet I somehow got one (Santa is real!). I had to stretch my Spanish to the limits to get my own apartment, but in the end I convinced my boss go along with it. So that is a relief. It will be great to be settled-in once and for all in my own spot. That leaves me next week to go through moving again. As for January, I have freak-out scheduled for the week prior to the start of classes. In mid-January, I begin teaching organic agriculture and science to hoards of 4th and 6th graders. Oh shit it right--I gotta figure out how to manage all that, any ideas?

So that´s the rap on Christmas and Coban. I´m busy and things have been somewhat unsettling lately. However, I´m beginning to see where things are headed and I like what I see. Talk to you all soon.