Drrrrrrt Drrrrrrt

You know what's funny in any language?...Talking about cutting the cheese, or passing gas, or letting one rip, or just plain old farting. Yes, that is always funny. Today with my 6th graders we were learning about Hawaii and volcanoes and one of my students, Nencho, said "Volcanoes go drrrrt drrrrrt." And I was like "huh?" And then all the kids started laughing. I asked "what is drrrt drrrt" (no "drrrt" is not a word - it's just that sound). And Loretta said, "it's when air comes out of your guss" - and she pointed at her butt. Aha! Then I got what she was talking about and what Nencho was saying. As soon as the kids saw my look of understanding they all started laughing. And then they asked me how you say that in English and what is it called when air comes out of a person's butt. Well, being that I'm here to teach English, I couldn't very well deny them their thirst for knowledge...so I told them that the verb is "to fart" and the noun is "fart." Oh...and guss is "butt." Yeah, after that the rest of the lesson just went to pot and all the kids could do was say "so-and-so is farting" or "so-and-so likes to fart." The teacher in me frowned...for a second, but then the kid in me took over and I was laughing along with the kids. Oh, what a great day in English class!

Halloween and other things

I love holidays, but Halloween has always been one of my favorites. I'm not sure if I like it so much because I get to dress up in some silly costume or because I get to eat tons of candy without feeling guilty. Regardless...I love Halloween! This last weekend I partied it up in VT with my fellow volunteers and had some good ole Halloween fun :-) Then at school my kids and I had our own classroom parties - complete with candy, costumes, and games. I'm all about any excuse to eat candy and play.

Now that November is here the cold weather is really starting to set in. It's supposed to get down to the 20s tomorrow. I thought that I was ready for the cold....in fact I've been looking forward to it for some time...but I've changed my mind. I don't think that I'm really ready for the the next 5 months of cold. :( Can't it just stay October forever?

For an update on my project with the folk dancers....it looks like we're gonna make it!!! We still need to find about $5,000.00 more, but we've got 4 months to do it. I think it's really gonna work! Which means about 20 Bulgarians and I will be state side come next March. I will be traveling with 15 dancers, a musician, the mayor, a translator, and the two dance teachers. 15 people is a pretty small amount for a dance troupe, so the dance director is working up something special that will include everyone in the performances....including me! I told him that I'm not a dancer. Sure, I can do the "horo"...but that's it. I'm a little scared to see what he comes up. I just hope that my part is really small. I guess we'll start practicing soon. And we'll also start our English classes again...gotta teach the dancers a little bit more English so they don't feel too lost in America.

Today Amy came to town bringing some diapers for the orphanage in town. A group from Spain had left some diapers for the orphanage in her city, but there aren't any babies at her orphanage so she brought them to mine. I haven't been to the orphanage here in over a year. I don't really have a good excuse for not going...it's just too hard - emotionally. Maybe I'm not as giving a person as I thought I was because I just have rough time going to the orphanage and seeing all the babies and toddlers. I know that they need love and attention, but I can't seem to give it to them without balling. Today Amy and I went in to see the babies. The youngest was just 3 weeks old and the oldest in that room was about 7 months. We each got to hold the babies and even feed them. But after awhile of just seeing all those cuties lying there crying and not getting enough attention - no matter how much Amy and I gave - I started to cry and had to leave. It's just so heart breaking. I'd like to stay longer and hold 'em and just love 'em but maybe I'm not strong enough to do that. :(