Returning to normal life was a bit sad this week after Seth left, and while it was an average week for me with school and work, there were a few highlights that helped me get through the week.
The lovely stomach bug/flu is making its way through the school…and I’m taking every precaution possible to not catch it. Even with all my vitamin C, cough drops, and medicine though, I’ve partially accepted that I will get something, especially after waking up with a sore throat in the mornings, but so far, I’m better than most of my students who have been out or gone home early from school.
Last week we attempted to shoot off the rockets the students made, and I say attempted because NOT a single rocket launched…one was so close and just when we thought that all the student’s hard work had paid off, the rocket went maybe half an inch off the ground before smacking the concrete and laying down in defeat. It was devastating to watch all the students sulk back to the classroom with their beautiful rockets in hand, but it was also a good lesson for them as well. Sometimes we work very hard at something in life and expect that everything will always go to plan and be perfect just as we imagined it, however, the reality of life is that not everything will work out the way you anticipated it, even if you put countless hours of work into it. Every single one of us will fail at something in life, probably more times than we would like, but it's the reaction to your failures that matter most. It’s safe to say that most of my students do not want to be scientists anymore after realizing how much time and work goes into experiments, especially how many times you fail before reaching your goal, but there are still a few who loved it regardless of the outcome, and the others, well they’re still children and a random video and sugar cheered them up just the same as watching the rocket launch.
I got to experience going to the movies for the first time in Europe this past weekend. At certain times, typically late at night, movie theaters in big cities will have a showing of the movie in its native language. So, a few friends and I went to see Armageddon Time, not to spoil anything, but it was not my cup of tea. I’m always down to watch any movie and the movie theater is one of my favorite places, but I would’ve rather watched paint dry than sit through that again, no offense Anne Hathaway. The one positive thing about going to the movies is the popcorn and candy were so cheap compared to the US, where it costs you an arm and a leg for a small bucket of popcorn and a bag of candy. Did the popcorn taste as it does back home? No, but sometimes you take what you can get and while it wasn’t the exact same as back home, it was close enough.
Winter has officially arrived here and every day the temperature gets colder and colder…which means I never turn my heater off. The streets are slowly being decorated with Christmas lights though, and I cannot wait to experience the holidays overseas for the first time.
Agur, hasta la semana que viene.
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