Just to quickly catch you up on my arachnaventures... 1) Douglas, our scorpion, escaped from the glue trap after being stuck in it for eight days. We haven't seen him since. 2) I see a "sun spider" about once every two weeks. They haven't harmed me, so I've stopped smashing them relentlessly. 3) We did have an interesting black widow encounter. Imagine yourself washing desert sand off of your hands and feet underneath your water spigot outside... and then consider the level of terror that would shoot through your body when you realize that your hands are inches beneath the black widow that the water is slowly forcing out from inside of the spigot. Yes friends, its abdomen filled over half of the water spigot. And so...when my roommate noticed the red hourglass lowering towards her, she immediately yelled, "RRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!" I heroicly smashed the spider with some pliers. 4) I smashed the biggest spider that I've seen thus far on Thursday night. I didn't bother to identify it, but i think that venom was bubbling out of its mouthparts when i was analyzing it. The next morning, hundreds of tiny ants were tearing it apart and carrying it away bit by bit.
I realize that I haven't mentioned that I took on the role of head volleyball coach at the beginning of the year. In fact, I'm currently in a hotel in Albuquerque trying to convince the girls to get some rest before the tournament championship game tomorrow. I'll probably threaten them with running if I have to ask them to quiet down again. Even though coaching after school every day and spending extra evenings and weekends at games takes a toll on the amount of time that I can plan lessons and organize my thoughts for teaching, these girls offer me a huge amount of sanity to counterbalance all of the chaos.
It's really the little things out here that make it manageable and even enjoyable. Arachnids. The word arachnid. Volleyball. "Family" dinners with the other Teach for America teachers at my school (we each cook one night a week). The luck of having a wonderful roommate (who serenades me with her piano occasionally). Peanut M&Ms. Momentary breakthroughs with my student (even if it collapses upon me five minutes later). Getting my second paycheck. A great dane named Lola. Having health insurance that covered a decent chunk of the care I needed to get over the infection in my tonsils. Dakota Kid Sunflower Seeds (Thanks mom). Teachers of the Deaf and Interpreters who are always willing to help. And the little thing that is most alluring right now...sleep.
Good night.
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