home sweet home

I would love to say that I have pictures to put up, but once again, I have left the picture moving thingie at my apartment. I just wanted to type a quick post to say how much I LOVE Christmas!!!! I got some decorations up in my room and at my apartment. I'm so excited!! I wish I had pictures. Oh, great . . . now I really feel bad about posting at all if I can't show Chile or Christmas pictures . . . sorry to totally ruin your reading experience and waste your time . . . I'm such a loser . . . . I could make it up by finishing my travel story . . . maybe.

Things weren't too eventful for the rest of the trip. I made my flight and connections safely. It was actually kind of cool. Apparently when you travel from Canada to the USA you go through the US customs before your plane takes off. This way when I landed in Dulles I just went straight to baggage claim -- no customs!! This way I was able to pick up my damaged luggage more quickly!! That's right -- my bag was busted (I can say that - I'm in 3rd grade!!) I didn't notice until I went to sit down and wait for my parents to pick me up. I finally sat down, let out a sigh, and saw it. The seam was ripped. I almost didn't say anything -- it wasn't that big of a rip, but then I remembered that I did pay a little extra for travel insurance, so I figured, "I'm waiting on my parents anyway, I'll just see what happens." I found the people and told them what happened. They said they could fill out the claim and just switch bags right there and be done with it . . . if I didn't care about keeping the same color. If you don't know, my luggage is a medium-sage-ish green -- very easy to spot on a luggage carousel. They wanted to trade for black -- just like the other 5,000 suitcases people like to use when they travel! I opted to stick with the same color and they just gave me stuff to FedEx it to the repair place. This was left in the very capable hands of my father, so hopefully I'll have it back soon . . . not that I'll be needing it for a while . . . . .

We did a little shopping on the way home from the airport and finally made it back to my parent's place that night. I think I slept until about noon the next day (I decided to take both days off of school to recover -- I like it when I occasionally think ahead!). I was back at school last Wednesday -- just in time for the beginning of the "I'm-in-school-but-really-wish-it-were-Christmas-so-I-won't-behave-very-well-for-my-teacher-unless-she-threatens-me-within-an-inch-of-my-life" attitude of my students. Actually, they were only "bad" last week. This week I've been really proud of them. Not that things are perfect, they have just been much better at sitting quietly during the worksheets. I really do have a great group of kids this year -- they seem so much younger than the class I had last year, though. Maybe I'm just getting old . . . . yup, that must be it!

Well, I guess it could be worse -- at least I'm not 30 !!!! (yet)

P.S. - I really don't like my background, but it was the best I could do for free!!