Maestra!

I am good. I know the last post or two sounded annoyed or frustrated. And that´s because yes, I have been annoyed and/or frustrated in the past. But nothing beyond the normal ups and downs. All is well in the world of Peace Corps Panamá. :)
School has officially started and I am now officially a maestra. It´s quite strange. But it´s fun, I like it. I teach environmental sciences for an hour a week in each classroom, which means I have a class on Monday´s, Tuesday´s and Wednesday´s. And I say each classroom and not class because some of the rooms have mixed grades. We have a kindergarten class, 1st and 2nd grade are together, 3rd grade class, all of 4th and half of 5th in one room and then the other half of 5th and all of 6th. So 7 grades, but only 5 teachers. We are supposed to get another teacher, sometime, hopefully, that would take over the 2nd graders. We have just over 100 students this year, which is up a few from last year. I had my first week of teaching just this week and it went well. Some things will take some getting used to but nothing I can´t handle. Just some little things I guess I wasn´t expecting since I´ve never actually been a teacher before or learned how to teach. I have to use more basic explanations. But that´s normal, since they´re only in primary school. :)
I´m taking three kids to a youth camp next week. Friday through Monday. This is the camp I´ve been helping to organize for a couple months now and I´m so excited it´s almost here! Nervous, but also excited. Running a youth camp is also something I´ve never done before. But hey, pretty much joining Peace Corps and moving to Panamá is just a bunch of little moments of new things. So I´m excited for this camp. And I think the kids are excited too. They have also never been to a camp before. Which relieves some of the pressure since they don´t have expectations from previous experiences ;) But we´re going to mangroves, tide pools, hiking in the hills, bonfires. Good times. I´m stoked.
Holy Week and Easter passed, as you know. I didn´t do anything special for the days, like go visit another town and see a mass or their processions. I just chilled with my host family, refrained from eating meat on Good Friday (we had fish and another meal that is hard to explain what it is but they literally only eat it on Good Friday. One day a year. It was good). At least in my community it seemed like Good Friday was a bigger deal than Easter, which was surprising. I think next year I´m going to try to make a few Easter baskets and do an Easter egg hunt for the kids.
So, um, yea. Things are good. Moving right along. I should be keeping more busy now with school so that´ll be good. I am loving living in my own house, no problems there. I miss you all and hope all is well! Happy Spring! :)