Happy Thanksgiving!

So, I'm alive! I promise! And...I'm officially the worst blogger in the world, so I'm sorry about that to all of you who tried to check my blog and were disappointed for 3 months. Now that life has settled a little, maybe I'll improve.

Here's a quick and VERY brief update:
School is going REALLY well. I love my class, and I love teaching 6th grade. My students are so full of life and creativity, and I absolutely love that! Sometimes they make me crazy, it's true, but overall it's been a good year.

The beginning of the year was unbearably hot, but now that the "winter" is here the weather has started to cool down a bit. It's in the 70's now and gorgeous. Also, the hurricane season is pretty much over, so our water and power has been turning off less and less.

My roommates are great, and we have a ton of fun together. My roommate Allison and I have discovered that we both LOVE puzzles (something we never knew about ourselves before) and we have completed several of them. We make cookie dough and other snacks and just relax and do our puzzles together. We even bought a pack of 10 of places around the world! (one of which was the Great Wall, and I was excited). We also had a bit of a struggle about when we could decorate for Christmas, but our compromise has become one of my favorite things about our apartment! You see, in the DR people start celebrating/decorating for Christmas in early October. At the beginning of November Allie wanted to decorate our apartment for Christmas, which I promptly objected to. After several convincing arguments on both sides, we decided to put up a "Fall Tree." We found a paper turkey in some random things that the previous apartment-owners left for us, and that now adorns the top of our festive tree. Then we cut out lots of paper decorations, like leaves and pumpkins, and we hung them on the tree. After making pumpkin break and an apple-cidery-ish drink, it really felt like fall! Another night I finally gave in to bringing in the Christmas music, and we put on sweatshirts, turned on all the fans, wore scarves and socks as mittens and danced joyously around the apartment. One of my favorite things about my roommates is that they actually think my silly ideas would be fun to do, so we have a lot of giggles together. :)

So even though I've been loving my life in the DR so far, I was definitely ready for a break, and I've had such a perfect one so far! My roommate Allie, my friend and co-worker Stacey, and a student teacher Erin (who lived across the hall from me at Taylor! Small world!) all went to stay in a condo at a beach called Cabarete. It's been SO nice - complete with a stove that isn't 50 years old, water that always stays hot, a gorgeous pool, and a perfectly untouched beach. The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy while we were here, but it's been absolutely beautiful! We even got to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner on the beach at one of the restaurants! It's been fantastic.

I'll be coming home for Christmas on Dec. 19, but I'll try to update my blog one more time before I leave! I hope that all is well back at home, and thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!