Rocking that *International* Paradise

For the past 3 years, I have acted as a team manager for Destination Imagination at my school in Guatemala, and each year, my team has earned a trip to Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee.  This school year, I was blessed to manage the exact same team I had last year—the Aguaguates, the most wonderful group of kids any DI team manager could wish for.  This group, all 7 th graders this year, has everything needed to not only excel at DI, but also make a team manager’s job almost unnecessary.  They have amazing team chemistry, and they understand the importance of teamwork.  They’re crazy creative and hilarious and amazing actors when they get on stage.  They push themselves to improve their performances.  They know what they need to get done for DI, and they create their own practice schedules.  In short, they are a DI dream team, not to mention really, really great people .  This year though, I took one look at the school calendar and deci...

Apparently in April, my resolution to write once a week fell apart.  I am not sure why.  April wasn’t boring.  It certainly flew by, but it was not boring.  I ran a few races, went a few places, had a few job interviews, and reconnected with old friends.  Life has been good—great, even.  But all of a sudden it’s May.  I’m down to two more days with my kiddos at school, then it’s off to Tennessee for DI Global Finals, and then when I’m  back, 3 teacher work days, and then family arrives to tour the country and help me pack, and by the time they leave, my time will be pretty much over.  Time is flying.  Going way too fast.  But things are slowly and surely falling into place.  Last week, I took three personal days off from school (and from all of the stress associated with ending the year and moving) and traveled with Fuse, a drumline friend from college who was able to come and visit.  Fuse (whose given name is act...

At the beginning of the 2015 school year, Mel proposed the idea of starting a writing club.  It would be a place for a few of us to come together, share things we’d written or were working on, and get feedback.  A way to motivate us to keep writing, and a place to share our work.  As the year went on, a group of 5-7 of us met consistently, once a month, and writing club became one of the highlights of my time in Guatemala.   For our first meeting, Mel asked that we write a true story—something that had happened to us.  As the group was made up primarily of teachers I knew and liked as acquaintances, but not as intimate friends, I came to the first writing club with a superficial story of a travel mishap.  I soon learned, however, that writing club would become not just a place to share stories, but a place to bare your soul.  Throughout the year, my writings became more and more personal.  This group of acquaintances became confidant...