First Few Days

Hello, everyone!
So it's been about five days, and it's been going well so far.
It's a bit ironic, though, because I initially thought that it would take so much self-control to keep focused and do my work and everything. But instead, I've been itching to have more to do. I've been working at least 4 or 5 hours every day, but I love the work so much that I would be thrilled to be doing as much as possible. I love this kind of thing--some people are more suited to go out to schools and all that, but I really enjoy just talking to people and figuring out the best way to do something, and then writing all those ideas down. That's mostly what my job for the research project is now.
Things are starting to pick up, though. Next week I have three meetings about both the UNCA project and the CDS project. Those are not things that I love, but I'm starting not to mind them either. I can't wait to see the teachers from last year again.
My first English class is today at 4:30. Alba, who I absolutely love, is bringing a couple people to start learning. I think that will be fun, and I spent about an hour this morning making sock puppets for dialogues.
And Father, I'm saving you so much money! Today I went to make copies of flashcards, and 12 front and back copies, two pens and a pair of scissors cost 30 lempiras, about $1.50. And I only buy 1 or 2 sodas a day.
I used to hang out a lot when I was here with a girl named Daisy--she's the daughter of Maria, the cook. Yesterday Maria introduced me to Daisy's 3-month-old twins, Jackson Ariel and Johnson Alejandro. Daisy's just a year or so older than me, so my initial reaction was sadness at how Daisy was suddenly pushed into motherhood at such a young age. But I sat and talked with her awhile, and she just obviously delighted in her hansome little guys and was so proud of them, dealing with their occaisonal bouts of crying with a great deal of patience. The experience made me wonder if there's really no tragedy to it at all--maybe the tragedy would be in treating it as such when in reality it was a situation that made both mother and grandmother smile and be more outgoing than I'd ever seen either of them be.
So that's my update for today. I'm really loving it here--I thought maybe the restlessness I'd been feeling was something I couldn't shake, but I just feel settled here--not necessarily cheerful all the time, but solidly content. It's a nice feeling.
Love you all, and I'll be in touch!
Jody