Day 120

I drove six hours today.  I think it was for a good cause though. Today is the last full day of vacation. We decided to spend it snorkeling. There's still tomorrow, but I'd rather go to church than snorkel. Today we ended up on a very small island that is a long swim or a fifteen second boat ride off the shore. The whole island was covered in mangroves, and the water was full of barracuda. About an hour into this I was swimming and not looking forward. I came within about a foot and a half of a barracuda before stopping eye to eye with it. I was really surprised that it just held it's ground. So I pushed some water at it to get it to swim away but it didn't budge. Just sat there, eyeing me. So I backed away slowly. And it swam towards me at the same speed. It continued this way for about a meter then it stopped and  I sped up. Then I turned away the whole time never breaking eye contact. I felt the moment I did I would lose a toe. Needles to say I still have all my fingers and toes. So overall it was a successful venture.

Day 119

Today we went to Charco Frio.  Its basicly a river in the middle of nowhere. It was a little bit more than I think this group was ready for but I think everyone was glad they came. At the end of the hike there is a pool of water that you can jump into and everything. It was really fun. We were all so tired though after three hours of hiking. I'm glad I did it. I need to take advantage of the holiday before it is gone.

Day 118

Thanksgiving! I eat so much food today. There is a lady who is a friend of the church and actually has a church with her husband here in Puerto Rico but anyway they made two home made pumpkin pies. Not out of the can,  I'm talking about a real pumpkin. They also made their own whip cream. It was pretty amazing. Tomorrow we are decorating for Christmas so that when the kids get back it is all finished. Betsy has already put up a ton of lights throughout. I was on Betsy's computer and I found these pictures of me taken from the beach. Which was pretty far at the time. I did a gainer, if your not sure what that is there is always Youtube.

Winding up for a gainer (forward facing back flip)
Looks kinda funny

This picture is taken halfway through the gainer
I'm spotting my landing

Day 117

I accomplished even less today than I anticipated. We spent so much time at the rain forest hiking to the top then hiking all the way down to the water fall. It was pretty cool at the top though. We went out on a this ledge that I can only describe as Florida... you know it kind of stuck out of the side of the mountain. At the top of the mountain we were completely inside of a cloud. It was really cool. So anyway we were there until like five in the afternoon so there was no time to finish any work at the school. Then, after we are all tired from hiking all day we moved a huge air hockey table out of the van. Then we drove to Bob's house and picked up a few kayaks then drove to the dock. At the dock we launched the kayaks and paddled up to the biobay, hung out and paddled back. We loaded up the van and drove home. I am so tired. Tomorrow is a happy day. I intend to eat an unhealthy amount of food. My goal is to upset Tess with how much I eat. I also learned that Leo can say Tess' name really well. So I Tess is going to teach him my name too. It always throws me off when I'm not used to someone ever talking then out of nowhere they say something that is completely coherent. Cool.    

Day 116

I spent the majority of my day in a car. A few of us drove out to Orocovis today to visit a deaf family out there. the kids are in public school but they are quickly being left behind. How can they be expected to learn when there teacher just talks to them like they can hear. They need to be taught in Sign Language. Anyway that was my day. I'm so scared of tomorrow. I made all these plans to get a lot of work done but I completely forgot that Leo's friend is visiting. So tomorrow I will be their chaperone as they hike to the top of El Younque and back down to the water falls then drive home. Once home I will have to try to accomplish as much work as possible before I have to help load kayaks and lead a tour of the biobay. I'm so tired.

Day 115

"There are some things to die for but none to kill for." -Shane Claiborne

 I'm a very competitive person. Not to say that I always have been, but I am. And when I say competitive I don't mean I love a good game of bocce ball on a sunny afternoon. When I say competitive I mean that when I start a game, whatever it is, everything I have pours into it. I can't focus on anything else, my mind races for any path that will lead me to the sweat victory that rewords my efforts. Not that victory is even my goal. Victory is a means to my goal. My goal though is strikingly similar, not losing. I said that I wasn't always competitive, that's because of a simple fact; I hate losing, sometimes far more than I enjoy winning. With a victory I don't become excited, I become relieved. I never used to like competition because I couldn't stand to lose. There was a point in my life I guess when that changed, when I realized the excitement in the risk. That despite the stakes, actually because of the stakes, competition was an opportunity for excitement, for adrenaline. Stress is a huge problem with so many people, unresolved stress. When I enter into any form of competition stress levels go through the roof, but I know that as long as I finish that game 100% of the time all stress is resolved, and with it other stress from my day is resolved as well. People are desperate for resolved stress. I'm sure there are better ways of doing this like jumping out of planes but I can't very well recommend that. I guess what I'm trying to say is that... well, I'm addicted to Othello. And war is bad. 

If you disagree with any of my opinions above or you would simply like to remind me that I have a problem, please feel free to leave a comment. You might be surprised at how many people agree with you.  

Day 114

I had a nice bakery breakfast this morning before church. Elizabeth took advantage of our past being on vacation and visited the church that Tess goes to. I enjoyed it. It is a very musicly oriented church. During worship they had four guitars a piano and a tambourine. It sounded really good. Its a really small church too, maybe twenty five people. I like small churches because everyone participates in the sermon. They had a Thanksgiving lunch afterwards but Elizabeth wasn't feeling well so we decided to eat at home. Betsy has also been sick so I went and rented a bunch of movies because they were stuck inside all day. I also installed a new faucet for Elizabeth's sink in her dorm. Then I fixed Leo's car that wasn't starting. It's kind of nice when you can be useful. Tomorrow the holiday begins. Since the rain is never going to stop for three full hours I think I'm going to be spending some time on the roof with an umbrella. Awesome.