End of Week One!

Today is the end of the first full week at school. And what a crazy week it has been! Luckily I'm managing to keep up with everything that's going on, which is more than I can say for some of the other students. So far I've completed 2 classes already, one with an A, and the other, I won't know about until Monday. I also got a 92% on my first Anatomy and Phisology test (there's another one on Monday) and I got a 100% on a paper for my Body Mechanics class!
   In my Swedish Massage course, we have learned how to complete a full body supine (face up) massage and yesterday we were taught how to drape the face cradle and flip our clients over on the table. Next week we'll learn how to do the back side of the body, and then that's it! I'll know how to give a complete full body massage by the end of next week. How cool is that!?
   So I've already completed 2 classes - Self Care and Hygiene and the History and Benefits of Massage, and now I'm taking a 4 day class tited Body Mechanics, which basically is the analysis of how we move in our own body. It's really fascinating actually. Brenda filmed everyone walking a course, and then in class we reviewed the films and analyzed everyone's postural anomalies (how they hold themselves). It's really interesting to see how something like hanging your purse on one shoulder for years can change how you stand or how you move.
   We all had to write a paper analyzing our postural anomalies when we were walking, sitting, standing, and sleeping, and then we had to write a commitment to change one thing for each category. So for example, I found that when I sleep, I roll onto my stomache, lift one leg up to a 90* angle, and put an arm under my head. When I sit, I immediately slouch against the back of the chair and I cross my legs or tuck my feet under me. When I stand, I shift my weight back and forth between my legs and tend to lock the knee of the weight bearing leg. And when I walk, I look down, and my right arm has virtually no natural movement.
  Because all of these things are bad for my spine and my posture, I've made a commitment to experiment with ways to change my behaviors. So when I sleep, I've been tying a string around my ankles to force them to stay together. When sitting in class, I sit on a big medicine ball instead of the chair so that I have no back to lean against and also so that I am forced to keep both of my feet on the floor for balance. I am making a conscious effort to stand squarely with both feet on the floor, and I have discovered that by letting my purse hang on my left side, my right arm starts to move more. As the months progress, I will have to do postural assessments of my clients without them even knowing, so that I can recommend the correct stratches and stuff - so I'm going to get really good at looking at someone and noticing the way they hold themselves. I encourage you guys to give it some thought. Just notice what your body is automatically doing throughout the day. It's cool stuff. Super hard to change though - I haven't really slept for the past 2 nights :(
    A couple of students here are really interested in learning Spanish, so we got ahold of a lady named Ariceli who's been teaching for 30 years and convinced her to come down and give us lessons. Today was the first one, and the 5 of us were realyl excited. She knew that we wanted beginnning Spanish and told us not to worry about it and that we'd pick it up in no time. What we didn't know, was that she teaches immersion Spanish. So she came to campus and started explaining things in Spanish, reviewing things in Spanish...basically she lost us all in the first 3 minutes and it was a 90 minutes class. If we didn't understand something, she just repeated it over and over in Spanish, which of course, didn't help us understand at all. Luckily Shaylee and I know some basic stuff and were able to translate some, but poor Steve, Rachel, and Larissa were totally lost. We had to beg her to speak in English (which she's fluent in), and she rarely complied, so it was really hard. She did end up teaching us some basic phrases, which was ok. We've asked her to come back every Saturday for the rest of the month, so we'll see how things progress. It's $10 per hour per person, so it's not all that pricy, but if we're just going to sit there giving her lost looks the whole time, it's not worth it. But now that we know how she operates, we're hoping to be able to find a happy medium where we can all get what we want out of her lessons.
 Also, Larissa and I did laundry for the first time. We took it to a place and paid roughly $1.50 per kilo for them to do our laundry and deliver it back to the school. Hopefully everything will get returned! They're due to deliver it in about half an hour.
 Oh, and I've made a few friends (kinda). I only know one person's name. But everyone here is really nice. Meat-Stick Man sells chicken kabobs outside one of the Mini-Marts and is awesome. Empanada Man serves all the kids lunch at the school, so he doesn't always have empanadas, but when he does, they're awesome. And they're less than a dollar, which is cool. Ceviche Man is one of my favorites - he makes fresh ceviche and brings it in on a cart and it's DELICIOUS!!! And then there's Ricardo, who is the really cute fruit stand guy. He thinks my eyes are pretty and he also thinks I'm crazy for living in Alaska and for loving the rain here. He gives me discounts on fruit.
  Speaking of rain, Mom - go into the driver's side door of my car and get the umbrella and bring it down when you come. It's been raining nonstop for the last few days, and it's due to keep raining. And the "Rainy Season" isn't supposed to start till October...  It's been so overcast that it hasn't gotten all that hot, which is awesome, but no heat means no thunderstorms, which is sad, because I'd already gotten used to them and now I msis them. It's a chilly 84* right now.
  Larissa and I might try surfing today!! I'll let you guys know how it goes. ...if it goes.... wish me luck!