Day One - The Arrival

The name Selvadorada directly translates to 'golden jungle' in Spanish, and jungle it most definitely is.  (I don't know about the golden part yet.)  When I arrived there, I was presented with a vast tableau of wild untamed, unexplored greenery, some of which hadn't seemed to have been touched for millennia. 

When I arrived there, I got some lodging, and was presented with a machete, and a can of spider spray.  I soon realized why I needed the machete - I needed it to cut through the thicket of overgrown weeds that had covered everything, not unlike the rocks I had to hammer through in the tombs in Egypt and France years ago.  I knew I was rusty, but I didn't realize I was this rusty.   Is this what having five kids after your last adventure can do?

Anyway, I cleared one thicket...

...only to drop my bag in quicksand!  Needless to say, I was super pissed.

I let out more than a few expletives and stood there, for a good couple of hours.

After I calmed down some, I walked across this absolutely gorgeous bridge with some of the most breathtaking waterfalls I'd ever seen in my life.

I came across an archeological dig site, which of course was going to be part of the slide show for my students.

Carefully I took notes on the location and contents of the dig site.

While I was doing that, though, a snake slithered within inches of me.  It didn't bother me though and went on about its business. 

Next, as I left the dig site, I was nearly eaten alive by a swarm of angry bees!  I decided to use my logic to calmly focus and stay still, hoping the bees would go away.  And they did.

  

After cutting through another thicket, I discovered a temple!  Unfortunately, I was tired and famished, so that concluded my first day of exploration.

Hello again

I know it's been awhile since I posted on here.  I'm a) married b) had five children since adopting Satis and Imsety c) gotten a job teaching at a university (!!!!).  That last one, that one is a bigger shock than all the rest.  Because I never went to college as a student myself.  And because I absolutely hated school even though I was whip smart and often corrected the teachers. 

The fact that I am now responsible for molding minds... me, the rebel who was on a first name basis with the police... is the most stunning thing of all. 

Which brings me to my next point.  Since I am now responsible for molding minds, I had to renew my passport.  Which brought total sticker shock.  Everything changed. 

And because I am now responsible for molding minds, I have to constantly stay sharp.  And I mean constantly.  The young people coming into my classroom are sharp as tacks.  I love that.  They challenge me.  And I have to challenge them too.  Which is why I've taken on another journey.

I can tell tales about my repeated trips to China, Egypt, and France until I'm blue in the face.  The first time I set foot in Egypt, I was green - in more ways than one.  I had never been away from my cozy privileged Sunset Valley home for any significant length of time.  I wasn't much older than they are. 

 But now, I'm a completely different person, with much more life experience.

Indeed, Selvadorada represents a new and altogether different type of challenge, for which a different sort of lesson plan will have to be drawn up. 

So... here goes nothing...