Is your Heart Filled with Pain, Shall I Come Back Again? (Plus a Bombshell)

Please forgive me now if this entry is very self-centered, maybe I am feeling sorry for myself or a bit egoistic. 

I'm listening to Elvis as I begin to write this latest blog entry, "Jailhouse Rock," "That's Alright Momma," "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", no seriously, are you lonesome tonight? I would explain why I'm listening to Elvis, but most of you will already get it, that's just Chris being Chris. Anyhow, I noticed that I provoked a little bit of polemic by posting the last time in Spanish, you can use Google Translate for that by the way, so I thought it was high time I post the latest update in English and let you all know how things have been going. There's been an extremely exciting amount of news coming in and out in the last few weeks; I myself have a bombshell to drop on you as well, but I plan to hold off until the end of the entry to tell you. Have to maintain reader interest right? Stop scrolling down right now! 

Now let's see, my best friend in the whole world, Nick John Wilson, is getting married! I spoke with Lesley for a few hours and was assured that I would be disowned if I don't make it to the wedding. Don't worry, I wouldn't miss it even for a culebra (snake) bite. The Flurkeys are doing well, but Bill is not liking his classes :-( Don't worry guys, the semester is just about over! My momma seems to be doing alright as well, I miss her and I know she has a lot on her plate. Know that I'm thinking about all of you and wishing I could help with my physical presence, but it's not possible. I also found out that I have several visitors coming! My best friend from Argentina, Branko Gueper will be coming down in January, I will be seeing the Holleys in December and Daniface will be here! 

When I talked to Lesley, she mentioned that I seemed sad a lot, and the truth is that I do feel sad sometimes, but that has to do with other factors that I'm not quite ready to discuss. Most of you will already know why it is anyway. On the other hand, apart from my occasional bouts with sadness or depression, which have always been common mediums in my life, I'm happier than ever. I will tell you that I have never felt more content with an occupation than I do with the work that I am performing here and now. I feel like what I am doing, for the first time in my life, is really making a meaningful difference. For the first time, I am working not to make money for me or help some enterprise or institute make more money. I'm working, among other things, so that these kids have a better future, so that the community is enriched and so that we can do our small part to save the rain forest. I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity and I won't be letting it go easily. It's been awhile since I could say that I am proud of myself, hold my head up high and know that I'm doing what's right. Now I just need to get the rest of my personal life together! My media naranja is missing and I hope she will accompany me in this journey.    

I made it back safely to Mondaña and I feel like I'm right at home again. Why do I torture myself by leaving every month?! If you would like to read a little about how my trip went, just translate the last blog entry. On the other hand, that's also a story so it has a lot of fictional elements. In short, the trip was about normal, I had a few things happen that made it kinda suck, but that's life. In the end, I'm back in my querida selva, beloved jungle. It has been a little hot, but manageable. Today we have had rain non-stop and I love it. It started last night and hasn't stopped! 

This is the first time I have had the group of students that are at the school now. They seem to be great kids, they're all great kids, but we are still getting to know each other since we haven't spent an extended amount of time together until now. I am recycling the lessons that I used from the first term so that all of the students get the same material and are all on the same page. These students are older and a little more advanced, so I have modified the lessons a little bit. On a side note, I went from listening to Elvis to Journey, "Separate Ways" right now. 

I let Debbie Flurkey know that, although I have pretty slow net for Skype or anything like that, I can still easily receive email. So, if you wish to write me, send me a mail at cbaumunk@sycamores.indstate.edu and I'll write back, just like the old days! Thanks to Deb, I have some new materials to incorporate into my teaching, I already used the "Parts of Speech Poem," it was great. Speaking of grammatical points, if you've noticed that my English is worse, I do apologize, I've been mostly at full Spanish for three months now, oh well. "Hey man, I'm alive, I'm taking each day a night at a time," sings Bon Jovi blaring out of my computer speakers. 

Things have started slow, like usual at the beginning of all of the sessions up to this point. I don't have many new things to tell you about the selva except that she is as beautiful as ever; I know I don't post many pics, but maybe Dani can help me with that when she comes in December. I have been getting better connected to the community and I try to go down often to get to know everyone. This place is really small and it takes quite a but of time for the community members to get used to you and no longer see you as an outsider. I have been here for going on two months and I still haven't gotten to that point. I have, on the other hand, gotten close to a handful of people and they are just incredible. What else can I say, but that the latino, selva, way of life is tranquila (tranquil), simple and incredible. Once the people trust you and know you, they treat you like family. I have been trying to do my part. Apart from my duties at the school, carrying (provisions) and working with the kids, I have also been sitting in on English classes every Tuesday and Wednesday in the community and helping with the construction of a new house. 

With the kids, I have been doing a "quote of the day", so if you have any favorite quotes you think I should use, please let me know. Today I also asked them a very important question, but not many had an answer. ¿Por qué existimos? Why do we exist? I really don't have an answer either...thoughts?

Okay already, I will finish with my big piece of news. Please don't freak out, and remember, I will always love you all. I realized that I am entirely in love with the Amazon, I love what I am doing and have never felt better, I am incredibly inspired and I don't want to leave this place for a while. I have decided that I am going to begin looking into how a more permanent position can be organized for me here in the selva. I want to at least graduate the groups of students that we have right now. That means two more years, and then we'll go from there. This means many things: I would be establishing my residency here, I will, of course, travel and visit all of you during my breaks, I will be at Nick and Hilary's wedding in October, but my home will be here and you will have to come and visit me in the selva. There it is, there's the bombshell. I'm sorry, but I'm a coward and I thought this would be the easiest way to break the news to everyone at once without being confronted one by one! :-) Please register your complaints directly here, with cbaumunk@sycamores.indstate.edu, www.facebook.com/cbaumunk or wait till I'm in Quito to call and yell at me (that will be towards the end of November).