Out of Practice?

I had really anticipated a quiet month of July in which I was able to catch up on things that I had let slip in the busy-ness of the life of a teacher. I had also planned to teach myself a bit of basic Spanish in advance of my trip to Honduras. And of course, I was eagerly looking forward to relaxing out at the family place at Crane Lake. Then I got a phone call to teach summer school. I phoned back to say that I couldn't do it. After all.. it would mean working until the day before I left for Honduras. He begged, he pleaded, he offered to pay for me to change my flights. I caved. Not for the money, but for the experience. It would be good to have "I taught Math in Canada" on my resume. I agreed to do it on the condition that I could teach extra time each day and finish a few days early so I would have time to get ready for my trip. It made for an extraordinarily busy few weeks as I planned for classes I had never taught (trying to squeeze 5 months of material into 3 weeks), taught 5 1/2 hours a day, spent too much time marking and tried to fit in some Spanish time, lake time, and do some preparations for my trip... I didn't sleep much and felt like I was constantly running in 50 directions at once, but I survived summer school, and all my students even passed! So now I have started getting ready for my trip.

It is strange... I don't remember it being this much work to go away... I used to go away somewhere every 6 weeks when I lived in England. I don't know if it's because I haven't been on an extended trip since last summer and I am just out of practice... Or maybe it's because I have to decide what to take? I used to just throw everything in my backpack except my work clothes. Or else maybe it's because I am trying to be extra organized because I think they just might not have band-aids in Honduras? Or else it's the paranoia-induced fear of becoming ill in a developing country that has lead to doctors appointments, runs to the pharmacy for anti-malarials, antibiotics, anti-this, anti-that. I don't really know... I do know one thing.. I am making a list of each and every thing I pack. That way it will be easier next time. Maybe.