Holes in the U.S. Education

Oh, so here's a funny thing that happened in Peru that I forgot to relay: At some point, we were hanging out at Machu Picchu and the guides wanted us to list all the things we knew about the famous ruins or about the Incas. Out of a group of 13 of us, guess how much we knew? ...Next to nothing.

Those guys were shocked. They said, "What do you guys learn in the U.S. schools?" ...Yeah, if only I had a dollar for every time I heard that.

Being a teacher, that's a pretty sad thing to hear. My Taiwanese friend (who is really smug about a lot of things, whether rightfully so or not) is quick to point out that Americans don't get geography jokes about other countries, because given a random non-Western-European country name, we can't really tell you anything specific about that country's geography, besides roughly where it is located in the world.

Sad.

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So, I'm back in El Salvador. I had thought I would be relieved to be home after four weeks of consecutive traveling. And, I am. But I miss Geoff already, and it's only Day 1. :(

Work starts tomorrow for me. I feel a fair amount of anxiety about returning to work (for reasons not to be discussed here -- but suffices to say that this is a rare occurence for me) and about the fact that Geoff will remain in the States for at least another 2 weeks. (Maybe longer, if he needs to close a deal on a house.) So, I am home, yes, but calm the way I normally feel at home? That's still a work in progress...

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In other news, recently I've been telling people stories about how Geoff and I went about planning out the next few years of our lives together. Everyone's been choking on laughter when I say matter-of-factly that Geoff wants to make babies at some point, and that I have told him that that shouldn't happen when we're, say, 40.

It's funny how men have nesting instincts but are clueless about fertility rates. How come people always talk about women having mothering instincts? :) I think Geoff's fathering instincts far exceed my own nurturing instincts. I can't even hold babies! (I am scared of breaking them.)

Anyway, I thought I'd put it out there, so you can all tell him that you now know he has a sensitive side. ;)