Well folks, I've got some pretty interesting news to report. First of all, I want to say that my girlfriend is a total rock star. For those of you who don't know, she, like everyone else in the world, applied to grad school. She applied to Harvard, Berkeley, NY, Brown, Carnegie Mellon and Northeastern. And she got in. To Every Single One. Every Single One. To bring it back to me, I've got excellent taste in women.

So, there's a change of plans. I've been at the orphanage one day short of w eek, and I will be leaving it one day more than a week after arriving. It's not the kids, it's not the job. It's not really even the lack of hot water and electricity or inconsistency in the availability of water. It's just that my heart isn't in it. The kids are really sweet for the most part, and even had a good day on Friday in the classroom. We spent an hour on the field learning how to walk in a line, and then I had a talk with the ninas after lunch during which I learned that when I'm chastising five year olds my Spanish is pretty good. So it's been getting better. But I didn't come all the way to Guatemala for things to just get better. I've been really frustrated at the Casa, and frustrated the week before, and frankly, pretty frustrated traveling before that. I had a nice little life going in Boston before I left, and I didn't leave that life to be frustrated. So, I'm taking off.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing or where I'll be going. There's a big lake here called Lago Atitlan. There are places all around the lake, from hippy towns with space cookies to really traditional towns, I was thinking about heading that way and chilling there for a while. If anybody has any suggestions, I would be happy to take them.

I feel a lot better having made that decision. It's been a tough week. Now all I need to do is let the people here know, and then, pues, me voy!