Mental Health Day

This whole week I've wanted one. I haven't had one in a long time; a day off from work, just sit at home, do nothing or everything. Relax or be super busy. Who knows? I'll probably use the rest of today as one. I really want to make a lemon pound cake. Yum.
I finally bought picture frames and candles, so my apartment isn't so stark anymore. I'm excited. Pictures are in frames, waiting to be hung up. Decorating is a lot of fun :)
Yesterday I went and got facials with some friends, and wow, it was good. Two hours of pampering, scrubbing, exfoliating, massaging, and then washing my hair and styling it. I love China! I would never think to go in the States because of the cost, but here, it's great.
This post is kind of ramble-y, but whatever. So are my thoughts!

Crapfest of a week

This week has been (~insert expletive~). Usually I'm a pretty happy, upbeat person. Not this week. This week I have no patience, my students are especially trying, and people are just bugging me. Why, oh why, do people do things to annoy everybody? Why do my students insist on asking me questions over and over and over again right after I've answered them? Why do they ask for a fricking Chinese translation of every new concept or idea???? Context clues and decoding and explanations using the English you already know should be sufficient, and if not, ~then~ ask for a Chinese explanation. The quirks and idiosyncrasies of my students that don't usually bother me have really just exploded this week. Maybe I've been bottling up and I've just reached my boiling point. Maybe they really are super annoying this week. I don't know. And sadly, it's not even just my students. Urg.
On the bright side, when I'm stressed, and this week, oh boy... I bake. So this week I baked a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting that was, if I do say so myself, fabulous. I took it into the office to get rid of it, and my coworkers liked it too, so I'm happy. Some catharsis achieved.

February and into march!

Well, school has entered "March Into Reading" month, and basically it's stressing reading reading reading. Most of my students are way into it, as there are god prizes (wear their own clothes, no homework weekends, and the principal will dress in a funny costume). I have also challenged them within my class; if they can beat the number of minutes that Ms. Dean reads, I will buy them something small from McDonalds. Wow. I had no idea what a sense of competition some of them have. Reading Month started on Monday, and on Friday, I had a student who had read 900+ minutes. She's definitely kicking my butt. She reads all the freaking time, and I don't feel like I should read as much, because the grand majority of my other students are nowhere near her. The next student has like 550 minutes. I'm standing at 600.
Besides all their reading, we also have guest readers and and I, as a teacher, go guest read to other classes. I went to teach to a grade 1 class this week, and they were so cute, if waaaaayyyyy into the book. It was a very... interactive and loud reading experience :)
Most everyone who reads this blog (namely, my family) knows that I am staying at Clifford school next year. The other two teachers who I share an office with are both leaving. It will be quite a change. The office as it is is filled with video game, basketball, football, and fantasy sports talk. Such testosterone! My friend Kimi is going to be one of the new teachers next year, but I don't know about the other one...
This week I also went to a bar called "The Brew" for my first Trivia Night. I am proud to say that my brain full of useless information was at last put to use, and I carried my team to a 3rd place victory, out of 11 teams. It was a lot of fun, and I think I will start going more often.
I can't really think about anything else that's happened in my life since I got back from Thailand. That's about it! By.