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.

Vacation from a Vacation

Man, I'm tired. We've been going around Thailand and Cambodia for two weeks now, and living out of a suitcase is wearing thin on my patience and good humor. I love Thailand, and I love Cambodia, but after a while I feel like I'm ready to go home, be in my apartment, sleep in my bed, cook normal food, and see people I actually know and like. We leave tomorrow, and in my opinion our flight could not be early enough. Unfortunately, it's at 7 p.m. which means I have a whole freakin' day to kill in Bangkok with my brain just going "I want to be home, I want to go home..."

I really enjoyed Hua Hin this week and just having the chance to relax at the beach, bury my toes in the sand, and read a good book with the sea breeze in my face and the smell of the ocean. However, I am now firmly resolved that any and all future trips to any and all future beaches must include a hotel that has a POOL. I love being at the beach, I love walking on the beach, but I don't like swimming in the ocean. There are... things... in the ocean. Things that I can't see and don't care to dwell on. I much prefer the chlorinated sanitation of a swimming pool.

I am so tired. I want to sleep and then wake up and go to the airport and then fly home and sleep in my own bed (sans hornets, please!).

Goodnight and farewell, my peeps.

Thailand and Cambodia

So, I'm in Thailand. Again. But it's good because Thailand and Cambodia are awesome. It was a little weird/boring to repeat the Bangkok portion, but the Cambodia and beach part are still awesome.
Cambodia is/was amazing, and I'm glad that this time around I got to spend another day there and explore other temples I didn't get to see last year. I have determined though, that I will not travel with a guy any more. Unless it's with another girl, too. It's so much more expensive when you don't have a person to split a room with! In any case, Alex and I are at Hua Hin now, and I am enjoying the "compulsory relaxation" (as Alex calls it). The sea has been kind of rough these past two days, so no swimming, but I've enjoyed sitting by it, enjoying the sea air, the breeze, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
This is in Ayutthaya, which used to be the capital of Thailand before Bangkok. It has some cool ruins, and Alex was very insistent that we ride elephants. It was very wobbly.
These kinds of buses are everywhere!

The Grand Palace in Bangkok
We saw a million Bhuddist monks in Cambodia.

This is in Ta Prohm, my favorite temple in the whole Angkor complex. They've let the jungle kind of stay how it was (Somewhat) when they found it. It's pretty awesome.





Not sure I know what this was. But this was a grody, stagnant pool of water around some center thingy.

Christmas

"Catching Up" Post

This is Yangshuo. I went during the Chinese National Day Holiday in October. It's freakin' awesome. These mountains just jut out of the landscape for miles around, and the land around it is pretty flat.

VPN

I finally splurged and got a VPN, so this hopefully means I will be blogging more.
Much has happened in the last three months. I went to Yangshuo for Chinese National Day Holiday, had "Thanksgiving" at my Chinese friend's house, and Christmas at Stuart and Brooke's. I also moved apartments, because of many complicated things I don't know or particularly care about. I just know I had to move. I'm giving exams and getting report cards ready this week, so it's been kind of hectic, but I have a whole week off next week before I go to Thailand, so I will try to catch up then!

Three Weeks In

We've been in school for three weeks and I love it. I'm super insanely busy, but in a good, feel-productive, love-my-job kind of way. I spend an insane amount of time in my office at school getting stuff ready. I don't know how other teachers don't have to do the same, because I know my prep periods alone aren't enough time for me to get everything I need accomplished. My TA, bless her, is a wonder, and really helps me so much. I've gotten to know all my students' names now, and they are really fun. I feel like so much more of a teacher than I did last year. We're going to be starting a unit on World Cultures sometime next week, and I've been getting all my materials for that sorted and prepped. Parent orientation is on Sunday, and I think a lot of my students' parents will show up. They just strike me as an involved bunch. I've already had notes from several of them, and I think it will be good.
Last weekend was district conference, and it being in Shenzhen, I did not attend. So I had the laziest, most do-absolutely-nothing weekend imaginable. I went out of my apartment building two times in two days. It was awesome. I really needed the relaxation time. I watched movies, I drew, I read books, I crocheted, and just hung out. Fabulous. And then on Monday it was back to reality. Urg. Next week we have a three day holiday, but for which we must work three weekend days to make up. I don't understand this system, but it seems to be pretty standard across the Chinese school system. Why bother even having a holiday?
This week has been nice, too, though. I went with Andrew, Kimi, and Kathryn to get foot massages on Monday, and got a mani/pedi today with Kimi. Life after payday is niiiiice. :)