The Usual Monday

After reading a bit and then falling asleep at 11:30 pm, I awoke to Jill gently informing me that I had slept straight through my alarm. The hike to the Perfume Pagoda and the intense heat during yesterday's trip was too much. I woke up exhausted at 7:10 and threw on some nicer clothes. After getting my egg sandwich, I sat and ate it in front of our dorm and waited for the rest of our group of teachers. Some were a bit late and that made the bus trip a bit harried and I was even a bit annoyed. I don't like being late for things, especially when I was on time at 7:30 am. I informed them that I will be leaving promptly at 7:30 from now on, no matter who's not with me.

We met our supervisor, Thuy, at school and she showed us to our classrooms. Jackie and I had double the amount of kids we usually have because they split up the teachers differently in order to have us teach them about Halloween some more. This party is so much more work than I had ever thought it would be. It's difficult to get the students to understand about the Halloween food (caramel, doughnuts, etc.). Today Jackie and I slowly explained to them about the possible costumes and how to construct them with stuff around the house. After teaching them about the costumes from 8-9:00, the period ended and we went back to the "teacher's lounge," which is really the giant meeting room with a bunch of long tables, and found our supervisor again. Like last week, she took us all out to breakfast at an outdoor restaurant across the street. I had this Chinese dish that's basically fried dough that you dip into condensed milk. It's really unhealthy and is basically sugar, which hurtles it straight into the category known as delicious. We discussed the minute details for this darned Halloween party and then walked back across the street to the school. She wants a map and exact directions for the party, as well as another list of supplies that we need to go and buy with the parents of our students. I was glad when she dismissed us at 10:30 because I was feeling exhausted and needed lots of water and frigid air. Our group then took the bus back to the dorm and arrived at 10:45. I immediately stripped and took a nap in the ice box that is the inner sanctum of our glorious room. I napped from about 10:45-12:30 and slept through my alarm again.

I woke up, threw on some clothes, and went to find Jackie and Leah. Leah and I went and got lunch since Jackie was still napping. It took almost no time at all to venture out to one of the side streets and find a rice buffet for the equivalent of 50 cents. Back at the dorm, I went and got my computer and temporarily moved into Leah and Jackie's room. I organized my pictures for the photo assignment on landscapes (social, rural and urban) and finalized my blog that detailed yesterday's amazing trip. We also listened to music, laughed a lot, and played some Text Twist. I had dinner with these guys from Spain that just moved in on our hall and a few people from our group. We ate at our usual rice buffet and I discovered how hungry I actually was. We then took the new Spanish guys, Indigo and Whim, (poetic, no?) to the American ice cream place and they served me my usual mint chocolate chip on a cone. I then came straight to the internet cafe where I've been from 6:30-8:00 pm.

It's time to go back to the dorm and meet with the other teachers in order to plan for this huge Halloween party. Are all of you sick and tired of hearing about it? Because I am...

Oh and the last two pictures for today's post are kind of cheating because I took them on our awesome trip yesterday. I just didn't want to post another strictly picture blog. The fifth one is me with some "Viet Cong plant," which is so named because the Viet Cong used to hide underneath them and swim with tiny straws of bamboo as their air source. The fourth last picture is of a huge praying mantis I found while waiting for the gondola to arrive and take us back down the mountain. Enjoy!

Time to leave comments! I miss you all terribly! :)