Coming Home

IM COMING HOME!!!!

For about a month.  This summer is going to be awesome! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!!

First, I will fly to beautiful Malaysia where I will meet up with my parents (eek!).  We will meet up with family and friends and have a grand old time.  Im excited to visit with my parents as an adult, it will be a completely different experience!

The main thing we will do is eat. Eat and eat and eat and eat... I cant wait for Malaysian/Indian/Chinese Malay food! And the outdoor food courts... and the breakfast of dosai... and the chutneys... the curries... Grandma's cooking... Auntie Ranjit.... I could go on and on.  Im drooling a little just thinking of it.

Once we have the grand old time with family and friends and food, I will fly home! I arrive home July 2nd and have the trip almost jam packed! Whew. I will need a vacation after my vacation! I am going to take a little road trip with my Mom and Aunt(s)! All of the details arent in stone yet and I havent completely planned everything but it is a work in progress.

I will have about 2 weeks after the road trip of home time where I will bug my dad endlessly about all the stuff I am buying.  And I will cook with my mom and my dad will bug us about that too with our 'arts and croissants" food.  It will be so much fun!

I am so anxious for June 17th and to get this summer started! There is so much to do between now and then, its crazy! We have end of the year events, a family fun day/ school carnival, reports, awards ceremony, staff parties, packing and changing classrooms, orders, all of that school stuff!  So overwhelming but so worth it!  I am so, so, so happy with my choice to come to Dongguan and work at ISD.  Things do seem to happen for a reason!

See you soon!

3rd Time!!!

A third time is a charm, right? This will be my third time to blog while in China and my third time to the Philippines. 

My life awesome right now (see previous blog post) and its just continuing. I'm debating about my summer plans but the more and more I think about it, I think I will be coming home. I didn't spend enough time last time with friends and family and I miss them.

I am a little stressed/ overwhelmed with everything right now. Lots of stuff coming up school wise; end of the quarter, finishing up material for this year while preparing for next year, planning events for end of school, field trips, and the kids are getting excited so behavior is changing. All of this means a well deserved spring break. Please don't misread. I love my job. The school, coworkers and students are great. I am all just starting to feel the crunch. My mom has always told me the end of the year feels like a marathon and I completely believe her.

So with all of the school pressure going on, I also have decided this would be a good time to be homesick. I know, ridiculous, right? I miss Peace Corps and the life I lived there. I miss the people, the other volunteers, and the life style. Granted living in it and reminiscing about it are completely different. Hehe. I don't miss the muddy snow, the cold, trucking up water, or the daily struggles. But it was a time in my life that I know I won't have again. I miss that.

And thinking of that of course makes me think of my ridiculous friends. I miss traveling by a marshutni for hours to visit a friend and catch up with life (even though we talked every day). I miss people completely understanding me, not just as a friend, but as someone who was going through the same struggles as me. It was a friendship unlike what I have found anywhere else.

Here in China, a lot of the struggles I have are not the ones because of culture. It's because of school stuff, job stuff that I would have anywhere. I don't quite know what I am trying to say because I am truly happy here. I just miss home. In the Peace Corps they told you not to write a blog or an email on the bad days... Now I know why. It sounds depressing.

Because of all that is going on, and we have a week off, we have decided to come back to trusty Philippines!

I am on the plane now. Oh, technology. And I probably won't post this blog until I get back so I will add more after the trip.

____________________
I started that post on March 22nd after a long day at work.  I am adding to it now, April 7th. 

Things are still hectic at work but manageable.  Vacation was perfect and just what was needed! We went to Dumaguete and stayed at a fantastic resort! Aqua-Landia! It is a German-owned, quiet, kind of secluded, 14 cabin, right next to the beach resort where from our front door to the pool/restaurant/bar was about 20 steps.  It was quiet and we actually got a lot of work done! No where near the amount needed but enough that I am happy with it.

We also went diving! Yay! I got to see 3 sea turtles and a few sea turtles come up for air while I was on the boat! It was fantastic! I wanted just to stay and stare at them all day.  A little creepy? Meh.  They wouldnt mind, they are too cool to care about anyone stalking them.  We only did one day of diving because as great as it was, it was more work than we wanted to do and we were quite lazy!

I definitely want to go back there and I really love the Philippines! It was the perfect vacation right before this rush of school. 

This week I am starting an After School Activity of cooking.  Another teacher and myself will be teaching a few kid-friendly recipes to some elementary students.  I am excited about it but there is so much going on! Whew, another thing added to the plate!

To finish up- I havent bought my ticket home but I really want to.  One week I looked and it was 1200, the next week 1500, and the next day 1800-2000!!! And now most of them have a 20 hour layover in either Detroit or Atlanta! :(

Well I think that is it for now.  I am excited to see everyone very soon! Just have to push through the end of this year!
Love to all!