Monday is over! That’s a good thing. Another week has started and about to fly away. I have to admit, this has been the best Monday since school has started. And by best, I mean, I didn’t feel stressed and drained by the end of the day. I really was dreading Monday because in the past four weeks, it has been the most stressful day of the week. Monday blues… and having to teach PE at the same time is a pain. By the end of the day today, I actually felt like I had energy and was feeling pretty good!

I had a photocopying job to do in the morning, so I was in the library for quite a while. Because the machine was going wacko on us, we had to wait a while for it to get fixed as well as having people wait to photocopy. Though, it was all TA’s which was a lot of fun. We chitchatted, made fun of each other and enjoyed each other’s company. It definitely made my day all that better, gave me a good start to the day. I also got a phone call in the morning from a friend in Hong Kong. It was a surprise to me so it was really nice to talk for just a few minutes until I had to jet off to get some work done. 

PE today was not too terrible. I didn’t feel like strangling myself at the end which is a good improvement from the last couple weeks. We even went a little over time because we weren’t finished with a game! Perhaps I’m getting the hang of it and will be a better PE teacher as the year goes on, and will learn better class management. 

With all that being said, I believe the little things that saved me from wanting to jump off a cliff today as oppose to the other Mondays was God’s ways to lift my spirits back up again. The laughters, the phone call, and God’s spirit and peacefulness in me during PE. He knew that I had been having terrible Mondays and was not at all looking forward to it. Was feeling dreary, weary, dead and dreading PE. I’m very thankful for the little things that He allowed and orchestrated to happen today. 

Yay!

Wow. What a day. I don’t even know where to start. I think I’m going to go with bullet points to tell you pretty much the four things I did today, two highlights but the other two are worth mentioning as well. 

1. I went to ICA for church today for the first time. International Christian Assembly. The music could not compare to ECC, but it was similar. Drums, Bass, and vocals. The bass was pulling down the tempo today though, so that was a bit annoying but either way, it felt good to worship and sing in an environment so similar to ECC. I really enjoyed it. It was the closest to feeling like home, so far in the church hunting period.

Though the speaker today seemed to have rambled on for a little too long, I do look forward to going back to meeting more people in the church. I had to stand up and introduce myself because I was new, then after church, this lady came up to me and was like “You said you are from HK right?” I was like yeah, then she started speaking to me in Cantonese and we talked for a bit. Her three kids go to Logos as well and I actually swim with one of her girls. We mentioned getting together sometime for a meal and I suggested good chinese food. And she said, of course, dimsum! So hopefully sometime soon.. I’ll be able to have some good dimsum. 

2. Went to lunch with the Weiss family and Anna after church. We went to this place by the riverfront that looked great from the outside and looked very relaxing. So we walked in and sat down, and ordered our food. Then lately realized it was the wrong choice. Leslie saw a rat in the restaurant. Mya flipped over on her chair.. which I guess wasn’t so much the restaurants fault. The food took an hour to come. And finally, Julia found a rubber band in her spring rolls. Scratch that off our list of restaurants to eat at! 

3. Here comes the exciting part. I went swimming with Tess, Dean and two of his girls at the school, then afterwards, Tess and I decided to go for a drive on Dean’s moto. Well.. more like take some lessons. For me anyways. So we went back to the street where my house was on, because it was quiet, less cars, and a nice road to ride on. 

Tess did great, and she was fine riding up and down the road. My turn now, I put on my helmet, and got on the bike. Dean was guiding me a little bit and then the road I headed. I went about 3 meters and realized I was not balancing well so I wanted to stop. But at this point, I panicked and my mind and body was not functioning well together. (By the way, this is hilarious to me and just ridiculous) My mind was telling me I had to brake with my left hand. But my body was using the right hand to put even MORE gas on. So i went faster, and not straight either. I crashed into the bushes and fell to the side. Thankfully it was in the bushes on the side of the road. I’m fine, don’t worry. No scratches or injury I wouldn’t get from playing rugby. But it was pretty awesome. Dean lately commented that I was very graceful in getting off of the bike when it collapsed which is always good.

 

 

Dean was amazing, is amazing and though I sorta crashed his new bike, he continued to teach me and guided me even more closely. After about 15 minutes, I started to get the hang of it a little more. And could actually go relatively straight on my street in a slow speed (which is harder than going in a fast speed). Ahhhh, good times. It makes a great story. 

4. I went to dinner at Khmer-Thai with Rind and Vannak tonight. It was a great dinner, and we had a great time catching up with each other. Really enjoyed the fellowship. When we left, it wasn’t raining yet but we could see lightning. We drove about two blocks and we felt rain drops. “Oh no.. it’s starting” Vannak says driving and I’m on the back of his moto. About 30 seconds later, it starts pouring. Vannak quickly pulls over to the side of the street under covered and stops. We just sat there on the moto looking out into the rain. It was a beautiful site, though perhaps not so much when you are trying to get home. 

We sat there on the side of the road for about 20 minutes, then decided to head out. So we got on and zoom, we headed back. It started pouring heavier, it even felt like hails when the rain fell onto our face. I was pretty cold from the rain, and I’m sure he was too. I got home and was drenched from head to toe. Oh, side note, I really had to pee as well on the way. So that’s it. 

I was and am exhausted but had to write an entry about it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep otherwise. Doesn’t it all make for a good story? It’s all real. No lie. 

Seems like I’m going to have a few busy weekends coming up, if everything works out. Hopefully just as eventful as today. I guess today made up for doing absolutely nothing yesterday. Seriously, nothing. I was super lazy. I laid in bed (with my computer) until 430 in the afternoon, got up, showered, went to dinner, then back home. We all got to have days like that.

 

The fourth week of school has finished. It’s kind of hard to believe it is September already, though it is exciting. Work has been stressful at times, but the kids for the most part are great. Mondays and Tuesdays are usually the most stressful, then it gets better later into the week. I started to and will continue to swim with the 2nd and 3rd grade girls for about an hour and 10 minutes every friday right before school ends, so that will be a nice cool off in the pool. 

There was “Back to school night” tonight, which is Parent open house. I introduced myself to some of the parents, but I didn’t really speak much for the most part. It ended at 8, then I dragged Polly, the kindergarden teacher, also my house mate… and Megan, the ESL teacher at Logos (who is from HK!), to hang out with two of my friends from outside of school. Seila, who I have known for over a year now and So, who I just met a few days ago. 

It has been a long week for all of us, so I, especially was excited to hang out with my friends and just relax. I knew, from the start that we were going to be out later than usual, which made it even more exciting. Nothing like home, hong kong, where it never sleeps. 

Seila and So haven’t had dinner yet, and they convinced me to eat baby duck eggs, and so I thought this would be a great night to try it. I was up for anything. THey brought us to a street stall, had great Khmer mixed juices and had my baby duck egg adventure. Pictures are up on facebook, only a few, you can’t really see as much as the spiders that I ate before. It’s just the thought of it that makes people go crazy. I have to admit, once again, that it was quite tasty. I had two. 

Afterwards, we went to The Gym Bar, had a drink and played pool. Though we were exhausted, well, I was quite wired, as usual… coming from Hong Kong. It was only about 9:30 at that point. I enjoyed sitting around, shooting some pool and just hanging out, not having to think about school or talking too in depth about school. Touch Rugby was also playing on TV, so that was quite enjoyable to watch. 

We got home just before midnight, definitely the latest I have stayed out till in the past month I’ve been here. It’s just past 2:30 AM now, I have been able to chat with some friends and put up some pictures the last two hours. No idea what I’m doing tomorrow, well later today, but I’ll figure that out once I wake up. 

For now, Cheers.

I was sitting in the living room earlier tonight and one of my housemates starts yelling for another house mate.. i was like whats up? And realized that there was a rat in the house. It was a loud rat and we saw it run behind a bucket of shoes. I could’ve sworn I was staring at it and didn’t see it go anywhere. 

But when we took the broom planning to either kill it or trap it in a bucket so we can dump him outside, the rat could not be found!! 

Long story short…. It’s still here… roaming around the house. Yay. 

Don’t we all love a special visitor once in a while? 

 

Rat aside, Things are going pretty well. Work is going a little smoother, definitely still struggling but been better than the first week or two. It’s been great having friends outside of work environment to go out, have a drink and hang out. Though I do feel worn out every night, mentally, it is not as bad as it might seem. Just a little confused about how I feel at times about this whole experience. But even that, is all part of the experience. 

Just recently, there has been some personal spiritual stuff that I don’t have too much time to explain here, but feel free to ask me about it. My housemates and I, along with many other people, are all going through it together. We have our faith in God and trust that He is our stronghold, so there is absolutely nothing to fear. I pray that the fear in me goes away, because if it stays- Satan has succeeded. 

I am learning more about myself, the gifts that I might have or might not have. I am struggling to be a teacher or feel like a decent teacher. But have received some encouragements which is nice. I’m looking forward to having visitors, actual visitors (friends) come and visit in the next two months. It will be much needed. 

Drop me an email or a message on facebook sometime. I would love to know how the rest of the world is doing. Do know that I am thinking about all of you. 

For now, take care!

Not too sure where to start. A week ago, my house mates and I took the Weiss’s kids to Paragon for a morning outing. Took some sticker pictures and ended up at Black Canyon Coffee for lunch. Got some great american food, pasta, sandwiches, etc. 

Everyone got either american pasta or sandwich, all the food came and everyone got forks, spoons and knives. Get this, my food came and along with it came chopsticks. I stared blankly at the chopsticks placed in front of me and smirked. My housemates, of course, was dying laughing. Unbelievable I tell you. Oh, must I forget to tell you that I got fettucini pasta, a dish you eat with a fork! We pretty much died laughing for about 10 minutes, and still, we laugh. 

Tonight, I went to Sarika, a restaurant right around the corner of my house. The food and environment is great, it’s quite quiet most of the time and there are live entertainers. But that is beside the point. I got Pad Thai, which is a famous thai dish. Great dish! 

After they bought me my food, the waiter looks at me and I quote, says, ” Do you need … (scissors motion) ” which means chopsticks if you didn’t get that. I looked at him and was like, No, I’m good thanks. Of course, the whole table, a totally different crowd… none of my house mates were there, they all start cracking up and dying laughing. No way, You got to be kidding me. 

As much as it cracks me up and as much as I am like “nooo, just give me a fork”. I love it and I love that people think I need chopsticks and would like to use chopsticks. Sigh, I miss Hong Kong and eating chinese food with chopsticks! 

Ahhhh.. good times. good times. 

 

Bring me some dimsum?