Day 15: It's a Great Day to be Alive

Today was a great day, I can't even explain how happy it made me. Here are some reasons why it was just so good:

1. I woke up yesterday to an Instagram comment from My grandma, who is on a mission in Moscow, Russia, saying that the package that I sent Mr. Drew Crawford weeks ago was in fact delivered to him! Even though I found out about this yesterday, I'm equally as giddy about it today.

2. This morning for breakfast, the cafeteria served these wonderful rolls that tasted like a warm glazed doughnut. It was a huge step up from the roll with dried, orange, shredded pork I had yesterday; it surely caught me off guard when I bit into that sweet surprise.

3. My lesson for class went so well today, the kids loved it and understood it, in full. I must admit, this is a first for me since I've been here. I always have to demonstrate a time, or five, for them to get the idea of the game I'm teaching and I usually end up simplifying it anyways. Thus, the kids understanding the game is a feat in itself.

4. During our opening song today, I taught the kids how to sing, "I Feel Good". They found it rather amusing when I finished the chorus and then just went on with singing the beat, holding their hands, and hopping around in a circle. I mean hey, it's Friday, I did feel good! Also, side note, we taught them "Call Me Maybe" yesterday, probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen or heard in a long time. I took a video of it, if I can figure out how to upload it, I will share it! :)

5. It's Friday, and everyone loves a nice weekend break after a long/hard week, right? And by hard, it's really not that hard. The kids make it all worth it, but it is pretty draining to wrestle 50 kids each morning and teach six lessons. They sure do require lots of your energy and focus.

6. Baby Brittany, in the younger of the two Kindy classes, didn't squeeze my cheeks today. Just about everyday, she climbs on top of my lap, gets her tiny little fingers, and latches onto my cheeks. I am assuming someone else has done this to her before, because she knows exactly how it works, and it stinkin' hurts. Love the little one, but don't love her pincers.

7. I took a two hour nap after lunch. It was just such a glorious nap and I loved every second of it.

8. Today had a summer feel to it: nice cool weather, we walked to get smoothies mid-afternoon, it was really relaxed, we were planning for the weekend, people were on their bikes, etc. It was such a wonderful and familiar feeling. I wouldn't mind if I had more days like today.

9. We had a girl's night with the ladies in our group, which entailed getting our nails done and going out to eat. We found this little nail shop that did manicures for 4 American dollars! Yes, I said 4. I ended up getting shellac, however, so it was more like 14. But still, such a steal and they were equally, if not better, as good as they are at home.

10. We ended up going to this famous Muslim noodle place to eat, on accident. We stumbled upon it while walking down the street, saw these cute little Asian boys in Muslim hats, and we were sold. We tried ordering from this man who spoke zero English but ran the joint, and it really just resulted in mad chaos and confusion. There were too many requests like, no meat, the small and not the fat noodles, etc. He mostly just laughed at us, because both groups (Americans and Chinese) would begin talking louder and slower, as if that would help with translation. Then, a sweet little Chinese lady came along, saw us struggling, and said, "do you need help?" It is always when you come across a Chinese person who all of a sudden whips out somme English. It makes life so much easier. She got our orders all fixed and we were golden.

Life is good, don't forget it.