An Earthquake and the "Summer" Party

Sat Sept 8th
I have finally managed to catch up on some sleep. I feel much better than I have for the last couple of days. This adult class is taking up more of my energy than I expected. I think it’s losing what would normally be relaxing time that’s messing up my system. It also didn’t help that Thursday night (technically early Friday morning) there was an earthquake. It’s so weird to be sleeping and then suddenly be moving. It wasn’t that big, though. One of my roommates even managed to sleep through it.
Because I was so tired yesterday, I didn’t have any patience for my kids in the morning. I was ready to throttle them all. Even my normally good ones were acting up. Or maybe they weren’t and I was just too tired to deal with their regular behavior. Anyway, I had a nice relaxing lunch and watched some violent video games (our new roommate has an x-box) and I felt much better for the afternoon. Which was fine because it was birthday party. So I didn’t have to do any actual teaching. And the kids were much better behaved.
Because I was so obviously having a crummy day, Katherine suggested we go for drinks after work. I was game and Sam and Corrie came too. It was really nice and a little weird. I’ve hung out with both Sam and K outside of work, but I’ve never seen them hang out together. They got along fine, it was just weird to see.
I was feeling much better about my life after a couple of screwdrivers, which Sam taught me how to say in Chinese. He also agreed to teach me the Chinese characters for some of the words that I’m learning in my lessons with Yvonne. After Corrie went back to school and Sam left for his roommate’s birthday party, K and I went to a movie.
The movie we went to see was Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. It was disappointing. And, yet again, there were huge chunks that I couldn’t watch because they used a handy cam. Stupid chase scenes with the camera shaking all over the place. There were a couple of bright spots, though. The kid who plays his youngest son was amazing. And there were some really touching family moments that (yes I am this much of a girl) made me cry.
Today has been pretty much listen to the ball game, chat with mom, nap, tidy the room, rearrange some things and watch an ep of Roswell. Hopefully it will also include a trip to the laundromat so that I can have clean clothes without having to walk through them for days.

Sun Sept 9th
Today was jam packed with people and events. There was the Kojen summer party (postponed from the actual summer because of the typhoon), then we went bowling and to the Shilin night market. We were supposed to go to a baseball game this evening, but bowling took so long we missed it.
The summer party was actually pretty fun. Almost all of preschool was there.
Jackie came with K and I, but Di, Thaddaeus and Patrice all showed up late. I also got to meet some of the teachers from other schools and stuff. The MC was awful. And there were so many people, that everyone talked through the speeches so they weren’t as boring as expected. The performances were good. And the dancing at the end was so fun. I even got the non-dancers dancing. To the point where Katy even agreed to go to a club with me. We were talking later, though and cover for clubs is super expensive, so we probably won’t go. Maybe I’ll get them to go for my birthday.
After summer party we went bowling. K decided to go home but Ty and Robert met us at the alley. Brian, one of the other guys from the Kojen party came with us too. It was 10 pin and my wrist lasted for 1 game. For the other 2 I had to bowl left handed. By the end I was actually getting decent though. I bowled a 90 in the last game. Jackie is super good. And Di hadn’t bowled in a million years, which was evidenced when she dropped a ball on Jackie’s foot. Nothing’s broken and it didn’t even swell that much, but Di felt really guilty. But between Jackie and myself we taught her to bowl well enough to get 77 in the last game.
Since we missed the ball game, we went into Shilin night market for some food. It was really neat. It’s like a carnival. There are booths for anything you could possibly want and some things I don’t believe anyone would ever want. There are also entire sections of carnival games, too. I got some amazing strawberries at one of the fruit vendors and a small gift for Jamie, which I haggled for. I got her to drop the price from 290NT to 250NT. I know it’s not much, but I figure it’s pretty good for my first time.
And now to bed. I have to start the new semester for my class tomorrow, so I actually have to plan lessons. I’m also hoping to go in early to plan my Tues. night adult class, so that I don’t have to worry about it on Tues.

Tues Sept 11th
So it was 9/11 today and it came and went without a word being said. It was actually a nice break from all of the hooplah that surrounds this day at home now. I didn’t even realize what day it was until I had to write it down.
My kids were angels yesterday and they were ok today. We’ve started working on their math program. And we had DVD time today. Bear in the Big Blue House is so cute. I actually like watching that one.
My adult class is getting better every time. I think it has something to do with how well prepared I feel going in. One of my students told me that she thinks the class is too easy, and maybe her comprehension is beyond what we’re doing, but her speaking sure isn’t. I’m not sure what to do, but I’m going to talk to some other teachers for suggestions. Also, the adult director is stressing me out. She’s very nervous and intense. And she’s always hovering. I can’t walk into the office without her asking me a million questions. All of which are intended to help, but if she would just leave me alone, I would have my prep done in half of the time.
The Jays are playing the Yankees right now, so maybe I’ll get to catch some of the games. *Crossing my fingers*