Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy

When I say I’m exhausted, what I really mean is my feet are on the verge of falling off, my legs are on the verge of cramping up, my back is on the verge of sweating off, my head is on the verge of blowing up, my eyes are on the verge of shutting forever, and my face is on the verge of melting off. That’s how I’m feeling right now. It’s been a long, long day.

Rundown of the day…

We left for school at 7:15am to walk 10 minutes to meet the school bus. When we got to school, we spent an hour and a half touring the buildings and school grounds, up and down a million stairs and in and out of unairconditioned buildings. The good thing is, it’s a beautiful school. We share a campus with a Chinese school so it’s a huge area but we have everything, outdoor courts, a gym, several buildings that include classrooms, offices, dorms for national workers, the cafeteria, a dance studio and tons of other things. I loved my last school, but my new school’s facilities are amazing. I’m very excited. I’ve included a few pictures of the view from the school. I’ll take a few of the actual facilities within the next couple of days.

After the tour, we spent 2 ½ hours in a crash Chinese language course. It was very helpful and everyone was so encouraging. Something fun, we played this game to help us learn the Chinese numbers. We had to use plastic chopsticks to pick up plastic buttons, carry them across the room and drop them in a box while everyone else counted each button. It was a race to see who could get the most buttons in the box in 30 seconds. Great idea except not everyone knows how to use chopsticks. I haven’t laughed that hard in weeks. There were a couple of times we didn’t even get to count because the person couldn’t pick up anything with the chopsticks. Oh man, it was good times.

After the language lesson, we finished the tour and then walked to lunch. And when I say walk, I mean we hiked through the country side to get to this little noodle stand under a tarp. I’ve included some pictures so you can see where we were and what lunch looked like. The noodles were pretty good but there was an awful smell that kept drifting through so I wasn’t able to enjoy it much. Note the chairs we were supposed to sit on. I declined of course, and sat on the rock wall next to the table.

We headed home on the public bus, a very interesting experience. Holding on as if your life depended on it is the key. Literally. Anyway, I was able to get a little rest this afternoon, and then head to dinner with some people from school, Vietnamese food. Very delicious. Then we went shopping and I was able to finally purchase a purse, a few DVDs and some dried fruit. Something interesting, I bought some dried rose petals. They’re really good, chewy not crispy, and sweet with a little bit of a rose taste. I’ve also included a picture of that as well.

It’s now 8pm and I’m ready to go to bed. Yah, I may be tired but I’m happy. Life couldn’t get much better. I’m living exactly where I want to live. I’m meeting new people all the time. I’m doing interesting and exciting things all the time. And at this very moment, I’m sitting on the couch, eating dried mangos and enjoying the internet. It’s been a good day.