Life Feels Good Lately

Dearest Gentle Readers,

Apologies for my break in writing. To tell you the truth, not too much has occurred over the past month (other than me finally binge watching season 3 of Bridgerton). I thought I would finally give you all on update on my goings on. I have a few major updates that I will shed further light upon:

• Hair

• School shenanigans

• Status of stay

Update 1: Hair

I finally was completely fed up with my long, frizzy, riddled with split ends hair. Tom's co-teacher was kind enough to offer me help in setting up a hair appointment with her hair stylist. Seeing as how it hand been 10 tumultuous months since a haircut, I graciously accepted her offer.

Of course once the day came around, it was pouring down rain and incredibly humid outside. For reference, my hair turns into a giant frizzy puffball in the humidity; naturally, I walked into the salon with a halo of frizz (I'm sure the stylist was absolutely horrified). Nevertheless, we spent a few minutes consulting on the hair length/ style I was desiring. She did talk me into curtain bangs since bangs are all the rage here. The next step was a thorough hair washing in a lovely salon chair that did not absolutely wreck the back of my neck whilst laying upon the lip of the sink. She put a towel over my eyes, lathered and rinsed, and massaged my head for about 10 minutes. I was in heaven (although parts of my head felt a little tender after she got out all the tension from my scalp).

Soon after, I plopped myself in the styling chair awaiting my new look. I chopped a solid 5 or so inches off the bottom, brought back the layers, and added in the curtain bangs. She stopped after a few minutes with a funny look on her face (I only panicked for a second) where she then informed me I had curly hair, so it would be ideal for me to have layers in order for my hair to fall as evenly as possible. I knew I had a few waves here and there, but apparently I inherited more of my mom's hair than I realized. Layers it was then, and the rest of the process went smoothly. Overall, the entire cut took about 45 minutes and only cost about $25. I will certainly be returning in the future!

The new hairdo in question

Update 2: School Shenanigans

The majority of school has been pretty mundane. I teach my classes, try and have fun with the students, and then do it all over again the next week. Not to pick favorites or anything (but I totally am), my 3rd graders at both schools have my heart. They are the cutest little things and are ALWAYS excited to see me in class. I ask them every Friday how they are feeling, and so many times students will answer they are happy because it is English class day. Excuse me while I go cry. They also shower me with compliments saying how pretty I am and how fun of a teacher I am; according to both my parents and Tom, my head is so big it can be seen from space. I mean, come on, who doesn't love being told nice things about themselves?

My English Reading Club has come to an end for the semester, but we managed to have some fun classes before they finished. One week we read "I Really Like Slop" by Mo Willems (such a great author). I created a classroom slop bag filled with all kinds of supplies (like erasers, pencils, post-it notes, etc.) and had each student come to the front to stick their hand in the bag. They would feel around for an item, guess what it was, and then pull it out to see if they were correct. Apparently kids love sticking their hands in random bags without being able to see what is inside. They then created their own slop buckets (on paper) filled with all kinds of gross, random items. One boy filled his with poison while another had body parts galore swimming around. I even had someone draw Kim Jong Un's face in his slop. Some of my students went with a tamer route, which included various school supplies, fish bones, and even a whole Minecraft world. Kids sure can be creative!

Update 3: Status of Stay

In more pressing news, I am sure most of you are wondering when I will be returning home. Well, drum roll, please.... I have decided to renew my contract for another year. At first, I was thinking I would extend an additional 6 months to finish out the school year with my students. If I chose to renew for a whole year, however, I would be offered some major benefits. An increase in pay, a resigning bonus, and additional time to travel and explore were just too much to pass up. Tom and I made the decision to renew our contracts while my friends, Maddie and Nicole, have chosen to extend their contracts for another 6 months. This means some sad goodbyes will happen in the coming months :(