Busy busy busy!

Hey bloggers! I managed to find some time to update you all about this past week/weekend :D Last weekend I went with 7 of my friends to EuroPark! It was pretty fun but I got a massive headache from the day :( So here's how it went... The previous week Chinese Michael helps us rent a van and a driver for the day. Saturday morning 7:30am we all get picked up. We ride for an hour out to the park and get dropped off. The driver leaves and goes TROPO in the (extremely dry) Yellow River. We enjoy the park, which has carnival rides like sizzler, group sized zipper, parachute drop, etc. (of course none of them are called these names) as well as big roller coasters that go incredibly fast and feel incredibly unsafe. But we still went on them and it was still fun! It was no Disneyland though ;P Around 5 we get picked up and the driver has two still flopping around fish in plastic bags. He gives Chinese Michael one as a thank you for hiring him and he keeps the other one in front by him. Every now and then the fish would flop around and fall off the seat! It was entertaining. It was a lot of fun :) 3 Chinese colleagues and 4 other foreigners all enjoying each others' company.

This week has been crazy busy. I've been reading through application essays, meeting with students to talk about college options, and helping students figure out whether the ACT or SAT is right for them. It's been productive but not the most fun.

Monday night I had club night. I had two lead roles quit my musical so now I'm working to replace them. I don't have enough students to have understudies so it's been an interesting process. Next week I won't have club because it's the year 10 and 11 field trip. Despite all the changes and the stress that this field trip/Halloween party has put on me, I'm actually feeling pretty good about the final plans. Assuming all the supplies make it to the party, it should be fun. I just hope BDed doesn't take credit for the whole thing like he always does. Ugh!


I'm not doing anything special this weekend since it's a long week. I'll go pick up Halloween party supplies but that's it. Having a long week into a week where I can't sleep in is gonna suck! I know my colleagues are gonna blame me for the school not giving us our half day because we're pulling an extra long day for the field trip. I just hope they go easy on me.  I hope they realize it's not my fault. I can't wait until this year is done! This is way too stressful. I'll definitely keep you up dated. Until then... Laters!

Sorry for this update being so late!

Hey bloggers! I know it’s been way to long since I updated you but here’s the story as to what’s been keeping me from getting on here. First I got back mid August and my boss announced to everyone (including me) that I’ve been promoted to co-director of student affairs. I was excited at first but then realized that I wasn’t getting a pay raise. So I’m doing five jobs with the same pay as everyone else who’s only doing one job. For the last two months it’s been non-stop running from office to office doing one thing after the other. I’ve basically become the messenger of news to the foreign teacher about everything that is extra- and co-curricular related. Don’t get me wrong, I love having this title but when I’m being stretched over three floors of our building, I start to feel a bit under appreciated. So this is what’s been going on at the school. Well that and the fact that our semester just went from being 23 weeks to being 24 weeks. That made me swear really loudly and then want to cry. This means that our Spring Festival holiday is a week shorter than they promised us it would be. I’m pretty upset about it.

A couple weeks ago was National Holiday and due to the stress of my new title, I decided to use my week and go home to see my wonderful family and the love of my life. Shout out to Brendan for helping me get home! Shout out to Troy for being the most supportive boyfriend I could ask for in my time of need. Shout out to Mom and Dad for always standing by my side and helping me see everything in perspective. It felt like the end of the world when I was going through the stress of the new responsibilities but after talking to them, they made me realize that I could get through it and I shouldn’t quit. Yea, I wanted to quit because my boss wanted to take away my counseling title so that I could be a full time English teacher. But I fought it and showed that my students saw me as more of a counselor than an English teacher so he let me keep my title.

I got back to work after a week of rest and rejuvenation in Hawaii. I figured out that now that the school year was back to a regular schedule, my workload was cut in half. I only have one student affairs project each month, instead of three! This month, of course, I’m helping the seniors plan the Halloween party. Next month will be Thanksgiving. Then the following month will be crazy because we have both Christmas and the charity concert. But that’s nothing compared to tenth grade military training, college recommendations, and sports day planning from September. I officially hate the start of new school years. I got so tired from my days that I didn’t even go to the gym for three weeks! It was brutal.

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on for the last month and a half. I’ve been crazy and Troy has been SUPER understanding of my bitter attitudes. I’ve actually picked a few fights with him and we’ve had our disagreements but we always go to sleep with dry eyes and smiles on our faces. It’s amazing how stressed a relationship can get when distance and time is put between an otherwise loving couple. Something to keep in mind when counseling students who will be in long distance relationships in college. I hope next week I’ll be able to update you about drama club. So far we haven’t had anything super exciting happen. Until then… Laterz!