monday.....

well, in about 24 hours i will be in hong kong, china on my way hopefully to the hotel that we have booked to stay at for the course of our time there. i am going with my friend helen from school. we are going to a teacher workshop that is wednesday through sunday. it is called braingym and has to do with motor activities that stimulate parts of the brain to be more receptive to receiving information. it sounds alternative health like which we all know is up my alley. :) i am excited about the course and hope to learn lots of cool stuff that i can use in the classroom and in life. i am also excited about this being my first trip in asia off the korean peninsula. i have heard many great things about hong kong so i am interested to see my take on the bustling metropolis. the weather is supposed to be warmer which will be a nice change from the cold, brisk weather of seoul. i promise to take lots of pictures and to not be as pokey about posting them for all of you to see.

today was pretty routine......i did not sleep well last night though so i did feel a bit "off" today. i managed to make it through the day though without any major mishaps or disasters. i am pretty organized with a sub coming so i all day i was prepping my kids for my time away and such.

the highlight of the teaching day was having afternoon recess duty in below freezing weather while snowing! wow, it was really, really, really cold out there. i stood in the field with my back to the wind and huddled with some of my girls trying to keep warm. i found that if i did not move my legs much then they would not touch my very cold pants and let air come up from my ankles. the girls were all blaming me that being outside was torture. i just kept watching the clock and reminding them that we can make it just a few more minutes. it was blasted cold and i really began to wonder how all of the kids were okay with being outside in the crazy coldness.

after school i had to run some errands for my trip. i invited lucy and george dornbach to come along which is always fun. i also thought maybe mom and dad could use some "kid-free" time. george and lucy always make me laugh and we have great conversation too. we walked down to edae and got my jeans' new hole stitched up. while waiting we went to smoothie king, then to auntie annie's. we ate our pretzels while sitting in a nearby coffee shop to keep warm. again still really cold outside. we picked up my jeans and headed for the grocery store. i needed to get some cat food and litter before leaving town. it was a fun trip!

here are some thoughts from the day:
"i can't feel my lips!" said katrina, one of the my students, while standing in the huddle on the field during afternoon recess. she was completely serious and if you knew her it would make you laugh, i did!

leg warmers and stir-up leggings pants are making a total come back in the fashion world in korea. scary.......enough said.

"my butt feels tingly," said george while enjoying his orange ka-bam smoothie. wow.....all i could manage to not spit up my drink in laughter. i also told him that i would sleep much better tonight knowing this insightful information. he was proud. :)