Monday, September 5

back to reality

so apparently catching up on life is a lot more tiresome than i imagined. but i think, one week later, we're good. it also helps that today is labor day, so we've had an extra-long weekend to recover.

i think regular life in an of itself wouldn't have taken so long to adjust back to, but i also started a new job last week, so that may have added to the chaos. just a bit. i'm teaching at eStem, a charter school down-town, in their prime time classes. these are classes that are offered to all of the students after the regular school day. i've got first grade fine arts. fun. times.

when i say "first grader", i think of someone way older than hiba. because if they were close to hiba's age, that wold mean that i would need to be thinking about school options, realizing that she's growing up, etc. but when i say "6 year-old", i don't think of someone way older than hiba - i think of someone a little older than hiba. maybe i should have thought of this before i took this job. ha.

really, it's working out well. the hours are great, i found a babysitter who can come here, it gives me a few hours out of the house each day, it gives me more lists and plans to make (yay!), and it really is fun. of course, the first day was awful and overwhelming and terrible, but each day has gotten exponetionally better, so i'm optimistic. i'm trying to do more than just arts & crafts each day and it is amazing how much these kids want to learn. it's also amazing how much they want to talk, wrestle, pick their noses, and make fart noises with their armpits.

so that's a new development. i'm going to add in going to the gym and hopefully seeing other human beings this week, since last week was mainly survival mode. but i think it'll work. i'm a little ahead on lesson plans, i've got our schedule down, so here we go.

the weekend was a much welcomed break. we actually had no plans, which was amazing. we spent a good part of saturday and sunday working on our yard. the front actually looks good. it still needs some work, but i'm not embarrassed when i drive by. the back - well, it's got a ways to go. but we did make some improvements and it's not a complete toddler trap, so i'm not afraid to let hiba and matthias out there by themselves. now today, jason is working a short day, so we've got more time to relax and gear up for the week.

so that's what we've been up to and where we've been. i'll get back to china posts - we've got some good stories and pictures that i'm sure you're dying to hear and see. stay tuned!

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