Happy Halloween! TGIF! What a double whammy!

I was mobbed today by kids looking for candy- it blows my mind what the chocolate does to students... good thing I only do this once a year! Check my photo page for shots of my pumpkin cookies (as I told the students: pumpkin shaped, pumpkin color, NOT pumpkin flavor) and the costumes the students came up with. The best one was actually Jaclyn, who dressed as a pirate, I didn't get a very good shot of her so I'll try again at her school's Halloween assembly in a couple weeks. I also was pretty darn cute as a Christmas tree, complete with a gold star on my head. Oops... didn't get a shot of that one either, shucks!

This week has been exhausting. I'm not sure what it is- probably a combination of the changing weather, excitement over Halloween, the shadow of a cold, and having two tests to be thinking of at once (driving & Japanese). I also started thinking more concretely about my upcoming vacation: we fly to Thailand on November 22nd and haven't yet chosen an itinerary. Tomorrow, Tom's flying back from business in Shanghai and we have vowed to decide whether to go trek up North in the hill tribe area (hiking, rafting, caves, elephant rides) or hang out on an island (beaches, kayaking, bungalows). We will be touring Bangkok (the capital) the day we arrive and our last day, and have also loosely committed to checking out the city of Ayutthaya, the old capital (full of ancient temples and Buddha scupltures). I spent some time with my guide book this week and I'm really excited. I was positively drooling over the food descriptions!! If any of you who've been there have any advice... I would definitely appreciate some!!!

I think another aspect of my exhaustion is the fact that my job is one where I am literally doing entertainment/public presentations every single day. I stand up in front of my kids and every class, the re-decide whether they think English (and I) am cool, interesting, confusing, moronic, etc... or not. Some times I dread heading to school because I would rather have a day back in cubicle land in Chicago where I could hide behind (granted short) walls and a phone and a computer screen and the only people I actually had to talk to were my peers who were generally also friends. It is so hard to keep up the "happy and engaged/ing teacher" act 8 hours a day, 5 hours a week. It makes me wonder about teaching back home, but I know that there will be so many differences that its hard to imagine. For instance, I will have my own classes that I will see more than once a week... and it will be my choice how to lead class. A huge factor, of course, will be the fact that at home everyone will be speaking in English... I won't have to worry that I'm not being understood. Here, I work so damn hard to be interesting because if they don't get it... the kids will turn off their attention in about ten seconds. I just wish I could hide some days!! And then I feel so guilty for feeling that way... I mean the point in me being here is to motivate these kids to want to learn English, explore other cultures.. how can I do that if I don't appear totally excited about the topic??

Just something I've been working through as of late... again, comments welcome. If I don't make sense... don't worry I'll try again another day. ;)