Got my Jackie Chan going

Friday 5-10 -13

This morning was a very productive one! I did sleep in a little which was really nice but was still up and ready by 8:00am. I wanted to go run or get some activity in but after looking at the empty water jug, I knew I needed to prioritize especially because the Water room isn't open Saturday – Sunday. Kelly QQed me and let me know that she was going to be in her office this morning so I wanted to make sure I head down there to say hello since I hardly ever get to see her because I am always at a different kindergarten. It was good to be able to talk to her thought because we got lots of things worked out. First off, the Bruce thing works out perfectly. A student and their parents will pick me up like a home visit. Teachers are allowed on home visits by themselves. And we will go to the pool and swim. It just so happens Bruce will be there and I can say hi to him and swim laps! It works out perfectly. Also, Kelly got me a full sports uniform (the jacket and pants) and told Lee that I wanted to get a legit China TKD uniform so he is going to get one for me this weekend!! YES!

After talking with Kelly, I walked back to my room and did some sweeping and got ready to do some journal writing when Bailey came in and asked if I knew how to make Jell-O so we could make a Jell-O cake for Cherish's birthday. I remember mom making Jell-O and from my kid brain, the worst part about it was having to wait so it shouldn't be too hard right? So I closed my lap top and off we went to our kitchen to try to figure this stuff out.

Bailey is a really cool girl. A breath of fresh air, and I’m so glad that she was able to come. We laughed pretty hard after we did stupid thing after stupid thing but made it through after we realized that the first cup of boiling water was safe to use but maybe we turned our first batch of Jell-O poisonous after putting 1 cup of cold tap water into the mix... oops. So now what? We poured the whole mixture back into the pan and boiled the whole thing and hoped that it gets Jello-e cuz it would be a shame to waste that! We made 3 other flavors in different sized bowls and stuck them in my fridge after spilling a good amount around the kitchen. O well, it’s all cleaned up now and we had fun.

We headed down to a delicious lunch that blew me away. It tasted almost like sweet and sour chicken from Panda express only the chicken was perfectly cooked potatoes! If it was basking in oil or not, I couldn't tell and that was probably the best part! Mmmm! So yummy!

I headed back upstairs to hear that we had a dance practice at 1:00... ugh!! we have our end of semester performance to practice for! Dang it. I wanted to practice my nanchaku, not happy feet it across campus. But, mandatory means mandatory so off we went. It actually wasn't so bad! Hannah was my partner and she is a goof ball so we fed off of each other and were crazy adding jazz hands and a little skip here and there just to spice things up ;) we danced around for an hour in the nice warm weather and actually worked up a little bit of a sweat!

After our dance party/practice, we all headed upstairs and heard talk of the Beach. I was cool with going but I had talked to Lee before about practicing and did NOT want to leave him hanging. This right here was a pivotal moment in the history of Dellany. For anyone who knows me, you will know just how much I love doing the nanchaku and practicing with Lee. I told the group I wasn't going to the beach just in case I got a QQ from Lee. I sat on my bed waiting and 5min later sure enough got one that said “where are you?” I was down at the class room in 10min. Lee still had classes going on so I just go in my little corner and practice away while he teaches. When he has a min he comes over and has me show him what I have been doing and either gives me thumbs up, laughs or tells me what I’m doing wrong and then I fix it and keep going. Usually when he laughs it’s because I almost hit myself in the face and can’t control the weird noises that come out of my mouth when I try to avoid a near life threatening encounter with flying metal. Especially because today I was working on over the head passes. This time I was able to practice for 3 hours and really got my Jackie Chan on! Especially after feeling so down and hopeless earlier this week, it really gave me a boost of self-confidence when he told me to get my phone and recorded me and then told me to watch and said “so cool!” after I was done watching he pulled out his phone and had me do my routine again and after watching it he gave me a thumbs up and said “learn more.” haha Yes Sir! Too bad I don’t have my ariel down because that’s what he wanted me to do in my next pass... yeah, Lee is a ninja. He settled for a one handed cartwheel lucky for me and I kept on practicing. Finally, classes were over and I was about to head on out when I remembered that I brought him an American dollar! I pulled it out and handed it to him when he said “dollar” yes, you know it all, there goes any English I was hoping to teach you when he knew “money” “I want to buy that” and all sorts of phrases. So finally I decided to pull out the face on the dollar, I told him “this is our first president.” and he said “Washington” freak man! You know everything! One day, I hope to be half as cool as Lee. I headed back to the apartments and realized I had practiced through dinner but it was definitely worth it. Everyone was back from the beach already because I guess it was pretty cold. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and talking. I got to know Bailey a little better and we had more fun with trying to get our Jell-O out of the bowls and to stay stacked up on top of each other... I really hope that Cherish is cool with the whole “it’s the thought that counts” thing.

I was chilling in my room alone as usual when Kristen came in and said “I’m going to do it Dellany! Cut my bangs!” she really wanted me to cut some Chinese bangs (straight across) I was a little nervous at first until she promised she won’t hate me after if she doesn't like it. Once I got her word, I was all for it! The best part about it was that she looks great! I really like them!

Candice came up to talk to me about tomorrow night with going out to eat Pizza with Penny and May. Here comes the problem again about going out with teachers and needing another teacher to come with. Candice asked Rachelle to come with but she never replied so I walked over to talk to her and turns out again, they have plans. Sam and Rachelle are going camping. Well, that’s cool too whatever. Tomorrow is also Cherishes birthday and she insists that we should have a party so Mark said he couldn't go and I was about to have to bail and then Candice told me that Zoe was going! May was going to bring her daughter Zoe! Dang it! Crista ended us saying that she would go cuz Sam and Rachelle was going camping. Sweet! I’m going to see one of my kids out of class! It’s one of the few things I hate about being a kindergarten teacher, outside of class, no students wandering campus saying hello or giving you hugs. And home visits are next to impossible to arrange since they don't exactly speak great English. But tomorrow is going to be awesome because I get to see Zoe.

Candice had to call Bruce to figure out what time I will be done and how I will meet up at the pizza place and figured out I will go to a bus stop and meet Candice and Crista there so I don't break any rules. Man, it’s tough getting everything worked out and making sure you aren't going to do something wrong and break ILP rules but I guess once someone messes up ... then we all have to adjust. After wandering the halls and talking to people, I am ready to call it a night. Sam isn't back yet so I am wondering if I am going to have a quiet night and early/loud morning! Who knows! Time will tell! My legs are starting to cramp up and my back is so sore from water carrying and 3 hours of nanchaku, I’m going to feel it tomorrow!

Goodnight!