Fruit, Little Guys, No Sneaking Out, and Weather

One of my current plans, which I have been doing for a while off and on is stopping at one of the stores on Mondays to see what fruit they may have. Some times you hit it really good, and it's never the same things on hand. I found some strawberries this week. It cost $6 for a pack (as they are shipped in), but it was worth the splurge. Nice addition to my banana with a peanut butter sandwich that night. Nice looking strawberries and good taste, if I do say. I still have some lovely oranges and apples I can pick up at another store. Ole reliable. Apples and bananas are two of my favorites, but I enjoy just about any other fruit now. Can't even think of a list of fruits I've tried I wasn't particularly feeling.

So, there are still some bats flying around every now and then near the new place. As I was relaxing in the living room Monday night reading and a little working on a puzzle, I watched a few swoop in the back. :-) There are still some little guys that want to share our living space - geckos, ants, and the occasional roach and centipede. There was one roach that sat on the wall above the sink almost all afternoon. Hannah didn't realize these big guys were what were actually living in the bathroom Andrea and I shared at the other place. Big roaches. haha I found a centipede crawling around in the garage Tuesday morning during my workout, and, at first, I was going to let him be. Then, I decided I better throw him out before he creeps up while I'm not paying attention. Centipede bites are not fun and often result in swelling. Avoiding that at all costs.

So, yes... a lot of the little quirks that made our place in Pava'ia'i what it is are still with us in Malaeimi - all Samoa. Just don't have my hammock hanging on the porch anymore, but I got a lot of good use out of it and will some more in the future.

Woke up right away as my alarm sounded Tuesday morning for my workout, and then I had a little time to do some reading before making the walk to school. As I was exercising, I could hear rain pounding and I kept thinking, "I sure hope this lets up by the time we head for school." It was still raining when we walked out of the house, but not heavy. I did put on a rain poncho this time, though. I had a shirt on that shows water badly and I wanted to keep everything in my backpack extra dry. I've had a few of those plastic ponchos sitting in my room all year, but hadn't broke down and used one yet. I did Tuesday. Used the one with "Huskers" written all over it sent by one of my best friends in a fun care package. Definitely got some looks and stares along the way, but I don't care. Walked about 10 minutes, and then luck came our way. One of the counselors at our school drove by, noticed us, picked us up, and gave us a lift saving us 20 more minutes of walking in the rain. Like I said, nothing heavy, but enough to get you wet. Not worth a short bus trip, though.

Reviewed some basic science vocabulary in all of my classes Tuesday, as I have decided to put some of it on the mid-term. I wrote both of my mid-terms, as well, and this one includes more short-answer and definition. May take me a little longer to grade, but I want to try it out. Wanted to make sure we had some general definitions for these words, but I don't expect word for word regurgitations on the exam. Vocabulary is also a good foundation for learning other material. The more words you know, the more things you can understand. Went pretty well. I can't believe almost every class managed to stay on task two days in a row. Maybe it's the whole "we're one week away from mid-terms" thing... so time to buckle down.

First period tends to write faster than the other classes and ask fewer questions, so we often finish a little earlier, which can be good and bad. Most of them handled it well today, but I had a few who kept thinking they could sneak out. Having none of that. I told the three who tried it after I explicitly said stay seated until the bell rings that they were going to wait until everyone else left the room first now. One student took a little longer, and one was trying to taunt them, which was slightly okay with me. They were going to learn their lesson. One kept giving me lip back and yelling at the others to hurry up. "Alright then, sir,  you get to sit here even longer with me." He was not too happy about it but finally cooled down, and I hope his brain made the connection as I explained why he was still in my classroom. Granted only 6 minutes after the bell rang, not 10 or 15 minutes. "Had you simply followed the directions given at the beginning, this wouldn't have even been an issue. Then, you made it worse for yourself with your attitude and talking back to me. Now have a nice afternoon, and I'll see you tomorrow."

Then, I headed to a nice Zumba class. It's always nice when they change up the order of the songs. We pounded more  quick ones straight through from the beginning and then slowing down toward the end. One routine we did Tuesday was a bollywood style that we had not done in quite a while. Fun to change it up and revisit that style.

Definitely cooler Tuesday and Wednesday as it rained most of the day Tuesday, through the night, and off and on again on Wednesday. I feel like I should actually feel colder since I've grown so used to the hot temperatures, but I have quite enjoyed these cooler days. Still no urge to put on a hoodie, thankfully as I didn't bring one with me. One of the girls at Zumba asked me if I was cold standing in my sweaty tank top and capris after class, but I surprisingly wasn't. I did sleep under my sheet almost all night and had the windows shut (because of the rain and wind). Interesting change. A little cool off is refreshing. One nice thing about some of the extra rain here. Although, the weather is messing with my sinuses again, though. haha Something I'm rather used to in life, so no biggie. Maybe I will get it all straightened out one of these days.

I laid out a few more of my expectations for the mid-term exam during class Wednesday and decided to give an extra credit opportunity. A few students took advantage of it, but many didn't use the time. Their choice, but I still wanted to make the opportunity available for those who wanted to work for it. The others weren't disruptive, so it was a win-win situation for Miss Boschen today. Another smooth day for the most part, which was nice for a Wednesday.

My body felt tired most of the day Wednesday.  Wednesday tends to be my tired day, as I think I have mentioned before. Part of it may be due to my feeling a tad under the weather again, or sinus pressure and neck pain. I've accepted that Wednesday is a slightly sluggish day for me, but then it's downhill after that. Coasting on through to mid-terms. A fun presentation lined up for Thursday, finish a natural disaster video Friday, guest speaker Monday, and then it's review and administering mid-terms. After I finish grading and submit those by Friday, it will be time to relax a bit while Spring Break begins. Then, end of the semester will be on the horizon.

A few of my senior students during 4th period mentioned I looked sick describing dark circles under my eyes and a pale face. Oye. Maybe that explains some of the extra sluggish feeling. One of them said, "You work too hard." haha I felt a little weird last night, so decided to sleep in and save my workout for later in the day. Hopefully I look better tomorrow - not so under the weather. Sort of hard to know what exactly I look like in the morning without a mirror. Hannah's bathroom has the only mirror as hers is the master. I could pick one up, but something I figured I could live without and save myself a few bucks. I do have small mirror I brought with me. Not a big deal, although does seem weird sometimes without a mirror in the bathroom. I'm so used to one, but I have learned it is easy to get used to NOT having things, too - like hot running water :-)

I will say that I felt significantly better and more energized after some exercise. Got those endorphins kicking. I got a little Core Cardio and Balance in to make up for not exercising this morning and some yoga with my girls. A few of my muscles were sore, but it still felt good to get them moving. As I write this before I head to Zumba, I have a feeling I may be ready to crash after dinner tonight, though. Definitely have fallen into a little routine that includes some reading, chilling, and music before falling asleep. It was interesting to look at my daily routine as I wrote up a little profile for an upcoming newsletter article. I am one of the co-editors with Melanie for our little teacher cohort. I have been saving each issue on my computer and will be more than happy to share them when I'm back if anyone is interested.