So I'm bugged. As hard as it already is to keep up with people back home, blogger has now been blocked. I will do my best to still put up the occasional post, but if you find my posts even fewer and farther between, now you know why.

Tonight is the last night of our Middle School play. It has actually turned out to be pretty great! The audiences seem to love it, and it's fun to see the kids so excited. But boy am I exhausted. This is one play I will not be sad to have over! Bug Nathan for a video-we're hoping he'll get one done so we can share this fun and light play with those back home. The cast and crew has really worked hard to put it all together and they've done a great job!

So much to do...

It's amazing how many things I would love to blog about and never have the time. Like my student that is amazing at art (she's been accepted to all but one of the top art schools in the USA) and can carry on three conversations at once-in three different languages! Or about learning characters--and how incredibly interesting if not so amazingly difficult it is. Or about the wonderful weather and pink spring blossoms we're having right now. Or about funny mishaps, like accidentally telling a chinese couple a fellow teacher was my husband--that's what I get for trying to speak completely in Chinese! However, it seems to always be a war between sleep and blogging...and the sleep option has a better offense.

Next week is our Middle School play, and we're all very excited about it! I wish I could say that it's all coming together beautifully...unfortunately not so. Things a progressing a mite slowly for my tastes, but I think it's still going to be awesome. The kids are really working hard, and we have some great musical numbers--not to mention our amazing sets! Believe it or not I've been wallpaper and sponge painting for the past several days! Our set includes two houses and a real car so it's really quite neat. However, my job from here on out only gets harder. As the lead artist, I am in charge of costumes, backgrounds, make-up, and hair. With 50 students (and many double cast) that means more than eighty costumes and hair styles. And we're not just talking a costume change between teacher and dad--we're talking between grandma and punk! I also need to get several mustaches made, a schedule created for costume changes, finish the sets, and purchase last minute costume items.

On the bright side, thanks to advice from a friend, I did nothing but rest last night-and we even went in late to school by a taxi. This means I got 8 1/2 hours of sleep! I can't remember the last time that happened. One more week...

Unfortunately, that's not really true. As soon as the play is over, I begin teaching sex ed, which means I need to review the material, make changes to better fit our students, set up some volunteers for a panel, find volunteers for small groups, and train the male teacher. And after that comes finals! Well, at least I can say only four and a half more weeks of school! Really I'll be sad for the year to end. In an international community, we'll be losing more than just our seniors. Not to mention the many students who will be switching schools due to the economy or college prep, we'll also lose some teachers. But we have many new ones coming, so that's exciting. And my parents are coming this summer, so there's much to look forward to this summer!