Book orders, bad internet service and a great weekend on the way

Just a friendly random title for you, to be matched by a friendly random blog entry! It has been a pretty good week here in Hong Kong. There is this very engaging story regarding my internet installation experience, but I'm going to skip that because it's wearisome and there are more fun things to talk about. For example, this week I got a baby oven, a microwave, and even a beautiful pan for banana bread! Now how FUN is that?! So I baked cookies and, of course, in honor of Miss Banana Bread herself (Shannon B.), a fruity fun loaf of banana bread. Also in the fun department, my Grandma called me on my cel phone on Sunday morning. It sounded crystal clear and it was so good to hear her voice again.
Apparently we had an earthquake yesterday. People say it shook buildings. It was only 3.5- and I never felt a thing, but it was good to be on the first floor during that time rather than the 32nd. It is raining a lot here, actually we had a "T1 warning" (typhoon warning) on Wednesday. I was soaked when I arrived at school, and I realized an umbrella is not useful during this kind of weather. Things blow sideways. It is also very polluted right now, which I don't enjoy very much. Take in a big breath of fresh air for me, put it in a bag and send it to me okay?! I could use some fresh air!
In the not so clever part of the blog, we move on to my very poor morning habits. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yesterday I had an unfortunate classic moment- you know, one of those, "ooops, I meant to hit the snooze button but I hit the off button". Emphasize the OOPS. I woke up at 7:35am and staff devotions begin at 7:45. I don't remember those ten precious minutes. Everything happened at 16x the normal speed of morning routine. It was actually extremely impressive. Yes, I made it. What an adventure, what a rush (not highly recommended)!
On the teaching side of things, we are settling in to a routine in the classroom. Do you remember Scholastic book orders? I used to LOVE book orders when I was in school. The usual choice was an epic Berenstain Bears book. I love the Berenstain Bears. They taught me all about junk food, messy rooms, baseball, and even being spoiled! Yes, siblings, you have Mama and Papa Bear to thank for my very good behavior. :)
Anyway, it felt special to be the teacher doing the ordering. I'm a teacher! :) I'm pretty pumped about this (the teaching part mostly, though Scholastic is cool too). I'm really excited about learning and becoming a better teacher. There are SO MANY things to get better at! But the possibilities are exciting, and I am enjoying the process of setting out some goals for myself. My favorite part of the week was starting up my writing program. I love teaching writing, though I think it is quite challenging.
Anyway, I have one student who will always be the one to say (after sitting there for a few minutes), "Miss McMillan (in his lispy voice), I don't know what to write. I have no ideas". Hmmmm. So then we will have a brainstorming conversation and maybe we will get somewhere, or maybe not. This happens frequently...."I have nothing to write". This week they were writing "personal memoirs" (half of them wrote about trips to Disneyland). My buddy went from having "nothing to write", to the next day, bringing back four pages of writing, and he just couldn't stop talking about every little part of his trip to Disneyland....like he'd come up to my desk and tell me ALL about it. :) It was sweet though. I dig those moments as a teacher....the "LOOK! You did it! You're totally capable!" moments.
The parents of my students have been so good. This week I had three notes of encouragement- "We are praying for you". That's a pretty neat thing.
This weekend has the potential for fun. Two birthday dinners and one beach party. Sounds good, hey?
Oh, and the other fun thing this week was some exciting news from home....fun, fun, fun!!! But I'll let that person go ahead and blog it!!!
Have a good weekend, Canada!!!