At a certain point, you transition from temporary residing in a place to actually living there. I've realized that this shift usually goes unnoticed until something tips you off. In this case, I think it was a solo trip to the night market for dinner one evening. Strolling back to my scooter, greasy night market food in hand, it hit me that I live here. Reinforced the next morning as I went to get soy milk for breakfast and, upon walking in the shop, the woman who works there looked at me, said "cold soy milk?" and went to get it out of the fridge. I hadn't said anything. This is home for now. It's incredible how almost 3 months have passed; on one hand it seems like the weeks are flying by, on the other, I can't believe how much I've learned about the place I'm calling home. My students are finally warming up to me: they run over and grab my hand in the morning when I'm walking through school, you can see them trying to use their English more and more. I'm getting used to the politics of the school and learning how to suggest new ideas and how to put my personality into my teaching. Things are still frustrating, things are still hard at times, but it's nice to see some change and some settling.

I'm going hiking with my 5th graders all day tomorrow, so I'm sure there will be a post about that, but for now, just something to whet your appetite (thanks, momma!).

5th grade vocabulary. Always thrilling.

First grade learning math terms.

Parts of the face. Where is your...um...nose?