Leaving on a jet plane...

I can't really believe I'm leaving in less than 12 hours. My suitcase is packed, but as usual I keep wondering what important thing I forgot to put in it. It's amazing how much more exciting and nerve-wracking it is to travel when you have no idea what is waiting for you at the other end of the flight. Flying to Minnesota is like a commute now; I know the airport, I know the transit system, I know I have people to call and see when I get there. This is totally like stepping off a cliff. It's terrifying, and at the same time it doesn't feel real at all.

Okay, terribly sorry for not updating this at all. Seriously. Although it's kinda self-centered to think that anyone is dying to know what's going on in my life. Oh well. I like it when other people update their blogs, so I'm going to assume that someone will be pleased to see this.

Anyway, the show went really well. It was amazing actually, how well it went. Obviously there were a few mishaps, but I had a really good team helping me out (the lighting guy saved the day at least 5 times - it would have sucked to do the show in the dark and it almost came to that) and the kids were great. I couldn't believe how in 2 months I could go from struggling to learn their names to really feeling like a proud mama watching them up there on the stage. An amazing feeling. I can't fully describe how wonderful it felt to see all our hard work come to fruition.

So then I took a day to sleep and clean and pack and stuff and came back to Mac. It's weird being here without classes, and camping out in Namara's dorm room, but I'm actually getting into the swing of it. I thought I was going to be bored, or feel bad about distracting people from doing work, but I've been busy! Reading really good (and some not-so-good) books, researching grad schools (way hard and frustrating as all get out), and writing reports for my students (even harder - writing to the parents about how their kid was in class is an exercise in serious diplomacy sometimes). But it's also really nice to see the people who were abroad last semester, and hang out with AME people, and just relax after working 9-hour days for 2 months. And to talk to people who have critical thinking skills and who care about interesting intellectual topics rather than the constant "omg" of who-likes-who middle school conversations.

I've also got my visa for Thailand, and I'm facebook friends with the other 2 girls on my program, so I'm beginning to anticipate what the next few months might be like. We'll be stayng in student housing somewhere in the city, and taking classes at an English-speaking university in Bangkok, but other than that I really don't know what to expect! Very exciting.

Hope you're all doing well!