awkward and awesome

awkward

-the hair on those legs.  is it a man? is it a woman? what? at least they're being waxed.  that's the moral of the story Europe.

- walking innocently down the street and suddenly being quacked at by a grown man.  he thought it was hilarious when all three of us ducked for cover.  good one.
-my new found talent is pulling the handle off of every door that i try to open.  i guess we could blame that on the screws to the handle not being quite screwed in but....it always happens to ME so that excuse is questionable.  and going to walk out of my bedroom in the middle of the night to pee and the handle coming off = a bad situation.  and being IN the bathroom (which is the size of a tiny coat closet) and being successful at taking that handle off as well consequently trapping myself.....well that's just an awkward story of its own.
-our shower curtain.  first of all it sticks to your body if you come within 4 inches of it.  my butt has been suction cupped to that thing more times than i'd like to confess to my roommates.  second of all, when water and steam build up in the bathroom (as would naturally happen during a shower) it loses all its strength to stay on the wall.  those showers where i'm standing there and it just drops to the floor, those are my favorite.  and then having to shower hugging the wall so that i don't get water all over the place, that's also my favorite.
-walking into a room and accidentally (but confidently) saying, "thank you!" instead of "hello".
-ignas, one of the students, stripping in class.  he just loves it.  yesterday i told him if he took his shirt off one more time he would get a strike (if they get three strikes during the day they don't get a prize at the end so its a big deal you know?).  well i felt like stripping was a strong enough offense to receive a strike.  so in the next class he's begging......"teacher pleeeeeease, i this? (motioning to take his shirt off), one more time??"
-noodles and carrots and hot dogs for breakfast.   99% of the time we get some kind of porridge or cream of wheat sort of mush for breakfast but on the days when they bring out noodles and cut up carrots and hot dogs i just think....really?

awesome

-how nicole's hip do not lie while she's leading the milk song in this video;

-when the students are actually understanding us.  it's hard for the new kids to come into a classroom where the teacher isn't speaking one word in your own language and neither are the other students.  but when they pick up on something, its glorious. armandas, one of the students is new.  he's been in class about a month.

so every day we go through the rules and the students have to repeat them. one day when teacher jaclyn was going through the rules she says "rule number 2, eyes on the teacher". he stops her and says, "what's your name?"  jaclyn responds with her name and then armandas repeats the rule back to her as, "eyes on the jaclyn!"  he gets it!  after one month! love it. 

-getting mail.  feels like christmas.
-i went running the other day, as i've been trying to keep up while i'm here.  it started raining while i was own a side road a little bit outside of the main streets area.  an old woman stopped her car and asked if i needed a ride.  i opted to keep running but she was very concerned. not sure if her concern was that i was running in the rain or just that i was running at all.....either way, she had my back.
-just about everyone that is able to has a garden and a green house.  one of the parents of our students brought us apples picked from his tree.
-figuring out how to watch the office online since netflix doesn't work here. that was a happy day for me. my nonstop office marathons shall continue.
-figuring out imovie. i'm currently working on both a video of my china trip and a video of the lithuania trip.  this is going to be good.
-riding bikes.  i forgot how much i love it.  so santa.....my current wish list is a hair straightener and a bike please.

Evan

This is Evan. I watch him and his little brother a couple times a week.

He is 9.  He's really smart and good at school.  

He wants to be an actor.

Or a lawyer.

He started a Big Foot Club. Believing in Big Foot is a requirement and yes, when asked if I wanted to join I said, "definitely I do."  Evan even heard Big Foot while he was in the woods so don't be so quick to judge.  He's out there.

He also break dances.  I definitely need to capture that on video one of these days. But....Evan did ask to show off for the camera with some of his other talents.  So I obliged.  

I kinda love when someone is showing off and then totally embarrasses themselves. Don't you?

Awesome Today

LuciusArt found here

Last night I was feeling motivated that in the morning I would wake up just a little bit earlier and do a 20 minute workout and be awesome.  I know right.  But I guess I forgot that I actually don't do things like that.  So my alarm went off.  And then 5 minutes later again.  And then again.  So instead I rolled out of bed at the time that I normally am walking out the door for work...oops. Ah well. It was a nice try.

So I figured once I got done with work I would make up for that work out.  Long story short I ended up in bed once again. I liked cozy a little too much. Nice try again. 

But you know those friends you have that you kinda avoid cause they're serious party pooopers. The ones who have a hard day...every day. And they love to tell you about it.  I mean every day their dog died. (How many dogs do they really have?)  I am on a mission to never be one of those friends.  Yes I know I haven't washed my jeans in awhile and they are giving me saggy butt, but its still a good day.

Awesome things today

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1. Listening to a voicemail during work of my best sister Jamie serenading me.  My laughter made my friend at work curious enough to listen in and pretty sure it made her day awesome too. 

2. My lunch.  I love food and it was good okay. 

3. Doing something right and productive and my boss acknowledging by saying and I quote, "You are awesome."  Yes, yes I am.  

4. My coworker walking in to work with a box of cookies from the best bakery. And I choose a double fudge one.  I told you, I love food.

5. Some guy was walking around Walmart with pieces of kleenex stuck up his nose.  You know when you have a bloody nose and you're laying in bed with your head propped up nose stuffed with kleenex feeling not so sexy.  Like that. Except he was walking around Walmart. Okay maybe not so awesome but definitely noteworthy.  And courageous.  

6. Another noteworthy couple walking around Walmart sporting their British accents.  I have a definite love affair with the way they talk.  I stalked them for a little while, following just close enough to hear but stealthily enough not to be caught.  Oh how those Brits make me smile.

7. I did a little DIY project at home and it turned out pretty cool if I do say so.  I'd show ya but, I have a feeling this may turn into a Christmas project so we'll keep that under wraps until the 26th.  But lets just say I transfered a photo onto a canvas.  Pretty nifty eh?  

8. Playing soccer with Perry, my little friend that I get paid to be friends with.  He was the goalie and laughed his tiny tushie off every time I kicked it hard and nailed him with the ball. Who knew my athletic abilities against a 5 yr old were so hilarious?  

9. Hot shower before bed. Shaved legs (let's be real. Its winter and this isn't a daily thing.)  Okay confession....I was trying to type occurance on the last sentence but I can't figure out how to spell it right.  So instead I settled for the word thing.  Good replacement word.  

I hope you were awesome today too.

if you need a little giggle today...

Found here.

ooh la la

These pillows are so fun right?  I just love the idea of them and you can find so many different options here by alexandraferguson on Etsy.com.