The beginnings of a good day…

This morning, I pushed snooze at least 94.7 times. One of those times, I heard the faint buzz of a mosquito in my ear and it never bit me. I finally got up at 7 thinking, “Okay, you need to be out the door at 7:30.” Sounds easy, right? Well, it takes me 10 minutes to brush my teeth. Brushed my teeth, showered, dressed, made tea, and I was out the door at 7:31 without even rushing. A sleeveless cream turtleneck, blue wool cardigan, and a classic Adidas jacket were the perfect combination for the crisp morning air, warmed by the sun of the cloudless sky on my ride to the station. Leaving my street, I spotted the dingy dog at the junky house down the street. I should have taken a picture. Now he’s a pretty big dog but he managed to be standing on this little rectangle of cardboard in the middle of the yard. Just standing there like, “Uh uh, I’m too cute to put these paws on the dewy ground.” The bike lot at the station has been unbelievably full these days and my bike was the fourth to not fit in a space but the attendant said, “Bring it here,” and he made a space for me. At the station in the city where I teach, I stopped at the bakery for some bread. YESSS! It was still hot from the oven!!!

As we all know, I do nothing all day for the most part, so I sat and wrote all my tentative vacation plans in my calendar for the next year. Which has me considering staying around for another year so that I can go to Thailand, Singapore, India, and maybe Australia and France. What do y’all think? If you really miss me, put that aside and make an objective decision! I also started a “Things to Consider in the Very Near Future” list. There are two things on it so far:

1. Working holiday in France or somewhere cool where I can exercise my Mad Phat Language Skills (don’t want my French brain to shrink…my English brain has already shrunk! What, not familiar with the multiple brain concept? Well, it’s in that category of new Tif-science. For example, I have a food stomach that is full sometimes and a cake/ice cream stomach that never gets full!)

2. Master’s in International Education, I think I would make a good study abroad coordinator, or something of the like

Have you noticed the common thread? TRAVEL! Anyway, after jotting down the beginnings of my list, I listened to a French podcast for a little cerebral exercise. I learned that in ski terms “to wax/waxing” is “farter/fartage” in French. During my rigorous exercise (phew!), the principal walked up and asked if the flag on the back of my jacket is a national flag. I said that it’s the flag of my father’s country. He asked if it’s on the east coast or the west coast. I explained that it’s not on either because it’s not in the US, it’s in the Caribbean. Then, he asked if it’s one of the UN countries. I told him that it’s probably not and that it’s a pretty small country. He talked about how he read Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, saying that he’d always wanted to visit the countries in that book and he asked if it was a swordfish that the old man caught. I told him that I think it was either a swordfish or a marlin (is there a difference???). Then he asked me if they could be caught in the sea surrounding Japan. Ok, so here is an example of one of those moments when he’s making a joke that I don’t catch because I’m too busy wondering why he’s asking me a question to which he would be more likely to know the answer!!! It’s the pause after and the cracking of a smile that signal JOKE!!! I typically don’t laugh at things that I don’t think are funny, but for some reason I humor him. I guess I’m just being polite or something…ionno!

Michelle and I texted back and forth a bit. Then, the 2:30 pm sleepies set in…as did the clouds outside. I swear the final hour and 30 minutes is the HARDEST!!! I wish someone would say, “Hey, you’re not doing anything! Go do that at home, or at the mall, or something!”