sixteen designers

keith reminded me tonight that the secret says that your thoughts create your reality and today, the grouch i've been to him all week and the negativity that has sprung from that kept coming at me all day today. i've been bummed that i'm losing my closest friend here soon and i've been kind of minchy and distant with him as a defense mechanism i guess. anyway, i learned my lesson today.

woke up early to go to a workshop about teaching outside classes, which are classes at local elementary/middle/high schools and some businesses. a bunch of us were leaving at 9, josh didn't come upstairs, we sent justin to knock on his door and justin accidentally knocked on the wrong door because he didn't know where josh's room was (which we didn't find out until later), so we assumed he overslept. so josh met up with us at the train station and was super mad that we left without him. that was negative thing #1.

i'm naturally gossipy and i spread some gossip that was kind of mean spirited and now i feel bad about it. negative thing #2.

steve and i got on the bus to daryuan and it was super crowded so we had to stand the whole way and it was really hot and sweat was dripping all down my back, my hair was plastered to my head, and i felt generally awful. #3.

as i was about to get off the bus, this old woman uses sign language, more or less, to tell me that steve and i have long noses, and asks if we're together. i say no. she gets off the bus with me, pulls on my shirt to get me to stop walking, whips out her change purse and sticks out her hand. she was doing this weird hand motion that looked to me like 55, so i just gave her 55NT, hoping that she would leave, but she just kept doing it. so i walked away. it sounds stupid, but on a day when i already felt bad, this moment of bizarreness just made me feel worse. #4.

i get up to the teacher's lounge in the school and as i'm opening my school bag and as josh and derek are telling me how ridiculous i am after i tell them the story about the old woman, i'm thinking 'the only way this day could get worse is if i somehow forgot to bring my lesson plans.. but that would be ridiculous because i've never forgotten them before' and sure enough, they weren't in my bag. i left them on my bed. #5.

the list goes on and on. it was just not a good day.

but it did remind me that if you think bad thoughts, bad things will happen, so i'm done feeling like this. tomorrow is going to be wonderful. i'm at a school that i like, with fun coteachers, and it will be good.

in other news... i learned how to say 'hot vanilla latte' today at latini's. it sounds to me like 'le chang chao na cheeay.'
and we had an air raid drill from 2:30-3 today and you couldn't leave your house. all cars had to stop. no one could walk around outside, and there were apparently sirens although i couldn't hear them over the Jack Johnson in latini's.
nicky, the owner of the spa i go to, came to latini's for lunch with some friends and she talked to me for a little bit. she wants to speak chinese next time i go so i can practice. she's really nice.