First Day Free of the Preschool

I slept in until 8am. It was fantastic! I woke up, had breakfast, hand washed some shirts I was bleaching, and then headed off for a nice long bike ride. It wasn't as long as I would have liked it to be, but I was out of the house for a good 3 hours.

First place I went was Carrefour to see if they had a disposable waterproof camera for snorkeling on Thursday. Unfortunately they did not have the camera, but I had a good time wandering around that store. While I was walking around, I figured it out. Carrefour is a combination between a WalMart and an IKEA. I was very tempted to buy a CD, but wasn't quite sure which one to pick up. I would have bought an English one, just because it has the Chinese characters on the front, and they're only like $9 US instead of how ever much they are back home. But, like I said, I couldn't decide which one to pick up so I just looked.

As long as I was out as far as I was, I decided to go to ChiHsing Tan Beach. I forgot that there was a big hill. I was actually pretty impressed with myself at how easily I went up the hill. It long, but it was gradual so I was okay. But, when I crested the hill, there was a really steep downhill and I was not looking forward to going up that on the way back. The beach was beautiful but I only stayed to enjoy it for like 40 minutes. I rolled up my pants and walked into the water and wanted so desperately to jump in. The water felt phenomenal. I also spent time looking for matching rocks. Teacher Steffanie told me that if I ever went to ChiHsing Tan and looked for two rocks that were about the same size and color, she would help me turn them into earrings. It is not easy to match rocks! I spent a while digging around for some white rocks and finally I had to settle on some. On the way back to my bike I stopped and took a few pictures of a rest area that I think is sometimes also a water play area. Again, I impressed myself by making it up the steep steep hill and headed back to the apartment.

I wasn't that tired, and I would have gone biking around more, but I had only brought one water bottle and it was all gone. I thought today was going to be rainy and so I didn't think that I would get that hot and thirsty. Boy was I wrong. It was so hot today and I got so red. I was wearing a shirt with long short sleeves (don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about) and so a little over half of my arms are red, my face is red, and the shirt had a high neck line so only a little bit of my neck is red, but any other shirt I wear, you can tell right away that I got sun. I have to have to have to remember that no matter what I think the temperature is going to be like, I need to wear sunscreen. Why do I have to keep learning that lesson the hard way? (I know, it's because I'm dense.)

When I got back, I sat down and checked my email and then headed out to lunch. The sister missionaries told Luke and Kaylene about a really good Curry restaurant. I went to check it out today. Yep, it is a good one, I finally found one, and it's almost time to go. I figured out why I hadn't liked any of the ones I've had, they weren't Indian curry. The place I went to today is owned by a man from India and so he makes Indian curry. Amy is getting baptised on Saturday, and I just found out that we're going to have lunch with the missionaries that day and that we're going to be going to the Curry House. Fine by me, I'll just try a different one, not a problem!

I came back from lunch and talked to Teacher Steffanie to see if she could read the email I got that I was pretty sure said that my hotel was full and I couldn't make reservations. The email did in fact say that the hotel was full but that they wanted me to choose another hotel. Teacher Steffanie told me that I should reply and tell them that I'm American and don't speak Chinese. I did send back an email saying that I don't read Chinese and so later today I got an email that apologized and again told me that the hotel is full, but at least I have my flight. So, I'm for sure going. I'm not sure as of yet where I'm staying, but they have to have it worked out within a week's time because I'm going!!!!!!! I guess the travel agency tried to call earlier today, but I was out. Natalie answered and told them I wasn't there but I would be back later. They told her they would try to call back around 3pm. So, instead of going back out and exploring (with more water in my basket this time) after lunch, I staid and waited for the call. It didn't come. That's kind of frustrating, but I think that actually talking to them would have been frustrating as well, seeing as I don't speak Chinese :o)

I had tutoring today, and after tutoring Amy came over and Amy, Natalie, and I went out to dinner. We went to a buffet type place. Not the all you can eat kind, but the kind where you load up stuff on a tray and then at the end they tell you how much you owe. I don't like that kind. It happened again, where I got less food then Natalie (last time it was less food then Nancy) but we still paid the same amount. The food was good, but it wasn't anything that I don't have all the time and so I wasn't that excited to spend that much on dinner. But, the company was good, so dinner was most definitely worth it.

On Saturday the Relief Society activity is tie-dying. If you're doing a shirt, it's pretty easy and you can get it done all on Saturday. But a table cloth is more complicated and so a bunch of us met at the church tonight to start working on it. I had to leave dinner a little early so that I could run back home and grab Beth, and we were still late. I had a fun time, and I'm actually excited to see how mine turns out. I love to do crafts, but usually even with my best effort, it turns out WAY crappy. I sketched out my idea on the cloth, and the sketch didn't turn out half bad, so I actually have hope in this project. I've still got a lot of sewing to do before Saturday, but I think I'll manage, it helps that I don't have to teach anymore :o) And that's been my day, and my night. The pictures are all from ChiHsing Tan. I took my camera to dinner and to the activity, but I'm terrible at actually pulling it out so I didn't get any pictures ;o(

Oh yeah, and I have a job waiting for me when I get back to school in the Fall. I finally sent my old emplyer an email asking if I could come back. She wrote back right away that she would love to have me back. Yes! That helps out so much to not have to try to start school and hunt down a flexible job that will let me set my own hours.