August 4th is here already

When I left school on June 28th I knew it was a shorter holiday this year because of the Olympic scheduling but I didn't realize exactly how short. It seems like I just turned around and it is time to go back to school.

Of course, when I look at everything I have done and the countries I visited then I know I did have a lovely vacation. But it still seems to have flown by and here we are again ready to start another year. Now to be perfectly honest, I only have to work for 5 days and then I get the two weeks of the Olympics off, but tomorrow I have to throw the brain into gear and start the process again.

It is hard to believe that this is my fifth year at Yew Chung. This is the fourth new cohort that is coming in since I started. Actually, I am the only one left at the school that started with me. There are only 4 teachers in all of the school that have more seniority than me. Wow!!!!!

I am amazed at how my life has changed and expanded since I came to China. My friends are now literally from around the world and in both hemispheres. It became really clear to me last week when I asked for prayer for my family and I sent emails to people all over the world. As the responses started coming in from England, Australia, New Zealand, England, China etc. I had to smile and think how exciting it was to actually know people from all over.

The learning curve has been huge and in some ways it continues to be huge. Things are different right now with the Olympics only 5 days away. Security is tight and often the normal things that we do are affected by new special security systems. I told someone a couple of hours ago that while the Olympics hadn't started yet I was already tired of them because of the inconveniences into our everyday life.

Of course, there is also the exciting side as we all report to each other by text which athletes from which countries we have seen. The latest for one of my friends was the US women's volleyball team. She said there wasn't a woman under 6'2" in the group. I am definitely going to watch that as you think about their size and the size of the Asian women they will be playing against.

Anyway, I am wandering and it is now time to go to bed. Tomorrow I will begin my 35th year of being a teacher.