It's been a while, hmmm?

So, the last 10 days have included some exciting, eventful days, and some regular, boring kind of days. Which I guess is to be expected.

I made it to the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts) last Wednesday. It was absolutely fantastic, even moreso because it's free on Wednesdays for poor vagrants like me ;). I only got to see about half of the museum - it's absolutely enormous - so I'm going to go back before I leave to see the rest. My favorite parts? The Mexican art/photography exhibit and the Madonna installation. Other than that, I haven't been overly touristy lately. I've been really tired from being in class all day that I haven't wanted to do much after, even going so far as to avoid grocery shopping (which is not smart, I know). I do eat lunch in the Boston Common pretty regularly, because the weather has been gorgeous and the park is like a 3 minute walk from the building where my classes are.

Class itself has been challenging and inspiring and wonderful and stressful, all at the same time. The people in my classes are fantastic - I could easily be friends with at least half of them. None of us ever really hang out after class. I don't really know why. Maybe because we see one another 8 hours a day and just don't give a shit anymore afterwards. Our teachers are really helpful and fun, and the students we teach (I've already taught 5 lessons!) are just ideal learners. They're so excited to learn and they soak up everything.

My teaching skills are kind of hit and miss, much like everything with me ;). I taught an amazing lesson yesterday and an absolutely horrendous one today. When I get it, though, when I really connect with the students and they take something away from the lesson... it feels pretty great. I can see them making connections and taking notes that they'll actually use in real life. I taught someone the word "celery" last week - we bonded over our mutual hatred of it.

Anyway, after my first week of classes, I headed to Hartford, Connecticut to visit some really extended family, as well as my parents, who happened to be visiting said family. I found a bus that took me there and back for 30 bucks, taking less than 2 hours each way, and I just couldn't turn it down. It was very spur of the moment - I found the tickets online the night before I actually left. I got to see some first cousins, once removed, as well as their families. Actually went to a huge family gathering on Saturday and knew no one but my mother, my half-great aunt, and the wife of said first cousin, once removed (Hi, Holly!). I kind of felt like a party crasher. The food was pretty kick ass, though. Our family sure can put back some grub.

Meeting Holly and hanging out with her was absolutely the highlight of the weekend, though. I can totally see why she and my mom bonded. Randomly hanging out with my parents in Connecticut, of all places, was pretty neat, too. Holly took my mom and I to an actual L.L. Bean store, because Mom loves the catalog in a really bewildering way. She was pretty excited in the store, too - you don't usually see that kind of reaction from her unless there's chocolate involved ;). I actually got a new bathing suit out of the trip, thank God, because I've had my only other one for 4 years and it's such a pain in the you know what to get on and off.

This week has been pretty great. I went out last night and learned how to play darts! Apparently I don't totally suck at it! I could've been a contender, I tell you, had I started playing at a younger age. It's so much more fun than playing pool. I also did my standby karaoke song, Keep on Lovin' You by REO Speedwagon, and rocked the house as usual :P. Then tonight I went out with a new friend to see the new Harry Potter movie, and it was AWESOME. AWESOME. AWESOME. The best movie so far, definitely (I say that after every one!). The actors have all grown up and are just awesome. I even liked most of the changes (and there were some significant ones), especially the extra Luna scenes.

Anyway, I am absolutely exhausted, exhausted, exhausted. I have lots of pictures I need to upload, but it's not going to happen tonight. Be grateful you got a blog post!