It's Not Always Rainbows and Butterflies!

Hello again,

It's Saturday and I am up blogging at 7:00am... oh how I wish I had the ability to sleep in more! Last week was both physically and mentally exhausting. Usually when I blog it's because I am in a happy mood and life is lovely with no complaints. However, we all know that is not always the case in anyone's life. So, here I am to fill you in on why last week there weren't so many rainbows or butterflies.

Last week started out pretty normal with the exception that I am sick yet again. (This would be a good time to point out for future reference, we have been without internet at home since September 18. Yes, nearly four weeks ago now. This of course has played a role in my not-so-fabulous week.) Rainy season has also reached a new level of terrible. It storms almost everyday and when it rains, it pours. I mean there might as well be someone dumping buckets of water out of the sky. And when I am teaching and it starts raining? Forget it. It is so loud I can't even hear myself talk, let alone my kids. And it floods. The streets become shallow rivers it seems like at least once a week. On Monday it had been raining so badly that I could not even go tutor because the family was worried I would not make it home at 5:30. So I came home and ordered some food and was pretty unproductive. Then over course, I stayed up too late because for some reason I can never go to bed at a decent time anymore.

Tuesday I was already tired when I woke up. Besides being tired, it was a normal day and I was in better spirits when I found out someone was coming to fix our internet. It was exciting because they said they would fix it on Sunday, but surprise, surprise, no one ever showed up. After school I made up my tutoring session from Monday. I was excited to get home and get online.. maybe even Skype with someone for the first time in three weeks, but no. No one showed up to fix it. Again.

Wednesday, I felt terrible half the day. When I got to school, I tired to call mom on viber. Having no internet and living in a high rise, cement box where 3G rarely works, it had been a while since we were able to talk. Of course viber wouldn't work at school either and I was getting MORE than frustrated and I was being unfair to mom and was extremely grumpy. I didn't/don't understand why on earth the internet has to suck so bad here sometimes?! So, we got about two minutes of a broken conversation in. Then, during school the kids had MAP testing and after walking around watching them take these tests for an hour, I felt even more exhausted (it was sooo boring, I much rather be teaching them). After school we had clubs. Then, Krystal and I were going to go to a travel agent to purchase our plane tickets for Christmas break (no luck) and pick up the clothes we had made last weekend (something to make me smile). Of course, before we left to run our errands, the internet people were suppose to come. YAY! (<-- that was sarcasm) Would you like to guess what happened? Don't strain yourself too much, I'll give you a clue. When I went to bed Wednesday, still no internet.

Thursday. The week was almost over, it was going to be a better day. I just knew it. When I got to school I called mom and.... WE COULD TALK! We had a nice long chat and viber didn't cut out even once! (Until it cut out at the end and then I couldn't call her back.... but we had still had a nice long convo before any of that.) But of course, not all days that start well, end well. After a stressful morning the bell rang and up came my kids. (Yes that's right, things turned around quickly.. I was ready to be done before the day started. No details as to why need to be shared.) By lunch time, my stress level was so high I was on the verge of tears and barely holding back. I had a nice long break in the middle of the day so I was able to relax a little by working on some report card comments. (<-- insert sarcasm, again.) After school we had a meeting with all of the teachers, (turns out, I'm not the only one stressing out around report card time.. what?!) and afterwards, I found out when I got home, we WOULD have internet. Krystal had talked to our realtor (who is still amazing and helps us with any translations we need) and she expressed to the internet company that we were not happy with them for now showing up THREE times and needed internet. So, as I left for tutoring, I left with lifted spirits because I am an optimist. Yes, they may have cancelled on us three times already, but my golly, they will come! Annnnnd, they did! YAY! (<-- not sarcasm) When I got home from tutoring I jumped online right away, I checked email and facebook and it worked! I text mom right away and we planned a skype date for two hours later. I went to eat and when I got home I turned on my computer five minutes before our date. I was online and just about to pull up Skype when.... everything. went. black. My whole computer just died. Turned off, didn't want to turn back on. WHY?????????

I Skyped mom from my phone which of course sucked because she couldn't hear me. I was frustrated and mad and sick of technology failing me. I had my first mental break down. To say I was tearing up is an understatement, so I'll let you use your imagination to picture me crying on Skype to my poor mother. (Thank you for putting up with my break down, mom!) After my phone stopped working, I got my computer and took the battery out for a while. Once I put it back in, it was working again. (Seems like a simple fix looking back...) However, my computer has been breaking down little by little, so I'm not sure how long it will last. It could die again now. In the middle of this blog. Or the keyboard could stop working again. Maybe the mouse. Anything is possible now. But, back to Thursday. I called mom again from my computer this time, and while everything should have been fine now, I was still upset and mad at the world. I didn't have anything to talk about anymore, but I didn't want to hang up. I just sat there like a lump on a log. Then dad came into the screen and I lost it. Again. Needless to say we couldn't talk. It turns out, I miss my family much more than I thought. (This makes it sound like I don't miss them, but trust me, I do. I just didn't think it was to the point where I would cry just by seeing one of them...) Shortly after my last break down, I hung up with mom and decided it was time for bed. Sleep was all I needed after this long day.

Whew, glad that is all off my chest! Friday was a good day. My kids were good and my internet was still working and so was my computer (for now.. I am in the process of finding a new computer). To end my quiet day and stressful week I stayed in all night. We ordered food (big American cheese burger and fries) and then Michelle and I watched a movie complete with snacks from the real movie theater downstairs. Then before going to bed, I called mom, and I am happy to say I was in a happy mood when we talked!

I can see next week being stressful still as report cards are due on Friday. However, after that things will be back to rainbows and butterflies as we have a whole week off school! So I am going to explore Vietnam with Michelle and Amber and be vegetable on the beach for a whole week. I love this city, but it time we took a break... Sorry Ho Chi Minh.

Thank you for letting me vent, hope you've had a better week then mine. If not, I feel your pain.. call me and we can complain together!

As always,
Michelle