"Team 4 likes this beautiful world"

The good news:

1. I only had two classes today and was able to sleep in. Yay!

2. The repairmen finally came yesterday to fix our water heater (meaning hot showers! even if they did smoke like chimneys the whole time they were in the apartment).

3. It's sunny!  Which means it's warming up (unfortunately our heater broke on Tuesday).  It is so much lighter out that the landscape looks different - so much so that I almost got lost on campus today! haha

4. Found out that Elaine is also living in Ningbo!

5. USA Today daily online crosswords are available in China and I've been keeping a routine of doing them daily. Also, I can so far still read The New Yorker online.

6. Mom and I still have three more discs of Ugly Betty to watch. (that should get us sanely through the next two weeks.)

The bad news:

1. My Korean students are still getting me down with their complete lack of interest in English, my class, or even recognizing me as a fellow human being.  Luckily there are a couple students in the class who at least acknowledge my presence so will have to work with them and forget the others (seeing as the school doesn't seem to care about their behavior).

2. Hot water heater - well, not so much "fixed" as "still broken."  Mom found out by taking a very cold shower today.  (I opted not to take one.  And no, I would not like to share when the last time I showered was. But I will tell that my hair is looking goooood at this point.)

3. Elaine lives in the cool part of town up north.  The bad news here is that all things fun, including bars, restaurants, markets, cultural activities, historic locales, the beautiful gardens, and Elaine, are a half an hour bus ride away, and that's assuming that I can figure out the bus system.  (of course, I will try my best to do so!)

4. Have come to learn that teaching is not a path I want to continue on after this experience. While working with kids is rewarding and this experience is absolutely invaluable, I don't think I'm suited for a lifetime career of teaching.  I am much more enthusiastic on a day-to-day basis in the work I've done in media, editing, and communications, and think that this has been a good way for me to start to find out where my interests lie.  The only bad news here is that if I want to live abroad the next couple of years, it's going to be really hard unless I'm willing to teach. (Back-up plan: will have to marry a good-looking boy who is a citizen of the EU.)

5. Read some  frustrating (at least to me) blogs of other interns who have been having a hell of a time partying it up in Beijing while we've been freezing, not showering, and working our butts off down here in Ningbo.  Not to mention the others who are even worse off - I feel for you guys.

And the stuff that made today worth it:

First of all, I got to skype with my dad for the first time yesterday, which was cool. (and got to see my dog!!!)  Secondly, after her cold shower today, Mom reminded me that we don't HAVE to stay here if we are miserable. We could go home. Of course, we're not to that point yet, but having her vocalize the option made it seem like a real possibility if we need it to be.  She also suggested that maybe we could splurge and get a hotel downtown for a night this weekend.  You know, shower, live in heat, see the sites of the city at our leisure.

Thirdly, in my last class, I had pretty much checked out and was ready for the weekend. I had the students divided into groups and each group had to come up with as many things as they could to finish the sentence "I like _______."  I then wrote each team's likes on the board.  One little boy, who was representing Team 4, said "I like this beautiful world."  This really made me stop for a second.  At that moment I got some perspective on the whole deal.

And I'm going to keep trying to be positive and appreciate "this beautiful world." Thanks little boy, whatever your name is. I needed that.