There's a prank here that is mostly performed by kids and apparently can be found throughout Asia.  It's infamous among foreign teachers because it's terrible.  It's called the dong chim and is roughly translated to 'poop needle'.  What happens is the child comes up behind his or her unsuspecting victim and, with hands clasped together and index fingers pointed out, will jab the person in the bum.  It's surely one of the most unpleasent experiences that anyone can have.  For the most part, our school had outlawed it before I had arrived, thankfully, but it still happends from time to time.  I mention it now only because it's a part of the foreign teaching experience - otherwise I don't like to think about it.

I had my parent observation last week.  So about 12 of my kids' parents huddled together in the back of the room and watched our science lesson.  I shouldn't have been worried about it - my kids are geniuses.  The lesson was a science lesson and we were talking about the earth.  At the point when we were comparing the earth to a globe, Apple, one of my super cute geniuses, asks, "If the earth is round, why can't we see that it is round when we look at it?" .. "Wow, great question Apple.  Well, it's because... oh Thomas [one of my mischievious geniuses], you think you know?"... "It's because the earth is big and we're small.  So we can't see that the earth is round." ... "Wow Thomas, great answer (high five)".  My kids are geniuses because they know when to pull out their genius questions and answers - right when their parents are watching.  So the parent observation went well.

This past Saturday was the Open-Mic Night that my jamming group had been anticipating for a while.  It was great!  A good group of people showed up, our group kept it together and did really well, I got to show off my cool djembe, and I was struck again by how much hidden talent there is among our community here.  I have some videos but I can't get them to upload - bummer.

Every once in a while, the realization strikes me - I'm living on the other side of the world from everything I've known, something I never thought I'd do growing up, and I have everything I could ask for.  I have a good job teaching wonderful kids, I'm experiencing and learning new things about the world, I can get my clothes dry cleaned for 3 bucks from the guy down the road, and most of all, I'm surrounded by awesome people who are my good friends and even my family.  This realization leads me to recognize God's love in my life and to realize how blessed I am.

Thanks for reading,
Michael