Weekly Update in 2014

It's difficult to remember to put these up. After nearly a year of food journaling I still forget to update that sometimes. With Shane closed, we'll see how long this keeps up, but, I rather enjoy these. I should be cleaning or working on my Courtney story, but, I need to do this and if I wait much longer, I'll forget.

Monday the 7th I had off. It was Qingming festival. Having a day off, of course, meant that I had to work with Woody and Penny for his application. We met in Safari and finished it. I ended up getting sick, though. I'm not sure what it was. Could have been migraines, could have been the oil from the veggies, could have been stress, could have been the air. Could have been all of them. Anyway, we finished it all. Yay!

Nothing of note happened Tuesday. Sunny's class and Bobby's class. I introduced Bobby to Maria, and they got along, which was great. It made me feel good. Leaving is not easy, but, I'm glad that I can give my two best students to a good teacher. I found out on Tuesday that Kaffestugan will close in May. On the one hand, I'm sad. I love that place. On the other hand, it just means that I've got one less reason to stay. And, these days, I've needed that. Stomach was bad that day too.

Wednesday I had a class at the university. Half was just talking to the only student who showed up (out of three). The second half we actually did sociology. Then nothing until Jerry's class. I love that boy. After that, nothing of interest. Still feeling sick. Stupid air was terrible.

Thursday was Katherine's class and not much else. Air started to improve finally, which was just lovely, but it was still quite bad.

Friday was my birthday. Happy twenty eight. I felt old. I put on my nice clothes (that barely fit) and went to Kaffestugan. They were having a special dinner that day, and they were closing at four. I had been invited (and I'm not even Swedish!) but I couldn't go because I had to work. So they made me their dinner for lunch! Many different herrings. And eggs. And meatballs and potatoes and delicious strawberry cake. And orange juice with Sprite! It was insane. It was insanely delicious! Well, then off to my last day at Shane. They'd moved my desk around, so I was shocked to see that I couldn't get into my old office (which is the new activity room). I cleaned out my few remaining things from my desk (tea and a teacup) and taught my last class. It was a presentation class, and we did volcanoes with vinegar and baking soda again (still fun). As I was evaluating the students to their parents, I kept tearing up, but I kept it in. The room was hot, and I was in a jacket, so I think the glistening from sweat may have hidden the nascent teardrops. Well, then, after class, Cici, my favorite student, came up to me in tears. And then I started crying. And I just held onto her for a while because she's so wonderful. I'll miss her so much. I gave her family my skype and e-mail and US address and US phone number. I want to keep in touch with her. Then was English Corner. It's not the same without Mr. Wang. With him gone, and with me leaving, I don't suspect it'll be there next year. It makes me sad. So many things, so many places, all going. One man dies, one man leaves, and a twenty year institution falls apart. It meant the world, and now it's over. Sad.

Saturday I lazed about in bed working on the details of Courtney and my novel. Then, I got lunch with Penny and Woody at Safari. Then, we went to Dialogue in the Dark, an installation that lets you see what it's like to be blind by rebuilding famous places from the city and putting them in complete darkness. You get a cane and a guide (who is, in fact, blind) and you go around. It was really a lot cooler than it sounded. Then, it was time for my party at Kaffestugan. Woody took a million pictures. Summer was there when we arrived, and she gave me the gift on behalf of her and Judy. Judy showed up with a friend whose name now escapes me soon thereafter. June, June's mom, June's "not" boyfriend, James Wang, Michael (who I call the Helper), my student Kevin, Kevin's dad, Happy the Safari waitress, Ale (formerly Olivia), Fengtao, Xinmo, and Sophia all showed up. It was wonderful. Totally broke into small tears a few times. We ended up doing a singalong with my ukulele, then, when it was revealed that I'm bad at it, we ended up just singing. It was wonderfully fun. Oh, Jo Ann (Christian girl) and her boyfriend (whose name I don't know) showed up as we were paying our way. It was really hard. The presents were many and much better than I'd expected (especially when I told people to NOT bring any). Kevin gave me a Parker fountain pen with a message engraved in it. Well, not engraved, maybe painted on by the company? Anyway, it said, "To my friend Oz." I was just so happy. Again, the gift itself is one thing, but the sentiment. Until last week, I'd never known he even liked me very much. I'm going to miss him. I also got a book from Judy and Summer about Churchill in Australia, I got a teacup from June and her mum (though that was last night) Sophia gave me some essential oils, Fengtao gave me two tea cups, Xinmo a bowl and chopstick set, and there may have been others. It was bittersweet.

Sunday Judy, Shrine, Nancy, Nancy's husband, some guy Judy knows, Fairy, and Judy's teacher's dog and I all went to a flower viewing. But the flowers (cherries) had already bloomed. So we ended up walking around a park. It was nice. A bit too warm. I had a few good conversations. After that, we did KTV, which was fun for a while, but there were too many people and I wasn't feeling very well. So, I went home and rested. I had planned on cleaning or packing, but by 9 PM, I was just exhausted and went to bed. Thought I'd sleep right away, but that didn't happen. It wasn't too bad. Then I woke up at some point and went on the couch. Then, I woke up again and had a hard time sleeping, tried the bed, then back to the couch. Then up at 8 (Monday the 14th) , some South Park and mother conversation, and now internetting.

Longer term things for last week:
Worked on story with Courtney. Embarked on a plan to watch all of South Park in order.