four things about here.

the high school kids might be bratty. but they call me "miss." or rather "meess." other teachers hate it. i love it. it makes me think there's still a bit of youthful respect left in these kids. hearing "thank you, meess." warms my heart.

every time i log into my bank account i have to use my password generator. it is a tiny computer into which i enter my pin, it then gives me an 8 digit password which can be used to log in to my account online...BUT ONLY FOR 60 SECONDS. if, after 60 seconds, i haven't logged in, the password self-destructs. isn't that cool? i feel so good knowing that my swiss bank is keeping my pittance safe and secure, even though i'm sure my mini computer cost more than what i actually have in my account.

i have grown to appreciate sunshine more than i ever have. i come from a desert. it rains thrice a year. what a novelty. not here! it has stopped raining now, but only because it's turned into snow!! i really feel for these poor palm trees. i think we all got a little more than we bargained for.

and after spending the three hottest summers of my life here and being such an active participant of the sweating community, it's a little disorienting seeing this:


sunday was the high school christmas concert, held at that nice church. i was part of the exclusive faculty/staff choir that wasn't actually exclusive at all. i suggested we sing "o, holy night" because i've always had ridiculous fantasies of singing a solo of this song. (if you heard me sing, you'd know just how ridiculous) so i was very excited when the choir director chose the song. i was finally going to perform it! then, some chump said how he ALWAYS sings this song every christmas and he ALWAYS sings a solo. so the rest of us were allowed only to sing the chorus. i was so sad because i wanted all of us to sing the whole song. but when performance time came, i was grinning up there on stage because i was able to tune out the chump and imagine myself singing that solo and mesmerizing the audience with my clear and sweet voice. and then we came to the chorus and i belted it out with all i had. apparently, not only was i the only one smiling, but i'm fairly sure you could hear me over all the other singers. oops. my student, sara, who was there to hear her sister sing, ran up to me after the show. i expected her to say how enchanting my solo was, but instead she said, "it was so funny to hear you sing!" welcome back to reality, sweetpagene.