Runnin' in a Rainy Wonderland

This morning began once again at Dom Bosco--this time giving oral exams. The DVD they were supposed to watch while I pulled them out for the test didn't work...what's new, but I was able to get all the students tested in one period. Hooray! I was testing them on the concepts of 'either...or,' 'neither...nor' and 'both.'

After a quick lunch in the office (Lauren told me I was cute packing my veggies for lunch this morning), I went and helped Cora with some translation work/explaining material for exams. Some of the information she's covering in her American cultures class is things I learned in high school and don't feel an authority on. I'm not sure how we American ETAs came away from our universities so much more experienced with Googling than my students here...

They have finally awarded the scholarships to the Macau ETAs for next year (earlier than we found out last year). One of the students is already emailing with questions on details. Unfortunately, they will have to find their own apartments next year. We're the only year that has ever had lodging provided...I'm attributing that to my grandmother's prayers--don't think I don't know that woman gets serious on her knees even about apartments and such.

My 1st grade class got a little over excited today when I used a game to teach them parts of the face (same lesson as the other 1st grade class on Monday). If there is one thing children are blessed with, it's voiceboxes that function fully.

After kiddos, I came home to mop in hopes that our apartment would stop smelling like sewage. Unfortunately, it's something much, much deeper than cleaning issues (which we knew all along). Oh well.

Tonight, the 4 ETAs met in Taipa at a new to us coffee and wine place called Passione. Lauren nicknamed it 'Rotisserie Chicken' when she couldn't remember the name of it...because those words have so much in common. I'll give her the 'n' sound, but that's it. We had paninis instead of coffee--the rarity of sandwiches in our lives makes them something special...and coffee+dinner would have been pricey. The panini was okay. I'll probably go back there for coffee at some point because they roast their own beans there (in other words, it's fresher than Starbucks).

After that, I showed Lauren another little coffee shop in Taipa with a winding staircase ( :) I love those). We went with the intention of introducing Lauren, but she decided it was too cute not too bask in the environment.

We took the casino shuttle back to another casino in Macau to walk home and it began pouring. Athena and I had umbrellas, but they didn't even do much good as hard as it was raining. In about 10 minutes of rain on our walk home, the streets were full of about 3 inches of water. The streets around Senado are Portuguese mosaic little tiles which are slippery when wet. To avoid slipping in my flip flops, and for the fun of it, I took off my shoes and ran in the rain. Being barefoot felt amazing. This was by far the highlight to my day even if my clothes and purse got soaked.