Five for Friday - Summer Edition

Well, I am not back in the US and boy is it good to be back! It feels so great to be away from the humidity. I can't tell you how much I hated the sticky feeling all day. I actually got back on Monday, but after a couple of days of getting over jetlag I'm back just in time for Five for Friday! :)

A got back from my Asia trip on Monday. I went on the trip with my mom and youngest brother and we went to Japan for a week and then Taiwan to visit the relatives for 2.5 weeks. Below are some highlights from the trip:

Japan

Staying in a tatami-style hotel
(traditional Japanese breakfast included)

A room inside Kumamoto Castle

Ordering ramen from a vending machine in a restaurant

Visiting Aso volcano, an active volcano

Taiwan

Taking a Hello Kitty jet to Taiwan from Japan

Even the toilet paper was all Hello Kitty!

Attended the reception of my grandfather's cousin's daughter's wedding.

Being gone on a month-long trip meant a month away from the boyfriend. It felt so good to be reunited again! Our first stop was dinner at some food trucks.

Despite the jetlag, I HAD to make a trip to Target to see what goodies they had for back to school shopping. I nabbed myself some leveled readers and a poster of the map of the US. 

I also saw these cardboard bins that looked really cool, but I wasn't sure what I would use it for so didn't get them. Maybe later!

A couple weeks ago, Staples was having an online deal selling spiral notebooks for 22 cents each. I just happened to be on the computer in Taiwan when it was going on so I immediately jumped on the deal. I bought the notebooks and some boxes of folders and had them shipped to my place (free shipping!). Can I tell you how excited I was when the boxes arrived? :)

We are heading off to Lake Tahoe today to attend the wedding of my boyfriend's colleague! Forecast predicts scattered thunderstorms all weekend so hopefully that doesn't get in the way. Either way, I can't wait! :)

Summer Vacation

So I've been absent from the blog for a couple of weeks now. Why is that? That's because I'm currently on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I'm in Asia right now!

The day after I finished packing the room I jetted off to Japan with my mom and brother. We spent a week in Japan playing tourists and traveling around the island of Kyushu. I wish I could share some pictures. Unfortunately, the cable that connects my external (where all my pictures are stored) to my laptop is no longer functioning so I can't access my photos right now. (I hope that's the issue since that would be an easy fix...)

Now, I am in Taiwan visiting relatives and melting in the heat and dying from mosquito bites. My current bite count right now is 17 and I still have 10 more days to go. At least I'm enjoying delicious and cheap food. That sort of makes up for it. :)

Being out of the country means limited internet access. In Japan, our hotels at least provided internet. In Taiwan, I'm staying at my grandmother's, who doesn't even own a computer, so no internet there. I have to come to the public library to get internet access. The interesting thing about Taiwan is that EVERYONE wants to go to the library. Why? Free AC! So in order to guarantee that you will get a desk to work at, you have to get to the library before they even open and line up. Library opens at 8:30am and you need to get there at least by 8:15am to guarantee that you'll get a desk. Many of the people pretty much just stay in the library all day. It's pretty crazy. @@

So I don't have pictures to share yet. I will share them when I get back to the US. However, I do want to share some fun buzzfeed finds I thought my teacher friends would appreciate. :)

26 Signs You're a Teacher on Summer Break

What People Think A Teacher's Summer Is Like Vs. What It's Really Like

I will admit. Even though I'm on "vacation" right now, I did bring two books to read to get me ready for the next school year. (Click the images to order the books through my Amazon Associate link.)

Currently working through the Daily Five book. I've read the first version and have done it in the classroom before, but was interested to see what the second edition would provide and see if there were any changes due to the implementation of the Common Core standards. 

Finally, completely unrelated to teaching or anything, but a good reminder of life and how the things we should be doing for ourselves.

30 Things to Start Doing For Yourself

Be back on the blog in around 10 days! While I'm gone, follow and/or catch up on my adventures in Asia by following me on Instagram!

First Summer Five for Friday

Hello from Singapore! Has it really been a week since school ended? Seems like so long ago. But I'm very excited to share my first summer Five for Friday! :)

1. I officially turned in my classroom keys on Monday, marking the end of another school year.

Did I also mention that I'm moving grades and classrooms next year? Good thing I've only been teaching for two years! Haven't accumulated much stuff yet (emphasis on the yet). Packed up around 8 boxes which I have left in front of my new classroom. Most of those boxes have books from this classroom that were categorized by months so most likely I will be returning back to the classroom once I get a chance to see what my new classroom has to provide. 

2. Major news to share...

I am officially done with BTSA~! Woohoo! All I need to do now is turn in the final paperwork to HR and credential will finally be cleared! :D

3. On Tuesday, summer vacation officially began! What did I do? Leave on a jet plane (actually, two!) with my mother and brother to Singapore! Total travel time...20 hours! @@

First plane was United Airlines from SFO to Seoul. I had a window seat without a window! (~11 hour flight) 

Made it to the Seoul airport to transfer planes. (~1 hour wait)

Next plane from Seoul to Singapore. Was on Singapore Airlines this time so we had our own entertainment system. Their entertainment system has EVERYTHING. (~5.5 hour flight)

Finally made it to the Singapore airport at around 10pm!

4. One of my good friends from high school happened to also be in Singapore at the same time (her family lives in Singapore) so she has been taking us around Singapore for the last couple of days. It was good to see her since she has been working in Chicago since graduating from college so we rarely get to see each other.

Unfortunately, Singapore is suffering some major pollution due to uncontrollable forest fires in Indonesia. It's been super hazy every day and the air is basically not healthy for breathing. Most locals are staying inside but as tourists with only a limited number of days here we don't have a choice but to go out. So to keep from breathing in hazardous air we have to walk around looking like this.

Me and my lil bro looking like creepy tourists.

The haze at it's worst. Apparently this year's pollution is a record high.

5. Even with all the pollution, it still didn't keep us from doing some touristy things (mainly indoors, of course)! Below are some picture collages of food and places we have been to these last two days of touring.

The Merlion...national symbol of Singapore?

Panaroma picture of the Flower Dome inside Gardens by the Bay.

Gardens by the Bay - Cloud Forest

Some local dishes.

And that's my trip so far! Funny how this week started at one place and ended in another. 1.5 more full days of Singapore left before we head over to see the relatives in Taiwan! Can't wait! :D

Long Weekend = Teacher Vaca!!

Boy, did this long weekend come just in time! Normally, I look forward to the look weekend as a time to just sit and do absolutely nothing. But now that the boyfriend is working full-time and we are sort of long distance (an hour drive), the long weekend was also a perfect time for a mini vacation. Good thing my boyfriend also works for the government so we have some holidays together. Southwest was having a sale and so we booked a trip to Seattle! I also have a friend in Vancouver, so she met up with us in Seattle too. 

I am so glad I made that trip! It was freezing (in my standards) and foggy for most of it but at least we got a sunny half of the day at some point. :)

A quick recap of what we did...

Evidence of how foggy it was when we landed. We missed the runway the first time and had to go back up and try again.

We went up the Space Needle and had brunch at the Sky City Restaurant (the revolving restaurant).  

The fog half lifted so we still got a view from our seats. 

The entree of my brunch!  French toast with hazelnut cream!!!

We also went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. Awesome place!

Morning food tour at Pike Place Market. Awesome food, great tour guide. If you're ever in Seattle, check out Savor Food Tours. (I am NOT being paid to say this. :D)

Roamed around Pike Place Market after which included visiting the infamous gum wall.

We also checked out the Olympic Structure Park.

Lovely Space Needle shot at night!

A foggy farewell from Seattle. View from the airport.

 The best thing about this trip. I did not take any teacher stuff with me! It was a true vacation from work. I'll admit, I did check my teacher email and sent out one email. But that was it! So proud of myself. :)

How did you spend your long weekend (for the other fortunate teachers like me who got one)? :)