Vacation

People are always complaining about teachers getting summers off. How its not fair that they only get to work 9 months out of the year, or that its a sign of laziness to only work such a short time...well as someone who has been teaching English to kids for a year solid with only a few short breaks here and there, I can understand how necessary a few months out of the classroom can be. Teaching year round is draining physically and mentally. Especially teaching in the summer time. The kids are miserable and just want to go home. But in Taiwan's cram school culture, they have to study English for at least 2 hours a day, some up to five days a week....and therefore we English teachers must work an equally grueling schedule. I can easily see how so many teacher burn out after a year or two of this grind. I've met many bitter teachers who have had to work long summer hours, with little time to recover or spend outside the classroom to actually act like an adult again. But I digress....

The point is I will finally be taking a solid two week vacation at the end of September. I'll be heading back to NYC for a wedding....
I'm going to be super busy but I hope I can see all my friends and family...
Here's the itinerary

9/25/09: Arrive JFK at 10 PM
9/26 Recover from my 17 hour flight and serious jet leg
9/27 -9/29 Chill in Queens
9/30 Take the GRE...then off to the Yankee's final home game of the season! And my first look at the new stadium...
10/1 Hop on the AM bus to Wash. DC
10/2 Back to NYC, party it up at a bar in New York TBD
10/3 Cousin Jackie's wedding in L.I.
10/4-10/6 Relax; eat knishes, Italian food, bagels, etc...enjoy New York
10/7 Back to Taipei, after a loooong layover in San Fran

Needless to say after not being home, or in a country where English is the native language for over a year, it will be amazing to be back....to not have to use chopsticks at every meal...to have some REAL Italian food....ah it'll be great!
I can't wait....

-B