Work then play.

Matt and I have been working hard this week. He, of course, continues to work diligently preparing his class and editing chapters of his dissertation. He's been very tired, but had full energy on Thursday afternoon and didn't know why. *I* know why: he doesn't have class until MONDAY!!! Funny how knowing you don't have to face a class of students for more than a 24 hour period gives you all the lightheartedness you need.

I, on the other hand, started preparing my level 4 course: a new one to me. The textbooks came in, so I've been reading the short stories, answering all of the questions, starring what I hope to assign, and preparing many grammar lessons. The good news is this: since I will have taught these kids (most of which for 2 consecutive years... oy! Lord have mercy!) all of this material, I'm not going crazy with notes and worksheets. Basically, I've just scanned pages from other resources, cut and pasted them to a nice new word document, and voila! Done and done. No more baby spoon feeding. 

And then I realized I had 4 college recommendations to write (eek! I hate those--so much pressure and so much formality, which I'm terrible at). So I wrote two yesterday and sent them to a colleague in the college office for review. She'll probably laugh and tell me to try again.... 

Still sewing the heating rice packs for the girls and enjoying the quiet before another group of little terrors campers arrive this afternoon. Last week I had to tell them to stop their unnecessary screaming. Seriously. They would just holler, like a vain opera singer who just loves the sound of her own voice. 

Finally, we had a date night. There's a new restaurant in town called "Morgan's Island Grill" and I thought it'd be a burger place, but it turns out that it's a Jamaican restaurant--and affordable too! We were two of three white people there and wondered where all of these African Americans had come from, because most of this town is made up of Hispanics. Word spreads when it's a good restaurant, I guess! The food was FABULOUS. I had stewed chicken with rice and beans on the side with cabbage and potatoes. Matt had jerk chicken salad. Wow. The service was a little on the Jamaican time table, and we were in a hurry to get our bill and go, but we were glad to see it busy. 

After dinner, we rushed to the Theatre Intime, where we saw a FANTASTIC play called "The 39 Steps". When a beautiful woman with a mysterious accent follows him home from the theater and is promptly murdered, Richard Hannay is plunged into a world of international espionage. Barlow's deliciously theatrical stage adaptation boldly spoofs Hitchcock's classic film with side-splitting results. It was a twist on Hitchcock's movie, also an adaptation from the original book. This play was one of four in the season of "Exploring the Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People". Last month we saw a drama about a crazy Mississippi family--lots of psychological baggage, etc. It was good but it was heavy. This one, "The 39 Steps" was fast-paced, highly entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. We LOVED it. We were so impressed by the minuscule cast of 4 people that were able to play so many different characters, and often back to back in a creative scene changing way. I wish I could explain it better, but it was just SO. WELL. DONE. I think live theater is my new favorite kind of entertainment. Matt and I have never been to Broadway yet (maybe someday), but this kind of undergrad talent was just awesome. Also the small theater house allowed you to see everything very well, whereas the only Broadway tickets we could possibly afford would be in the last row.

Have a great week everyone!