Kittens and Spiders

Today something awesome happened.  I walked into my room and found a kitten!!!!  Oh my goodness it was so cute I could hardly contain myself.  This kitten was also very afraid of humans so I tried to take a picture from as far away as possible. 

SO CUTE

Today something terrifying also happened.  I walked into my room and found a giant spider.  I was actually just telling a fellow volunteer how I really don’t have those giant spiders at my house.  Well, it turns out that I do, but they almost perfectly match the wood my ENTIRE house is made out of, so they are all perfectly disguised.  So naturally, I'm now convinced they are crawling all over everything, unnoticed.  

SO SCARY

I was going to spend this next paragraph to get all deep and talk about how life is just like my room and it’s always surprising and sometimes you get spiders and sometimes you get kittens, but I feel like you all get the point. 

What I will talk about is the fact that I only have six or seven months left to walk into my bedroom every day, not knowing what to expect.  Chances are, when I move back to America, I will always know whether or not there is a kitten in my room (I hope there is one!).  While this is kind of an exciting prospect, it’s also not exciting (I can't think of a better way to say that).   

I also realized today, that I spend a lot of time thinking about what my life will be like once I get back to America.  Like, A LOT of time.  One time, I even went online shopping for an entire wardrobe I was going to buy once I got home.  I’ve gone online apartment shopping in cities I’m not even sure I’m going to live in.  I’ve even looked into breeds of cats I want to buy in 5 years...or as soon as I get back.

While I realize that most of this is just getting ready for the next stage in my life, much how I constantly researched Cambodia before coming here, I am coming to grips with the fact that yes, I only have a few months left.  I should probably be spending that time focusing on actually living here.  It’s hard to do that with grad school applications and an ever-growing list of food I need to eat as soon as I get home, but it’s possible and I’m going to work on living in the present.  Because my present is pretty great.

So here’s a few things going on RIGHT NOW:

-I’m hosting a spelling bee at my school on Sunday and the four best spellers will be able to accompany me to a regional spelling bee in our provincial town, next week!

-Our annual Camp GLOW is happening just a few months away, our grant was approved and the money should be coming in very soon!

-I scared away half of my English Club because I said last week that every student was going to have to say at least one sentence in English every class period.  I’m not sure my “tough love” approach is working.

-I have a physics project for my students in the works with one of my amazing co-teachers (and yes, anyone who knows my relationship with physics in high school will find this very amusing)

-There are kittens at my house!

Basically, I’m coming into 2014 feeling pretty great about the next seven months.  And hey, it’s pretty awesome to be able to say, “I’ll see you later this year!”