No Longer Cute

During student teaching I tried so hard to make sure that I always looked very trendy and fashionable when I went into school. I'd like to hope that even those older teacher who wear the seasonal sweater vests and mom jeans started off a twenty-something, fun, "cute teacher". I'm sure we've all even had a "cute teacher"-- a teacher who not only teaches well but looks nice too--at some point in our academic careers. I realized this past week that I've lost my status as a "cute teacher".

I've turned into the teacher that I've avoided so hard. I have about 6 teaching outfits that I rotate through, all of which don't fit me right because of all the weight I've lost. So I typically roll into school in over-sized jeans and an un-tucked shirt (because tucking just makes you too hot). I wear my favorite flip-flops, which are not slightly colored have have about 1/4th an inch left of the sole. My trusty Kenneth Cole teacher bag is starting to come unsewn from overuse now too. Basically I look like a mess.

By the end of the day I've pulled my hand through my hair so much that its all messed up, I'm covered in chalk dust, and my feet have gotten dirty from the mud. I probably smell a little too from all the sweating, but that's not so much the case now in rainy season.

Although I know I could go lower, I think I need a make over before to stop my slow descent into ugliness.

Rainy Season

As I am constantly reminded by my students, the Philippines only has two "seasons"-- the wet and the dry. We're in the middle of the wet one and oh is it fun. During the day its pretty sunny but starting at 2pm it gets really humid and by 4 it rains. The rain stops around 5 or 6, just in time for me to walk home. During the night it usually rains too. This is nice because the rain keeps the temperature really nice and bearable.

The bad thing about the rain is that everything is always wet. My ceiling leaks a little bit and so there's now a puddle in the bedroom every morning when I wake up. On several occasions my pillow has gotten soaked too, which sucks big ones. The worst though is that I can't get sunlight to dry my laundry.

This week in my preparations for my trip to manila I had a lot of clothes to wash. After being washed, they sat outside under our overhang for three days and were still wet. In an act of desperation I had to pull out the big guns and use my "pinoy dryer". This involves taking a curtain off the rod, putting the rod across two chairs and then turning my electric fan on full blast. It took a full day, but my clothes were finally dry. Below is the proof so that you don't think i'm joking. Have fun!