1 day to go

Specimen one (1): Clearly this man requires a break
as he is seen here wearing a chicken mask as
a coping mechanism

Specimen two (2): based on the crazed look in her
eyes and the slight foaming of the mouth we can
clearly observe she is heading for meltdown

As a teacher holidays and breaks become events of great importance. The countdown started about two weeks prior. Paul and I have been tallying the seconds and minutes and tomorrow at 2:15 pm we will be officially on spring break! This break seems essential for various reasons but here are just a fee.

* Hate ON: a term coined by James Foss, meaning to carry hate on your sleeve, or to be consumed by negative feelings pessimism, anger, discontent, and at times bewilderment. Paul and I have " had our hate on" as of late. It is difficult to take the hate on in fact.

* Spring time= burn time: As the weather warms everyone takes out their winter supply of plastic bottles, bags, and containers to burn them on the side of the road. Air quality= poor. Visibility= poor. This is a great metaphor since we are quite burned out ourselves.

* Inefficient poop slide: Korea had the squatter, Bosnia has the poorly designed toilettes wthat leave poo smears. You have to use a toilette brush each time you poop. I'm getting pretty tired of having to do this , and quite honestly I'm okay just leaving it there until it's gotten exceptionally gross. ( what have we become?)

* Aerobics: Paul and I have been nominated king and queen of our aerobics club because we are such frequent visitors.. Since we are cheap we try to get the most out of our 30 dollar a month membership and have been going up to 4 /5 times a week. For working out in large groups of 60 women ( plus 2-3 men) we deserve time off to eat Donair all week in Turkey.

Check it out on http://www.aerobic.co.ba/index.html and click on video ( atmosfera u nasu clubu) if you are patient maybe you can see us in action.

*Ant Infestation and radiator explosion: Maybe because we are slobs and leave crumbs around. Maybe because we closed off the heater and caused pressure build up leading to an explosion of water. Maybe because these kinds of things just happen to Paul and I.

*Time Change: As you get older the time change really hits you like a ton of bricks. Ever since we thought the time change was going to happen ( three weeks ago) to last weekend ( when the time change actually happened) our now highly regulated circadian rhythms have been messed up.

Having said all this Paul and I fully understand we don't quite know how to relax. I worry our week in Istanbul will be spent stressing about all the things we need to see when there, and do when we get back... but at least there will be Donair.

2 more days to take off.