We Are All In Control Of Our Own Happiness.

Whenever Joseph is here I get off schedule which is totally okay with me. However, this means my weekly blog writing has not happened whatsoever. So, here is a quick picture blog...  

We are better together. I love that we can start walking around an island and just enjoy whatever comes our way. I love that we can be super sarcastic with one another. Everything we do involves laughter. We are both crazy in our own way. Joe has been telling me that I am starting to act more like he does, I think that means I am dancing more which is probably true. We love to play battleship and card games, I always win. When he was here, we were uncertain as to what would happen each day, we just went with the flow, but everyday was fantastic in its own little way. Thank you for changing my life for the better, Joe! Mahal Kita.

Joe and I started walking down a rickety old path on the island. Little did we know that we would end up on an adventure with a group of kids. They led us to this beautiful beach on the other side of the island. We walked for about four hours.

Our best friend in my town. 

Batch 270s! We had a dinner outing in Manila to celebrate finishing one year as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Congratulations everyone! We all have so much to be proud of. Cheers to one more year of amazing experiences, laughs, friendships, events, bad and good times, challenges, successes, and more!

This is what I walked into on my birthday. It brought tears to my eyes. 

We danced, sang, laughed, and sweat through the entire birthday celebration!

I can't believe the relationships that have been created with my second year students. We are like a big family.  I am not sure how I am going to be able to leave these kids. During the birthday celebration some of them read and said simple things about how I have helped them, taught them, laughed with them, cared for them, etc. I was asked to speak and told them all that they have changed my life too! 

Each second year section that I teach bought me a cake. They were all joking with me that I was turning 100.  

Quarter was was coming to an end so we had a storytelling festival!  In group, my students chose a narrative, wrote their own dialogue, and then practiced storytelling. Each group had a different story so it was really fun for everyone to hear the final stories. Before the storytelling took place in class I did a silly dance with them to help shake out all the nerves (they were EXTRA nervous because Joe was there). We did the Banana dance... like... GOOOO bananas, peel banana peel peel banana, slice banana slice slice banana, and so on. 

I have a bunch of pictures from the special day but this is on of my favorite! Smiles galore after their presentation.  I was really proud of their storytelling abilities. One of my favorite things is to watch my students in their feeling proud moments.