changes

Went to the state fair for the first time today. We watched a pig give birth. :D It was so hot. DX But I liked it a lot. Maybe I'll go again next week, when I actually have money. It was fun, even though it was hot and we walked a lot. Nothing worse than camp. :D My uncle and cousin from Wisconsin took us there. It was nice hanging out with them. I even got to take photobooth pictures at the arcade with my stepsister and sister. It was less uncomfortable in this picture because my sister didn't rip anything smelly this time.


And, yes, that's me with my new haircut. My stepsister said that I look like a boy; more specifically my haircut looks like that of Taemin. I can't disagree with her there. But it was really the lady's fault. If she only cut it short like I asked, I wouldn't have been forced to cut it myself. ._.

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the end

HCLP (Hmong Culture and Language Program) is finally done. After two weeks of restless children and walking under the hot sun, I've gained more than just a bad tan.

The first day was kind of awkward for most kids. They were all quiet and shy. I was assigned as a fourth grade clan leader. I was excited. Until I saw my schedule. ._. It was science, tennis, and literacy (which everyone had to attend anyways). No hip hop, Hmong leaves, art, qeej, or any fun classes I was looking forward to. D: But I think the fact I didn't have those "unique" classes where the students could make fools of themselves in front of everyone let all the good kids come to my clan. :D

My clan, Mi Noog, had about 14 people in it, but the largest group I had was last week Tuesday, I think, when I had 13 of the 14 actually show up. The single class I enjoyed the most was on the day we didn't have tennis due to bad weather; we had to go to hip hop instead. (Sam's the one who I managed to catch doing the B-BOY POSE! by himself.) Most of the girls enjoyed the class, but the boys were harder to convince. They did it anyways. My skills with children. >D But I remember all of my kids and I'll miss them. Hopefully I'll see most of them next year. (But not Christian because he has to go to a different camp every two years. D<)

The next best thing to my clan was the large group we had as clan leaders (we wore red polos; the instructors wore blue). It was tiring taking all the kids around and stuff, but somehow they all managed to have enough energy to play football, fish, and/or play Guitar Hero most nights for a loooong time. ._. I'll probably bump into some people at the university, but there are some who are from Wisconsin that I know I won't see until next year.

In the morning, we'd have to wait outside to lead the bus kids to check-in and breakfast. My bus was always last. D: The first day, I only had Hispanic kids. On the second day, I was leading them again and ready to had them their name tags when I saw two little Asian kids in their midst. I wanted to shoo them away but the lady who came with them said that they were part of her group. The first day they were so cute. And then I broke them on the second day and they became devils. DDDD: But they were still cute cause they always wanted to wait for me to escort them to breakfast and whenever someone else came around they started acting shy again, even though I knew they weren't quiet and good kids like they seemed. I'll miss those kids, too, but I'm glad they're off my hands now. v_v

On the last day, yesterday, they unveiled the mural that the whole camp participated in. The camp director got a Hmong artist, who is famous for his gold leaves (which are pretty sweet 0-0), to help with the creation of the whole thing. They painted an outline on about 700 tiles placed together like a canvas, and it was our job to paint one tile. Everyone got a tile to paint; even the directors of the camp and sponsors of the camp who donated to us and the university directors who let us use their campus. :D It was absolutely awesome.

The clan leaders and staff always stay late to clean up and stuff, but yesterday was a bit different. We had to take down the mural and move it to another building on campus. Easy as it sounds, there were six large, slightly heavy panels with tiles industrial-strength glued onto them, and we were to cross the street (diagonally D:) with them. We had to be extremely careful with taking it down and taking it apart before the lifting and walking began. We managed to move it with only four tiles popping out. Nothing severe. :D

I definitely want to work there next year. Until then, I'll probably haul my sibs to their Saturday program.

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a day at the beach.

Took my cousin to the "beach" last weekend, but I didn't have time to really post until now I guess. It was fun. Poor kid had never been to the beach, and he turns one year old tomorrow. Its why my stepsister and I decided to take him out of boredom.




The first thing we did was take his shirt off. The kid doesn't even have a pair of sandals, so we took his shoes off, too. Not only is that sand hard, but it was hot, too. The first picture here is the first picture we took. You can see me in the reflection on my stepsister's sunglasses. It was a nice day to take a dip, but I own no swimsuit and I haven't been swimming since PE two years ago. He seemed to enjoy the water the first time we took him in. He likes eating everything and grabbing stuff for himself, too, so when he made for the hot cheetos, I let him. :D We meant for it to teach him a lesson, but all it accomplished was making his taste buds tolerant of spices. :x

He started to get a bit cranky since it was around his nap time, so we took him home after about an hour or so. 'Twas a nice day.

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free at last

Dude. Two days of complete freedom. Hell yes. Well, I guess minus my little cousin, who we'll probably end up taking somewhere like the free zoo or something. Man, as much as I like those kids, I love the break. I can sleep past six again. My clan is named Mi Noog (kinda pronounced "me nong" or 미농 if you wanna romanize it that way), which means "Little Bird" in Hmong. Its kind of childish for fourth graders, but who cares. I don't know if they remember our clan name. They know me, though, which is all that matters.

I'm finding more mosquito bites than I originally thought I had. I wonder what I'll end up doing this weekend. Suggestions?

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