i'm a little bit frightened... on sunday morning i felt the quake. then today's quake near the end of the school day literally got me scared shitless. unfortunately for being a teacher of young ones, i had to pretend to appear totally calm and together so that they wouldn't freak out. i was just talking to a few of my students while the rest of the class was writing, when i began to feel the tremor. it took me about 2 seconds to process what was going on. (the first half a second i thought kids were running in the hallway and were shaking the second floor). then when i realized it was an earthquake i froze, and said "drop!". none of my kids wasted a second. they all dropped and did it well, too! protected the back of their necks with one hand and grabbed a table leg so the table would move away from them. a few were saying from the other side of the room that they were scared, and I, trying to make my trembly voice sound as cool as possible, replied to them to not worry. anyway, they were not in panic as i told them to line up. we made our way quickly and quietly outside.

the past two quakes made me realize that i apparently have this paranoia. both on sunday morning and today, i imagined being crushed to death from the collapse of the building i was in. sunday i was on the first floor of a 4 story complex. today i was on the second floor of a school building, wondering how we would make it downstairs should the building collapse. i don't know why i have these fears. kind of like whenever i fly and feel a slight turbulence, i imagine spiraling down into my death.

at any rate, i sense something major is going to come. two nearly back-to-back earthquakes this week... the earth that we're one is definitely shifting, and i think it will want to be shifting more. it's just starting to shift... it's only a matter of time before the plates will really move. that's how i interpret the close proximity of these two quakes. i'm scared!

ok, happy note. i planned my summer trip to mexico (oh yeah, did i mention i'm going to jalisco for 3 weeks with my buddy?). i'll be staying with a good friend of mine and her relatives in a small town an hour or two away from guadalajara. she's already forewarned me about just how small a town it is, in that i will get many strange looks for being asian, and more for being an asian who can really eat mexican food, and even more for being an asian who can understand and speak spanish. our flights are booked and things are set!

and on an even happier note, i had scheduled my mexico trip around a potential summer job of being a 9th-10th grade math instructor for an outreach program at UCLA. i had worked for GEAR-UP two summers ago also as a math instructor, but it was for a different GEAR-UP program. anyway, i had my interview today, for which i was 15 minutes late.. =/ but the interview felt more of a "let us fill you in on all the details" session. they only asked a few questions of me, and i asked them a LOT of questions. anyway, by then end they had given be paperwork and told me the items i needed to bring in for employment.. to which i asked hesistantly, "does this mean.. i'm hired?" and they were like, oh yeah! kind of like it was obvious. anyway i felt dumb about that, because i guess i needed to hear an explicit phrase saying i was on board. anyhow, i got the job! and for the amount i'll be making for the two short weeks, i must say i'm quite content. i look forward to working with high school youth again this summer! yay!