This week has been much like the previous but I found myself marveling at the date yesterday.. July and August passed at the pace of a snail but looking back, September positively blew by. I think now that I've really gotten into school and have a repetitive schedule, the days pass more quickly than they previously did. Now this truly feels like home since every year when school starts, the same pattern occurs and every day seems to fly by until it's Christmas and I'm wondering where half of my year went. I'm just trying to get my college essays done before all the deadlines sneak up on me in November...

The school day on Monday passed as normally as the rest but the morning meeting was spent handing out participation certificates to all of the students who competed in a swimming event that took place last week. There must have been nearly 100 different students who went up in with their respective groups and I honestly could've fallen asleep just sitting there, watching them hand out the papers. In the evening after dinner, I went running around the soccer field at the school. They have lights and there's usually a game going on so I knew that I wouldn't be running alone in the dark. Since we only have gym a few days a week and I can only go climbing (less than) once a week I figured I should do some other exercise. The run was very tiring but I was proud that I was able to run a mile without much difficulty. I'm not as out of shape as I thought :). Still, even going at night, it was nearly 90 degrees so I was bright red and sweaty when I got back to our apartment block and even sweatier after I decided to take the stairs partway up (17 flights seemed like too many to start with). I hopped in the shower as soon as I could and collapsed onto my bed when I had finished.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal. On Tuesday, I was able to give my passport to Hop, the volunteer from my exchange organization. He brought it to the Visa people to get it renewed so I should have a new, valid Visa by the end of the week that will last until I leave. It'll be nice to get that replaced and not have to worry about being deported..

Today and the whole week in general has been very encouraging; I've been able to get through my classes and understand the content without translating and I was even to answer the short-answer Chemistry questions today (correctly) on our class work sheet. Granted, I have taken Chemistry before so the material isn't all new to me but being able to understand and answer the questions in another language is definitely a step forward.

After I finished my post this evening, I had planned on going for a run. Unfortunately, not 10 minutes after I started writing, a storm rolled in (our first in nearly a week), and it's been raining and thundering ever since..

I've got two language classes this weekend and after these two I'll have one left until I finish the program. Obviously, it's not meant to teach you to be fluent within 10 classes but I've certainly learned helpful conversation tips, pronunciation, and language structure that have made it easier to communicate. Hopefully the class can help me to eventually become fluent (and more comfortable) speaking Vietnamese. I'll be back this weekend with many photos, sorry there aren't any now... Thanks for reading and have a great end of the week!