I'm really sleepy so this post will be quick.

Anyway, I'm free for two weeks! Woohoo! *does a little dance*

And I'm really tired. I haven't slept well --- maybe three hours a night --- for the whole month because of projects and exams. I'm so tired I fell asleep while driving once and scared myself awake. We all got pretty sick in class, and we pretty much hibernated. I don't ever want to go through all that again.

The projects did turn out great though --- we got overwhelming applause for our one-and-a-half-hour movie for History class on the life of the national hero --- and the exams seemed okay. Some were good but one was failing. We couldn't change anything though but to do better next year, so Henri invited me to celebrate our freedom by going to the mall.


And it really was a long time. Lots of new shops opened, there were gigantic Christmas trees and decor all around, and even new trends (Would you, dear Reader, believe we saw ten people wearing winter scarves in tropical weather?).

We were glad to be there but we were starving. It's hard work to fail an exam, so we tried out a new restaurant for lunch.


Our first dish was fried mozzarella cheese with spiced tomato dip, and it was good. We scarfed it down pretty quick. We do wonder whether it was really good or whether we were just really hungry. Hm.

Either way, the taste of warm melted cheese with cold sour tomatoes agreed with us. Then the main courses arrived.


Next came Henri's humongous meal of grilled pork with rice and vegetables. I say humongous because it was big enough for a person to subsist on for a whole day; Henri brought half of it home for dinner. She said it was delicious but so filling that she couldn't take any more bites.

If that looked like a normal serving to you American readers, this is the moment to realize that the rest of the world often eats less. Much less. We have buckets the size of your extra large sodas, America; I can still remember how overwhelmed I was the last time I had a meal in that side of the world. I ended up ordering kiddie meals so I wouldn't waste food.


I had salmon with some sort of caramelized onion glaze, grilled corn, and pilaf rice. The salmon was pretty fresh, and very good with the sauce. The rice was sticky and perfect with the salmon. All in all, it was great and I finished it. It was still a bit too big for me though; I overate.

In other words, Henri and I have agreed to share a main course the next time we eat there.

It was a fun meal though: practically the first one out we've had in a while. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for Christmas presents --- especially our own gifts from ourselves --- and just having a cool time. We enjoyed poring through a new bookstore for hours, and came out with an appropriate number of new books.

We met some other friends in the evening and had a large pitcher of lemonade. Commiserating over bad grades was never so refreshing.

I later joined my sister and another good friend for dinner to top off the day.


It was cool to catch up with people I hadn't seen in weeks since I'd stopped leaving the house altogether for anything other than schoolwork. I did sleep with my grandmother to keep her company after my grandfather died, but it seemed more like going home to sleep than a social visit. In other words, we'd talk then drop into bed until it was time to go to school again.

I am so glad it's over.

I will now be catching up on my reading, and I promised my dog that we'd watch some movies over the break.

I'm looking forward to just taking a rest.

I'm really sleepy so this post will be quick.

Anyway, I'm free for two weeks! Woohoo! *does a little dance*

And I'm really tired. I haven't slept well --- maybe three hours a night --- for the whole month because of projects and exams. I'm so tired I fell asleep while driving once and scared myself awake. We all got pretty sick in class, and we pretty much hibernated. I don't ever want to go through all that again.

The projects did turn out great though --- we got overwhelming applause for our one-and-a-half-hour movie for History class on the life of the national hero --- and the exams seemed okay. Some were good but one was failing. We couldn't change anything though but to do better next year, so Henri invited me to celebrate our freedom by going to the mall.


And it really was a long time. Lots of new shops opened, there were gigantic Christmas trees and decor all around, and even new trends (Would you, dear Reader, believe we saw ten people wearing winter scarves in tropical weather?).

We were glad to be there but we were starving. It's hard work to fail an exam, so we tried out a new restaurant for lunch.


Our first dish was fried mozzarella cheese with spiced tomato dip, and it was good. We scarfed it down pretty quick. We do wonder whether it was really good or whether we were just really hungry. Hm.

Either way, the taste of warm melted cheese with cold sour tomatoes agreed with us. Then the main courses arrived.


Next came Henri's humongous meal of grilled pork with rice and vegetables. I say humongous because it was big enough for a person to subsist on for a whole day; Henri brought half of it home for dinner. She said it was delicious but so filling that she couldn't take any more bites.

If that looked like a normal serving to you American readers, this is the moment to realize that the rest of the world often eats less. Much less. We have buckets the size of your extra large sodas, America; I can still remember how overwhelmed I was the last time I had a meal in that side of the world. I ended up ordering kiddie meals so I wouldn't waste food.


I had salmon with some sort of caramelized onion glaze, grilled corn, and pilaf rice. The salmon was pretty fresh, and very good with the sauce. The rice was sticky and perfect with the salmon. All in all, it was great and I finished it. It was still a bit too big for me though; I overate.

In other words, Henri and I have agreed to share a main course the next time we eat there.

It was a fun meal though: practically the first one out we've had in a while. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for Christmas presents --- especially our own gifts from ourselves --- and just having a cool time. We enjoyed poring through a new bookstore for hours, and came out with an appropriate number of new books.

We met some other friends in the evening and had a large pitcher of lemonade. Commiserating over bad grades was never so refreshing.

I later joined my sister and another good friend for dinner to top off the day.


It was cool to catch up with people I hadn't seen in weeks since I'd stopped leaving the house altogether for anything other than schoolwork. I did sleep with my grandmother to keep her company after my grandfather died, but it seemed more like going home to sleep than a social visit. In other words, we'd talk then drop into bed until it was time to go to school again.

I am so glad it's over.

I will now be catching up on my reading, and I promised my dog that we'd watch some movies over the break.

I'm looking forward to just taking a rest.